How We Can be Friends from Afar: Reflections and Aspirations from a Heartbroken Diaspora Jew “it’s 3:23 in the morning and I can’t sleep because my great great grandchildren ask me in dreams what did you do while the earth was unraveling?” —Hieroglyphic Stairway, by Drew Dellinger As we watch with heartbreak from afar I feel that all of us are being awakened by our great grandchildren's questions. So many of us are thinking about who we are as diaspora Jews, and what this moment demands. While many have written about what we need to do as a community for the different segments of Medinat Yisrael politically, religiously or materially, I have also been thinking deeply about what we can do as individuals for our personal loved ones and friends, 6000 miles away. How can we emotionally support those whom we love whose children are on the front lines or who have suffered loss? What kind of friend can we be to those who wait anxiously for WhatsApps on the brink of tears and whose worr
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Showing posts from November, 2023