1. Suhaib, a 14-year old from Silwan who I grew very fond of after writing the story of his arrest and abuse at the hands of Israeli authorities, was recently arrested again, on his way home from school, on the charge that he ”violated the terms of his house arrest.” There is little that is more enraging than coldcruel bureaucracy that treats human beings like nothings and does not even have the integrity to admit that its core is racism. This year, we all need to atone for the fact that our country regularly arrests and traumatizes Palestinian children.
2. I got word today that I will have the interview for the next step of my Conscientious Objection process the morning after Yom Kippur. I pray for strength, calm, resolve, humility, forgiveness, deep breaths.
Literally just as I was writing this, I get a text from my friend Shifra. No words, just this picture:
3. It is good to set structures, it is good to laugh. It is good to take things seriously, it is good to not take things seriously.
4. I am sorry for the ways in which I have done wrong in this forum, as well as in others. I am sorry for self-absorption, for dehumanizing my political nemeses, for over-confidence, for under-empathy, for unintentional cruelty and for intentional cynicism.
May Suhaib go free. May war be over. May we do what we resolve and mean what we apologize and wander down dirt roads into sunsets in our souls and out.
גמר חתימה טובה.
The Leftern Wall 