What did you know about Israel before 7th October, and what was that based upon?<\/p>\n
I had a Biblical understanding of Israel. The lessons on God Abraham and Jacob\u2019s descendants being the chosen people in the chosen were taught throughout my life. I never quite made the modern-day connection until I was in my late twenties (1996-2001) and working for a Jewish Organization in San Francisco. I learned, witnessed, first-hand the reverence that Jewish people have for Israel. Honestly, I never engaged in deep conversation about it, but I understood that it was a topic that should not be approached lightly. There was a deep and abiding connection to community, philanthropy, and tradition. It was the healthiest environment that I have ever worked in. Everyone received 6 weeks of paid time-off on day one, paid Federal Holidays, paid Jewish Holidays, fifteen annual sick days, and 100% employer matched retirement. My spiritual foundation had not manifested fully in my adult life at this point, I was not grounded in a spiritual community. I flourished in this kind, supportive, and giving work environment. I felt seen and valued. Through this lens, I experienced Jewish traditions and was introduced to the importance of Israel to people that I trusted and respected a great deal.
\n I did not relate this to Zionism, it was never articulated that way, nor was the term ethno-religion spoken of in that period of time. Zionism has, for me, emerged in the last 20 years as a frequently used term in discussions about the Palestine-Israel conflict. I was scheduled to take a trip to the area in January 2024 and was really looking forward to broadening my understanding. The attacks of October 7th changed that. The trip has been rescheduled twice and now indefinitely cancelled. <\/p>\n
What does this book help you understand that you didn’t know before?<\/p>\n
The origin of the conflict had never been fully explained to me. I extent of my understood that it was over land and the rightful claim to it. I did not understand that Britian played a role in the conflict, during the British occupation of Palestine. I also did not understand that attacks, rebellions, and revolts have been taking place since the 1920\u2019s. I first learned of the Basel Congress, the Balfour Declaration, and Peel partition plan in this book. Which is strange, I was a history major at a large progressive university. I do not recall covering any of it in the World History or Religious History courses. As a disclaimer, I was in my early twenties and may not have been paying attention. Before reading this book, I also carried with me a perspective that was largely shaped by my time working in a Jewish Organization. I had no understanding of the Palestinian experience in this land. I also had no empathy for those that were caught in the cross hairs of this 100-plus year-old conflict. I did not realize that they existed. It is intellectually lazy to believe that a conflict is just about two opposing sides, there is always an underbelly that affects the innocent. I was guilty of not seeing the innocent. The thousands of people that are desperately trying to live, build a life, survive, worship, raise a family are generationally impacted by this conflict. It is unimaginable to think that children are growing up knowing that war is an imminent part of growing up in Palestine. <\/p>\n
How do you navigate the Israel-Middle east conflict?<\/p>\n
I navigate the Israel-Middle East conflict very carefully. It is such a highly debated subject that I am mindful of the discussions that I engage in and the company that I share my thoughts with. I understand the lasting effects of historical events and how personal they can feel when you believe that restitution has not been made. I have a clear and firm moral position against actions that hurt the innocent, the vulnerable. It is very hard to see any truth and righteousness when women, children, elderly are displaced, homeless, hungry, suffering, and imprisoned. I fail to see the humanity in a situation that victimizes so many. The lines of right and wrong are so terribly blurred when we cannot see that destruction of homes, communities, and lives is not a victory for any cause. If I had to answer simply how I navigate the Israel-Middle east conflict, I would say with love and compassion for all involved. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What did you know about Israel before 7th October, and what was that based upon? I had a Biblical understanding of Israel. The lessons on God Abraham and Jacob\u2019s descendants being the chosen people in the chosen were taught throughout my life. I never quite made the modern-day connection until I was in my late […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[3227],"class_list":["post-38060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-bunton-dlgp02","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38061,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38060\/revisions\/38061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}