Menachem Weinreb; Unsplash
Each season has its way of reminding us that we need each other. The weather patterns, the changes in nature, the varied needs and opportunities they each offer—so many of them point us towards reasons we thrive with and must rely on our communal networks. As Kohelet/Ecclesiastes (one of the later books of the Tanach/Bible) tells us, there is a time for planting, a time for reaping, for mourning, for celebration – all ultimately so many versions of support.
There are many potential things to learn from the tragedies of this past fall and the ongoing suffering. To me, one that has kept ringing the loudest is the need to keep reaching for each other. To keep insisting on our shared humanity, our investment in each other, our commitment to reach as broadly and deeply as our capacity allows. To stay in conversation especially when things get hard. To keep organizing, to keep gathering, to keep learning from each other. To find more and better ways to share this planet, to protect it and each other. To affirm, again and again: we will not give up on each other.
As winter sets in, we can let the cold isolate us, keep us in our own little burrows. Or we can do what so many cultures have for so many generations in this season: we can gather. We can eat, sing, light candles. We can find warmth in our connections, in the relationships and communities we have and the ones we’re committed to building.
— Sarra Alpert, Director of the Avodah Institute for Social Change
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