When Trauma Meets Trauma

A call for courage from one wounded lineage to another

“Compassion is the radicalism of our time.” – The Dalai Lama

Compassion to all the Israelis and Jews who were swept into a riptide of ancestral Holocaust trauma after October 7th.

Compassion to all the Israelis who feel persecuted now, as much of the world condemns your government’s decisions; decisions being made in the wake of collective retraumatization.

Compassion to all the Jews whose lineage carries the shadow of the Shoah, and who feel implicated, exposed, or unsafe.

I’m sorry you feel scared and alone.

As a Palestinian grandson, and as a fellow human being, I understand.
I can feel you in my own body.

And yes, there are moments when my anger surfaces,
at what is happening under the banner of your fear.
Moments when despair whispers that a shared future may be impossible.
Moments when the silence and profiteering of my own country make my heart clench.

But underneath all of that
when I let my own heartbreak soften me
I feel you.
I’m with you.

And I’m begging you, dear heart:

Please stop lashing out from pain.
Please stop hiding inside fear.
Come join the fearless heart of compassionate wisdom.

I will be standing there with you,
in the long healing
of our world.