“All in this together. More that unite than divide. Blessed with diversity of experiences and relationships. #juvenilejusticereform.”
Thus goes the “about me” description on my Instagram account (primarily used for following trauma therapists). I did not need all 150 characters allotted to describe myself. This pretty much covers it.
As a Jew, trauma therapist, and most of all human, my multidimensional experience in this world has recently been magnified significantly. When I turned my phone on after the holiday of Simchat Torah, it immediately lit up with messages. Nine individual, non-Jewish people reached out, sending their love, concern, and hope.
As I saw their names flicker across my screen, I was struck by the variety of demographics presented in this group of humans who reached out to me.
In the past day and a half, I’ve received calls and messages from 23 additional non-Jewish family members of humanity. This, of course, is not including the many messages that I continue to receive from the members of my Jewish family. As these concerned and supportive messages pour in, my thoughts and experiences have been expanding and developing. To lay a foundation for sharing some of these thoughts, I’ve compiled an outline of demographics from the 32 non-Jewish humans who’ve reached out to me, accordingly (as of 10.10.23, 5:30pm).
Sunday night (when I turned on my phone) 10.8.23:
1. A US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chaplin
2. A CBP Peer Support Member
3. A former CBP client (an officer)
4, 5, 6. Three Employee Assistance Program (EAP) clinicians for CBP on my team (Miami, Maine, and Alaska)
7. A 23-year-old man, currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for robbing and killing someone at the age of 15 (the age that I met him)
8. A former case worker from the juvenile prison I worked in from 2012-2015
9. A teacher with whom I worked alongside in 2020
Monday, 10.9.23:
10. My supervisor
11. The Director of my program
12. The Training Director of my program
13, 14, 15, 16. Four EAP clinicians from my team from DC, Buffalo, AZ and St. Augustine, FL
17. An EAP supervisor
18. A CBP Peer Support member from Orlando
19. A 24-year-old man doing 10 years for aggravated robbery and gang charges (sent to adult prison for crimes committed at the age of 16 – when we worked together)
20. The supervisor who hired me for my current CBP clinician role and left the agency shortly after I began
21. A CBP client
Tuesday, 10.10.23 (as of 5:30pm)
22. My gay non-Jewish close friend
23. A clinical supervisor from 2011-2017, from Cleveland
24, 25, 26. Three EAP clinicians on my team from NY, Detroit and WA state
27 and 28. Two EAP supervisors
29. A Border Patrol Agent in Tucson
30. My plural-identifying therapist
31. A reformed human, father and taxpayer who grew up as an active gang member turned leader
32. A fellow clinician from the Juvenile Detention Center I worked in from 2016-2018
All of these images and headlines below are shared with consent.
Open people are attracted to light. Those who are open to light are drawn to those of us whose fire is so blinding that we have never, not one time in history, gone extinct. We are fire, and fire attracts fire. And when truth and light and fire are the only things that matter, those who try to extinguish it get so badly burned that their only chance of survival is joining the fire.
Fire can be started and transferred but can rarely be contained. And the spark of the Jews has always brought out the spark and light of other parts of humanity. I have connected with this fire in the human form of a murderer. I have connected with this fire in the human form of a war hero. I have connected with this fire in the human form of a cycle-breaker. I have connected with this fire in the human form of a beautiful multi-generational, Amish family. Like generations of Jews before me, I have found and connected with this fire from all forms of life.
Light eradicates darkness. Terrorism is darkness resisting light. Terrorism is an expression of undivided terror – the very essence of the word. Terrorism is complete devotion to physical survival with no knowledge or awareness of life itself. Terrorism is the evilest form of human expression because its core is devoid of humanity. It’s rooted in animalistic survival instincts and like all animals, continues to dominate the weak until faced with a viable threat.
The Jewish people are that threat. People do not meet us and leave unchanged. People do not spend time with us without evolving into higher versions of themselves. People around us do not remain coasting with unactualized potential. The Jews recognize humanity for what it actually is: a state of constant conflict between our animalistic and higher selves. This conflict poses a direct threat to those too closed to heal and too wounded for love. In that state, only animalism remains, as they are completely unaware of their own humanity. And yet, as long as there is one Jew alive, humanity will always prevail.
This is the threat of the Jewish people, and this is why we are being slaughtered. We are experiencing genocide, because with Jews in the world, humanity will never cease to exist and thrive. We are being tortured because our presence promotes natural self-actualization and improvement. We are experiencing the wrath and the pain of those too “terrified” to be human.
To be human in a world that de-values the Torah and scoffs at Its clear instructions on furthering humanity. To be human in a world where mentioning G-d elicits accusations of offensiveness, or closed-mindedness. To be human in a world where the Jews, the Torah, and G-d have been crucified for generations. To be human in a world where our truth and light has become so loud and so blinding and has awakened so many sparks across humanity, that animalism is threatened enough to attack.
The Zohar (the original kabalistic writing), states: “.ישרא-ל ואורייתא וקודשא בריך הוא חד הוא” The Jews, the Torah and G-d are one. The author of the Zohar (Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai) studied Torah in a cave for 13 years after being threatened with death for teaching Torah publicly. Upon emerging, he was the physical embodiment of truth – light. Everything he looked at that was out of alignment with truth burst into flames until G-d told him to return to his cave and work on accepting that untruths still exist in this world.
I was born with a fire that threatened the healing throughout my entire existence in this form. I was born with such a drive for truth, that, at a young age, human suffering began to make me sick. I have seen evil in the form of a “hero” and sheer altruism in the form of a killer. I have seen the suffering at peace and the “privileged” in misery. I have connected with truth-seekers in every form throughout my entire life. Because light attracts light and fire attracts fire. I have battled my worst demons to access compassion for the most heinous acts a human can do to a human. I have connected with the victim and found compassion for the perpetrator. I have spread light. I have spread truth. I have used the Torah for the exact reason Hashem gave it to us – to spread humanity in this world.
And on October 8th, 2023, when I turned my phone on after our holiday and my family of fire from all walks of life lit up my screen, I knew I was doing my part in enabling our world to become a safer and more united place. Because, in exactly 133 characters, the basics remain: “All in this together. More that unite than divide. Blessed with diversity of experiences and relationships. #juvenilejusticereform.”
P.S. I was born on יח אייר, which is better known as the holiday of Lag B’omer, the day that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai passed away. It is traditional to light bonfires on this day.
In less than 18 hours after submitting this for publication, CP received several more messages from members of her non-Jewish family. The most recent message she received is from a 23-year old light, who is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence (in addition to the 6 year sentence he received for his juvenile crime headlined below). CP included some further parts of that conversation as another glimpse into humanity.
All of these images and headlines below are shared with consent.
