Since October 7, members of my synagogue, Mosaic Law Congregation, have been coming to me grieving and in mourning. Many have lost family members and close friends. The cousin of one of my congregants and good friend of another are kidnapped in Gaza. My family friends are off in Lebanon and Gaza, and I have no idea if I will see them again. Many have told me they no longer feel comfortable wearing their Jewish stars or kippot (skullcaps). We have had the need for increased security measures. It is a terrifying time for my community.

My immediate response was to call other faith leaders with whom I have built relations through interfaith work and ask them to speak at the Mosaic Law Congregation on a Saturday morning. Seven of them did so. One thing which perplexed me was not receiving replies from those in the Muslim community with whom I had worked so hard to build relationships. We broke bread together, I attended their events and they came to my installation. It took me some time to realize that I was not hearing back from them because this is such a polarizing issue-one for which no amount of dialogue will help us come anywhere close to a mutual understanding.

I thank Mayor Steinberg for not giving the Valenzuela-Vang resolution a hearing and for his strong preference, “not to have any formal resolution come before the City Council.” I agree with his statement, “In most cases, I do not believe our City Council should spend council time on foreign policy.” There is so much work to be done locally, and anything we say about a conflict 7500 miles away will only increase the division between us. We don’t need shouting matches, broken windows or property burnt to the ground.
At the same time, we need to come together in a safe space to share our pain, recognize our suffering and see the shared humanity in each other as citizens of Sacramento. As the language of the Santa Cruz resolution mentions, we must “acknowledge the suffering of the Peoples of the Middle East, affirm our shared humanity and wish for peace, call for collaborative efforts supporting peaceful dialogue among all parties involved; and urge our community to develop and participate in activities that foster tolerance, empathy, education, and understanding of people of all backgrounds and religious faiths.”

I view Mayor Steinberg’s statement “Our interfaith communities are not talking to one another. They are too angry, distrustful, and hurt to reach across the divide” as a challenge to come together-NOT to pass a resolution but to find common ground in other areas. I want to give an open invitation based off his message and the Santa Cruz resolution to all faith leaders find common ground and work together to benefit the greater Sacramento community. Currently we are working on a Latino-Jewish Seder with Bishop Soto and the Catholic Diocese, and we are always looking for more opportunities to join forces. Our approach should never be to shrink into my bubble and silo off. We must view this as an opportunity to build bridges.

As a precursor to doing so, however, we must recognize the hurt, pain, loss and suffering that we are feeling. Any attempt to come together that does not acknowledge that is tone deaf. It is time to understand that each of us is grieving and that many are going through trauma. Only through doing that can we respond to the other in a way which will be productive rather than destructive.