If my mother were alive, she d be asking me why I haven t written anything this week about Israel and Gaza and the West Bank. (Well, in fairness: she d be asking why I haven t written about Israel. She didn t care about Gaza or the West Bank.) We had this conversation often, when she was alive and was well enough to get cranky with me about what I did or didn t write.
I m struggling to find words this week. Would my words actually make things better for anyone? Would they bring light, or only more heat? Would they open anyone s heart, or just deepen entrenchment? What purpose would my words serve? Instead I ve been seeking out the voices of Israelis and Palestinians. Their words matter right now in a way that mine does not.
Leah Solomon is Chief Education Officer of Encounter, a nonpartisan educational organization cultivating more informed, courageous, and resilient Jewish leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She holds a degree from Harvard University and is a Schusterman Senior Fellow. Leah has worked since 1997 in the field of experiential pluralistic Jewish education, most recently as Associate Director of the Nesiya Institute. An L.A native, she moved to Jerusalem in 1999 where she lives with her family.