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- Havdalah #6: Film, Homework, and Tangled Knots
Havdalah #6: Film, Homework, and Tangled Knots
13 Kislev, 5784 / November 25, 2023
White Rose RI
November 25, 2023
Hello, all, and welcome to Havdalah #6.
Well, at this point the ‘holidays’ have solidly begun. How did I put it in the last newsletter? Ah yes — the secular downslide into the overwhelming, cacophonous, Halloween Thanksgiving-ChristmasNewYearWhatareyougettingwhereareyougoinghappyholidaysTheMostWonderfulTimeoftheYear. Christmas music in the stores, dark at five o’clock, and the famously most miserable travel season of the year. Hope you all got where you were going safely, and didn’t have to have too many arguments in the process, either with travel agents or family.
After the somewhat manic activity of the last few days, it’s rather quiet looking forward. Lee has a reflection on thankfulness, and food, and the tangled knot of this last Thursday.
It’s easy to feel ground down — stretched thin, like butter over too much bread, as the hobbit said — worn out, in this time of year; where you never seem to see the sun, and the cold is seeping in, and there’s such a giant jumble of obligations that you can never find a moment to yourself (or maybe that’s just me). Make sure to take a moment, to breathe, to stretch, to hug someone you love, to think about what really needs to get done. To realize what we need, what we have, what we can give. What we should give. What’s worth being thankful for.
Goodnight, and mind how you go —
Katherine
Legal Aid for Brown Student Protesters
Jews for Ceasefire Now are raising money to support the 20 Jewish Brown University students who were arrested on Wednesday, November 8th at a peaceful protest in University Hall. These funds will be used to cover legal costs for the students.
They are also encouraging people to give a matching donation to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF). Because legal fees are still in flux, any excess funds will be donated to PCRF.
Weekly Mutual Aid Distribution with the John Brown Gun Club
Every week, folks meet at Kennedy Plaza to distribute food, hygiene supplies, harm reduction supplies, and more, usually for about 45 minutes. JBGC has been doing these weekly distributions since 2018 and helps about 30 people each week.
To make a donation, visit their mobile-friendly website that has links for direct donations, Amazon wish list, and the Etsy store where 100% of the proceeds fund mutual aid distribution.
If you have questions about the distribution or ways to donate, you can reach out to them on their Instagram (@jbmutualaid) or Twitter (@rijbgc).
If you’d like to help with distribution, the JBGC asks that you wear an N95 mask and be up to date on boosters and flu shots.
Rent Israelism Film
When: through Sunday, November 26
Where: online
About the Film: When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns. They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism’s relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.
Due to massive demand to see and engage with their film during this devastating and challenging time, the Israelism Team decided to make it publicly available for rent to individual viewers in North America from tomorrow through Sunday, November 26.
After the film, watch Q&As with the film’s directors and main subjects:
Note, film is available in North America only. Other regions will be available for future screenings and rental periods.
$5 for a 24 hour rental.
Power Half-Hours for Gaza
When: every day, Monday through Friday, 3:00pm EST
Where: online
Jewish Voice for Peace is holding Power Half-Hours for Gaza every day — join us as we channel our fury and sorrow into collective action to stop genocide.
The same link will work every day.
Continuing Actions for Palestine
The siege of Gaza has continued and intensified. Palestinians are in desperate need of water, fuel, medical supplies, and more; however, this aid has been locked up at the border and prevented from entering into Palestine. Please contact your representatives to call on them to work for a ceasefire and to get aid into Gaza.
This toolkit has a variety of links, including call scripts, groups accepting donations, phone banks, petitions, and more:
Telecom services in Gaza are periodically being disrupted. This makes knowledge of what is happening there very difficult to get and to verify. Various social media websites — including and especially Twitter — while vitally necessary in getting ordinary voices heard, have also been full of dis- and misinformation of people deliberately trying to cause trouble. Especially now, be aware of who is sharing information and why they’re doing it.
Al Jazeera apparently has a reporter in the area that is occasionally managing to make contact:
Lee (she / they)
Each meal, each day, I pause to give thanks. Well, no, I do not pause. Stillness is not in my repertoire. But all the same, I give thanks.
The idea of giving thanks before a meal brings a wholesome, rose-colored image to mind of smiling families laughing as they pass the bread, carefree. This is not how my prayers of thanks go.
When I think about each meal, I think of all the people and creatures who brought it to my table, and who brought me to my table. I cannot think of them all, more beings than I will ever know, connections spreading and branching in infinite webs. I think of them all, farmers and truck drivers, fungi and business owners, exploited workers and pollinators, and chickens, and my sister, and trees. I cannot think of them all, cannot know the ways they have shaped and supported my life, each meal, each calm moment, each warm sweater. I think of them all.
I think of, among others, the Indigenous people who stewarded the lands where I live and where my food comes from, who brought forth abundance that feeds us here and now; I grieve the violence they have endured, the colonial violence which is ongoing; I honor their survivance to this day. I think of them not just when it is “Thanksgiving” — which many commemorate as a National Day of Mourning — but the hypocrisy of the Thanksgiving holiday sharpens some of the feelings that come up. I believe we can feel grief, and remorse, and gratitude all at once; I do not believe those in power want us to be alive to our grief or remorse, or even to real gratitude, which does not rely on having more than someone else. They want us fighting each other. I find myself falling back into that trap over and over. I give thanks to those who remind me — I want us healing each other, feeding each other.
I bring my attention back to the meal in front of me. I will never make sense of it. I will do what I can. I am fed.
Needle Drop #6: “Hope”, Sweet Honey in the Rock
Nothing to report this time. However, I’d like to assign some homework: yes, more podcasts. Not an entire playlist, but a two-parter that I find myself returning to every so often when I feel I need certain reminders. These episodes are sobering, and thus quite heavy. The warnings they carry are also necessary. Remember them.
