Hineni -- Here I Am

Children Of Israel Are Never Alone

Hey, beloved tribe.

I’m so sorry yesterday got away from me. There was so much to do after AWP. But three newsletters will still go out this week!

Before going further, I need to pay tribute to Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey — lifelong, steadfast friend of the Jews, honorary MOT (member of the tribe), shining member of The Righteous Among The Nations — whose 25-hour speech on the Senate floor this week was nothing short of herculean.

I honestly can’t imagine the stamina he had to draw on in order to stand and speak continuously through the day and night as he did, without eating, without a break, and with just a few sips of water.

There is a special pleasure in the fact that, in setting a new record for the longest Senate speech in American history, he displaced that of Strom Thurmond, a scorching racist and segregationist fighting the advance of the Civil Rights Act in 1957. And whereas Thurmond was reduced to reading from phone books and encyclopedias during his marathon oration, all of Senator Booker’s spoken content was relevant to this political moment, coherent and eloquent.

I was especially gratified that he wore a yellow hostage ribbon pin on his lapel during this feat, and that he invoked the Jewish word for answering a call to action: Hineni, here I am.

We have to say to history where we stood — where we stood when they were coming after our constitutional principles, where we stood when they were threatening judges to impeach them for making just decisions.

Where we stood when they were taking law firms and threatening their business unless they came and kowtow to the big leader.

Where we stood when they were disappearing people from America without the due process that even Antonin Scalia said they should have.

Where were you when they came after the health care of the disabled, the health care of the children, the health care of the expectant mothers, the health care of seniors? Where were you when they attacked veterans, laying them off for no justifiable reason and attacking the VA services that they rely on?

Where were you when we turned our back on Ukraine? Where were you when we turned our back on our alliances?

Where were you when they took the economy down with tariffs, when they took the economy down by threatening it so consumer confidence drops. Where were you?

How many things are going on before we answer the question, as it says in Hebrew, hineni. Hineni. Behold, Lord, here I am.

Following this, he fielded a question from Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada, remarking as he did so that she’d had “one of the hardest jobs in all of the United States, which is to be president of a shul.”

As he affixed the hostage pin to his lapel, he expressed appreciation for their alliance, saying:

I’m grateful that we were founders of the Black-Jewish Caucus… the Juneteenth seder’s coming up. I’m going to put this on as you have it on, as I think about Edan Alexander and all those who are suffering. I’m just so grateful for our friendship and what we’ve done against antisemitism, what we’ve done for the Abraham Accords.

If Senator Booker ever decides to run for President again, I will be a full-time slave of his campaign.

In the meantime, Hineni has become the theme of my week.

Yesterday’s non-fiction writer in the JUDITH showcase was Yardenne Greenspan, with a gorgeous Purim post-mortem about the ways the holiday story speaks directly to us as Jews in our current moment. It includes these inspiring lines:

While I’m no Esther, these days I believe I was born for this moment. For so long, I was preoccupied with the question of the meaning of my life, harboring a fear of missing my moment as I dreamily debated my next move. I desperately wish October 7^th had never happened. I wish so many hadn’t turned against us in our time of need. I wish so many hadn’t already been plotting our demise or dismissing our worth for millennia prior.

But at least this much is true: since I began trusting my own moral compass and allowing myself to pursue Jewish advocacy with my whole heart, I have worried about many things: the efficacy of my efforts, the dangers of social media, the neglect of my other ambitions, the risks to my own mental health, the safety of my husband and children.

But one thing I have not worried about is whether I’m leading a meaningful life. This moment is the meaning.

If you haven’t read it yet, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Finally, I was very gratified to receive so many notes of appreciation for the presence of my panel at AWP. And while I knew the topic of our panel was vital to Jews in this moment, I did not think of it as ground-breaking until I read this report by co-panelist Howard Lovy:

Later, author Josh Rolnick, vice president of the Board of Directors at the Jewish Book Council, told me that this was the first pro-Zionist panel he had ever seen at a mainstream literary event.

The Council also wrote to us directly, saying:

I wanted to just thank you so much for speaking at the panel last week at AWP. It was a really important conversation, and I'm so glad the audience had the opportunity to hear from all of you. For the rest of the conference, we heard from so many audience members about how much they appreciated what you had to say. And also to note how seamlessly you were able to continue on after being interrupted, which allowed the entire room to relax and move forward.

So, to paraphrase and second Yardenne, I’m no Esther either, but I share her belief that I was born for this moment too. Every day I’m devoutly grateful that I took the risk of pivoting within my career from ghostwriting to full-time Jewish advocacy. There are many days that I’m overwhelmed, exhausted, demoralized, even despairing, but even on the worst days, I still feel the most profound sense of professional fulfillment I’ve ever known.

So thank you all yet again for being here with me. I could not do what I’m doing without all of you — that is the literal truth.

I’ll be back with you tomorrow and I’ll try to bring the light before Shabbat.

Until then, I’m sending much love and sustenance.

Am Yisrael Chai.