Dear Beloveds of USG,

I’m a few days into vacation and study leave but instead of enjoying the time with my children and the freedom to rest, I’m agitated and devastated. Every time I go to rest my mind, I see images of starving children in Gaza, emaciated and sunken-eyed. I squeeze the rolls on the thighs of my baby and tears roll down my face. I go to placate my kid with half a dozen snack options and am momentarily stunned by my obscene fortune.  

Some of you know that the cause of Palestinian liberation is one close to my heart. I’ve talked to many of you about your own heartbreak and helplessness at the genocide being carried out with our wages, our tax dollars, and our government’s explicit permission. I’ve been tempted on more than one occasion to turn to someone standing in line next to me at the grocery store and just say “There but for the grace of God go I, huh? Here we are buying groceries while children starve and parents drink salt water to fill their empty bellies.”

It is overwhelming to know that suffering of this magnitude is happening and is preventable. It is deeply wounding to our spirits to see the images of such unyielding cruelty and dehumanization. It is okay to be deeply affected by what is happening. Don’t become hardened to the horror.

I want to admit my own sense of helplessness. After years of dedicated activism in the name of Palestinian liberation, many of us are feeling impotent. No matter how many arrests, escalations, letters, calls, pleas to elected officials we made, nothing has changed the inevitable march towards total dissolution of the Palestinian cause. And yet, “hope is a discipline,” reminds Mariame Kaba. We continue to act not because of its efficacy, but because the alternative, to do nothing, would be a betrayal of our faith. As people of faith we act with hope, always. We do what we can, when we can, together.

Whatever you can do to act with hope, I encourage you to do it: bang pots, put a sign in your yard, talk to the person in the coffee shop about your heartbreak. Join me and my children on Monday at 30th Street Station at 5pm. And come to USG the weekend of August 9th, when we’ll be offering programming and worship focused on the systemic oppression of and route to freedom for Palestinians.

In the more immediate future, we are changing our Share the Plate schedule to respond to this crisis. On 8/3 and 8/10 we will share the plate with Bayader Youth Team, a group of youth on the ground in Gaza focused on distributing food, supplies, and offering joy to kids. I know their work to be good and real.

You are not alone in your heartbreak. You are not alone in your search for hope. It is okay to not be okay.  

In love and faith,

Rev. Hannah

Promoting Peace, Justice and Freedom for All Palestinians
Joint Programming with UUs of Mt Airy
August 8th through 10th

Film Showing: Where the Olive Trees Weep 📍 Friday, August 8th from 7-9pm UUs of Mt Airy at 6900 Stenton Ave, Phila, 19150 The film offers a searing window into the struggles and resilience of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. It explores themes of loss, trauma, and the quest for justice, featuring Palestinian journalist and therapist Ashira Darwish and trauma therapist, Gaber Mate. Discussion to follow.

Community Forum 📍 Saturday, August 9th from 1-4pm In the Sullivan Chapel at USG Bringing together UUs and community members with Palestinian, Jewish, Christian backgrounds and other supporters of Palestinian self-determination to share and explore how we might join forces to support Palestinian Liberation.

Joint UUMA and USG Worship Service 📍 Sunday, August 10th at 10:30am In the USG Sanctuary Featuring India Wood, Unitarian Universalists Justice for the Middle East (UUJME) National Organizer.