Since October 27th, 2018, our organization and community have worked to uplift the sources of resiliency all around us. Last fall marked 5 years since our 11 wonderful neighbors were taken from us, serving as a reminder of all of the times we needed to lean on each other to feel safe in unsafe times and to feel loved during periods of isolation.
During the last several months, in many ways, we have experienced more division, fear, and disconnection than we have in a long time. We’ve been challenged to look back at the skills and tools we’ve learned over the years.
In November, the 10.27 Healing Partnership sent out a survey on how people were experiencing in their local communities the impact of the violence in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Below is a link to a subset of the responses we received that we believe illustrate the spectrum of experiences shared in the survey. Some responses have been edited slightly for length, anonymity and clarity. Thank you to all those who chose to respond to this survey.
Reading these responses, I see pain, hope, strength, exhaustion, dedication and care. I feel encouraged that our community contains a multitude; we all have freedom to choose our own perspectives, and our diversity is something to be celebrated. At the same time, in these responses I see those who feel that they cannot share their thoughts or emotions, those who have withdrawn from spaces where their perspectives have been challenged, and those who have left communities they previously felt connected to.
Gam v’gam is a Hebrew phrase meaning “both and,” or holding multiple concepts simultaneously, sometimes even those that seem competing or contradictory. When I look at our community right now with that lens, I see a great momentum to learn and act in solidarity in response to the horrors happening in our world. Yet this same energy and care can also be accompanied by confusion and fear. Isolation, defensiveness and a desire to prioritize solidarity are very normal responses to trauma. While these are understandable emotions in such a time of deep grief, without introspection this can create an environment of tension, where people are not afforded the opportunity to grow, be in relationship with one another, and be authentic to themselves.
Our organization believes that true solidarity is deeper than everyone agreeing. As we discussed in our article on communal narratives and trauma in SAMHSA’s journal in early 2023, any sense of unity that relies on total agreement can be damaging to community resiliency. When community members feel pressured to conform rather than express the nuance and reality of their perspectives, under the surface true solidarity gets chipped away.
How can we as a community both continue to live by our values and take action in the world – while also fostering a local community that cares about plurality, curiosity, and nuance in our everyday conversations around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Each of us only has a limited ability to impact what is currently happening in Israel and Gaza, but endless ability to impact the people we interact with daily. We encourage everyone to act in accordance with their values towards advocacy in whatever way is authentic to them; listening to others does not negate the work we do individually. We do not need to tell someone that we agree with them or that their perspective is correct—we merely need to listen in order to build our community’s resilience.
Resilient communities make space for a variety of voices. This helps to foster a sense of belonging and safety, and it allows each of us to build our own perspectives with curiosity rather than defensiveness. Without it, we rob ourselves of this valuable chance to learn and explore diverse perspectives. Sometimes it is this hard work of learning to coexist locally that can teach us more about how to create solutions internationally. If we cannot learn to meet this challenge of empathy now, how will we respond to future issues that threaten to divide our community?
When we are not actively involved in making our local communities better, safer, and kinder, there are real impacts. On a broader scale, from the shooting of three Palestinian-American college students in Vermont to antisemitic events here in Pittsburgh, we have seen the violence that has migrated from the international stage to the local one. If international violence and discrimination can seep into our local communities, perhaps the opposite can also be true. What compassion can we bring to our neighborhoods that can spread into the rest of the world?
The 10.27 Healing Partnership believes in community resilience, which is why we ourselves are learning how to take part in these conversations. We are not an organization focused on international politics and activism, but we are deeply concerned about issues that risk this local community’s healing and resilience. We believe connection, relationships and an environment of curiosity will be key to the long-term future of this community, and we hope to continue to foster these ideas with our neighbors.
On this note, we are collaborating with the Holocaust Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Repair the World Pittsburgh, and other Jewish organizations on a pilot program focused on openness, emotional and physical safety and relationship-building around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If you are interested in participating or learning more, please click the button below to access a survey on this topic.
We recognize our own fallibility—we grapple every day with our own perspectives around both the local and international impacts of the ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza. There is much more to be said about the thoughtful responses to the survey that we have not covered here, and we would love to continue that conversation with anyone who is interested. We welcome feedback, questions and thoughts. Please do not hesitate to reach out.
In Solidarity,
Maggie Feinstein Executive Director 10.27 Healing Partnership
