The Irani and The Israeli

A woman stood facing me at the coffee shop. I hadn’t been led to go in immediately, so when I arrived inside on spirit’s cue, she was standing next to my husband and I instantly got a good vibe from her. I soon learned they were co-workers and they used to be on the equity team together, before all the non-white people quit. The black people quit. The Latinx people quit. The Irani woman quit. My husband quit. He is a beautiful tapestry of multiple lineages.

I immediately felt comfortable with this woman so after my husband mentioned they used to be on it together, I said, before I knew her name, “I heard it was bullshit.” I said it compassionately, but it was the only true way to describe the objective realities of what happened.

“Yes,” she said, “There was no equity. Everyone quit until it was just three white people left, I think.” As we talked, she shared how difficult it is for as a non-religious Irani woman, because, having an accent, people as, “Where are you from?” When she says, “Iran” they say, “Oh so you’re Muslim.” Which is kind of a weird thing to say in the first place, because why wouldn’t you just ask or not say anything at all? She went on, “I tell them, ‘No, I’m not religious.’ Of course I can’t admit that when I go home or I will be executed. But it’s hard that when everyone is talking about what is happening in the Middle East, when I try to speak about the 40,000 dead Palestinians, I feel that no one can hear me.”

“I hear you,” I said.

“I know you hear me.”

I told her, “I half Jewish and I’m a non-zionist half Jew, but if I say that, people say I’m not Jewish.”

The great irony is that before Israel was created, most Jewish people were non-zionist. The idea of conflating zionism with Jewish identity is a relatively recent phenomena. Zionism was not originally popular. Albert Einstein was went from being a soft zionist to being highly critical of zionism;

“See,” she said, “You get it.”

This woman actually reminded me a lot of another woman I know who is an Israeli-American who has always been strongly pro-Palestinian and has taken a lot of flack from her family in Israel, not to mention here. Even their accent was similar. They almost could have been twins. And they would get along great because their hearts and values are the same, yet the groups of belonging to which they cannot help but feel a connection have ostracized them for their very universal hearts.

Stand with. both of them. Do not pick sides, except the side of love which dares to speak the truth even if it’s risky; love that is committed to finding a way for all peoples to thrive, peacefully.

Shalom

Salaam

Om Mani Padme Hum

For my birthday, I asked for a Cedar of Lebanon.

Cedar, my indigenous friend says, is even better than sage or palo Santo to burn in order to shine in a way that pushes out the darkness.

We are here to shine as one human family, honoring our diverse lineages, and refusing to demonize one another.

We are one family.

“Both groups of Jews shared ancestry with contemporary Middle Eastern and Southern European populations. The closest genetic relatives of the Middle Eastern Jews are Druze, Bedouin and Palestinians. The closest genetic relatives of the European group of Jews are Northern Italians, followed by Sardinians and French.”

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