This reminds me so much of an encounter I had probably around 2001. It was the height of the intifada. I lived in Jerusalem, and was visiting friends in Canada - non-Jewish friends, who I had met online through a shared love of a favourite author. One of them spent a day driving me around cool areas - we went to Niagara on the Lake, among other places. We didn't talk much about Israel but what she did say was clear that it would be better to just avoid the topic, because she was too 'progressive' to understand anything (yes, even back then). During our day trip, we went to visit friends of hers who lived in Niagara on the Lake. An older couple - probably in their sixties, and I was in my twenties at that point. They were very nice, but at one point, the wife started with: "there's one thing I can't understand about this" - meaning, about Israel, and my stomach tensed and dread roiled - and she said "how they can just blow up buses with innocent people on them" and I just breathed such a sigh of relief.
And that concern and care allowed me to talk about the history of the conflict openly, and I think - dare I say it - that that sympathy opened my friend's ears also, to hear what I was saying.
Thanks for sharing this story, I really appreciate it.
My heart flooded with relief when she mentioned October 7. It's a sad statement indeed that the merest crumb of recognition inspires this level of gratitude, but there you have it. She sounds like a fantastic ally.
I knew that you donated a kidney; I didn't know that had a connection to Zionism. Please elaborate when you can!
There are so few of us Jews in the world. Every Jewish life is inexpressibly precious to me. To me, donating a kidney to a young Jewish mother seemed to be the ultimate way to express that.
This reminds me so much of an encounter I had probably around 2001. It was the height of the intifada. I lived in Jerusalem, and was visiting friends in Canada - non-Jewish friends, who I had met online through a shared love of a favourite author. One of them spent a day driving me around cool areas - we went to Niagara on the Lake, among other places. We didn't talk much about Israel but what she did say was clear that it would be better to just avoid the topic, because she was too 'progressive' to understand anything (yes, even back then). During our day trip, we went to visit friends of hers who lived in Niagara on the Lake. An older couple - probably in their sixties, and I was in my twenties at that point. They were very nice, but at one point, the wife started with: "there's one thing I can't understand about this" - meaning, about Israel, and my stomach tensed and dread roiled - and she said "how they can just blow up buses with innocent people on them" and I just breathed such a sigh of relief.
And that concern and care allowed me to talk about the history of the conflict openly, and I think - dare I say it - that that sympathy opened my friend's ears also, to hear what I was saying.
Thanks for sharing this story, I really appreciate it.
My heart flooded with relief when she mentioned October 7. It's a sad statement indeed that the merest crumb of recognition inspires this level of gratitude, but there you have it. She sounds like a fantastic ally.
I knew that you donated a kidney; I didn't know that had a connection to Zionism. Please elaborate when you can!
There are so few of us Jews in the world. Every Jewish life is inexpressibly precious to me. To me, donating a kidney to a young Jewish mother seemed to be the ultimate way to express that.