Courageous Words

🙏 I had a newsletter finished and ready to go out this morning. But I’m completely re-writing it. I simply can’t ignore the tragedy in the Middle East. The horror against women and children rips apart the core of what it means to be human. Terrorist groups like Hamas rob both sides in the 7-decades conflict. They desecrate life. Hamas massacred the most Jewish people in one day since the Holocaust. The words of Elie Wiesel haunted me last night. “The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith isn’t heresy, it’s indifference. The opposite of life isn’t death, its’ indifference.” If you’ve never read “Night", I recommend it.

🙏 It’s a Jewish tradition to place stones on graves. The Hebrew word “Tsor” means a pebble. In Biblical times shepherds used pebbles to keep track of their flocks. They would carry slings over their shoulders. In the slings were pebbles that corresponded the number in the flock of sheep. Some historians say that stones on the grave are like Jews asking God to keep a departed’s soul in His sling. Stones don’t fade like flowers. Stones endure. Stones even kill giants.

🙏 And so do Jewish mothers. Rachel Adari turned hospitality into a weapon of survival. Terrorists broke into her home early Saturday morning. She and her husband were now hostages. Adari did something surprising. She offered them cookies. She kept offering them cookies and coffee for the next 15 hours. Her husband says they simply couldn’t figure it out and it drove them crazy. Miraculously, the ploy bought the couple time. It gave their their two police officer sons a chance to get to their parents. Eventually, they negotiated a liberation! https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-767664

🙏 Last week I posted about U2 and their epic residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Just a week later, they did an emotional tribute to all brutally murdered at the Supernova music festival in the desert of southern Israel. Take a listen to Bono. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu2Odzl1WjY 

🙏 I’ve followed and participated in forums of an organization called “Seeds of Peace.” https://www.seedsofpeace.org/ They work to bring Israeli and Palestinian youth together through discourse and conflict resolution training. They seek to create change-makers in hostile and divisive environments across the world. You’ve got to start somewhere. Seeds can grow.

✍️ If you give up, you lose. Hope activates in the “try.” This theme resonates throughout an awesome book by global entrepreneur, motivational speaker, TV and podcast host Ed Mylett. It’s called “The Power of One More.”

Here’s a link to my review on tiktok : https://www.tiktok.com/@sandrashawe/video/7158416969694285102

❤️ Shalom. Salaam. Seven decades of war is a marathon that must end. Times are tempestuous; our minds can be as well. Let’s not give up. Let’s keep running with perseverance the race that is set before us. ❤️