I am really wound up and really tired. I am excited and frustrated together. It’s the feeling that comes with building any movement, the eagerness to make a difference, the certainty that a given campaign is correct, and the fearful acknowledgement that it might not work as planned. I resisted the label “organizer” all of [...]
Archive for the 'Musings' Category
Stepping down as J Street NYC co-chair
Last Thursday I attended my last J Street NYC Steering Committee meeting. After four great years, I am stepping down as chapter co-chair of the largest pro-Israel, pro-peace grassroots organization in the biggest Jewish population center in North America. I beam with pride as I hand off my duties to a cadre of new leaders whom [...]
Sep 6th, 2010 Musings 1 Comment
Disinterest, followed by newed hope
Just in case you were all wondering why I’ve not wieghed in on the Peter Beinart peice, I’ve not because he performed my song and dance bigger and better than I ever did myself. Nothing in there is new or that I’ve not said time and again before. But because he’s a war booster and [...]
May 26th, 2010 Judaism and Musings 0 Comments
Terror in my city
I have lived in conflict zones. I have traversed the hills of the West Bank, often alone. I have visited refugee camps and ghettoed villages. I have climbed walls and circumvented checkpoints to see for myself if they really prevented terrorism. I have seen militants with guns empty full clips into the air. In these [...]
May 9th, 2010 Musings 0 Comments
American identity
I spent four days in Washington, DC, with my father, who was seeing the city for the first time. He’s a 21-year veteran of the United States Army, an artilleryman and recruiter, who never saw the capital of the country he served for so many years until his 50s. He serves it still, as a [...]
Apr 27th, 2010 Musings 2 Comments
An addendum to my review of Joel Chasnoff’s “188th Crybaby Brigade”
My review of Joel Chasnoff’s humorous memoir, The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah, is now up on Jewschool. I really liked it. Israelis have an amazing sense of self-humor. Eretz Nehederet is their Saturday Night Live, a show that has portrayed Avigdor Lieberman as Darth Vader, the Palestinians as [...]
Apr 9th, 2010 Israel, Musings and War 2 Comments
I and all the things I stand for are under attack
I am under attack. I and all the things I stand for are under attack. Im Tirtzu has launched a campaign against the New Israel Fund, blaming it for the Goldstone report. “Without NIF, there would be no Goldstone report” they are claiming. Which is to say, without the Jews who support the New Israel [...]
Feb 2nd, 2010 Israel and Musings 2 Comments
Solicitations
Mail solicitations I have received since I last took out my paper recycling, say, 3 weeks ago: The Salvation Army The Police Athletic League Brit Tzedek v’Shalom: The Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous City Harvest The New Israel Fund The Children’s Aid Society The Metropolitan Council on Jewish [...]
Dec 23rd, 2009 Musings 0 Comments
Pro-Peace Adrenaline
I write this on the subway home on the 2-3 train. My headphones are playing soothing music but my heartbeat is racing and my brain is slowly calming down. I’m on a pro-peace high, of sorts. Why am I like this — after getting off the fourth conference call this week and a bigger, heavier [...]
May 13th, 2009 Musings 0 Comments
I am 26, I am a brown belt, I am an activist
Thanks to the three dozen-some people who left birthday wishes on my Facebook wall and the twenty-two people who gave to my birthday cause. The outpouring of friendship was lovely. And I didn’t end up doing any party or gathering, I felt so warm in the company of my friends that a party was just [...]
Mar 3rd, 2009 Israel, Jew York Culture Shock, Kung Fu and Musings 1 Comment