When my grandma, of blessed memory, was six years old, she and her mom had to leave their Jewish village in what is now Poland to escape the violent antisemitism and pogroms that threatened their existence. They walked across Europe to board a ship to America, where they built a new life. Family and neighbors who stayed behind were destroyed in the Holocaust not long after. My grandma always struggled with the devastating loss of so much of her culture of origin – people, places, language – essentially eliminated by war and genocide. One of my core memories of my grandma is of her as an old woman, back hunched from years of hard labor, reading about wars and violence in the newspaper, lamenting, “Will people never learn?”
I’m her granddaughter and I’m a proud Jew. I’m also devastated by the mass murder and destruction that is happening in Gaza right now. Since the terrible attacks of Oct. 7, well over 20,000 Palestinian people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israeli military forces. This is beyond horrific, and there appears to be no end in sight. A senior Israel Defense Forces spokesman said just this week that troops should prepare for “prolonged fighting” in Gaza.
I’m also an RN at Maine Medical Center. In Gaza, at least 300 of my fellow health care workers – nurses, doctors, and more – have been killed in the line of duty. Their hospitals, clinics and homes have been destroyed. I’m sure countless caregivers were killed who were not even included in that health care worker death toll, people caring for sick and disabled parents, grandparents, kids and neighbors.
My taxpayer dollars, from money that I work hard for as a hospital nurse, goes to buy weapons that the Israeli Defense Force is using to kill my fellow caregivers in Gaza. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., we can’t even approach a system of affordable universal health care, while we spend billions to fund the destruction of Palestinian people. This is sickening and it cannot continue.
I’m also a recent breast cancer survivor. We cling to life, desperate to try anything that might give us more time on earth with our families. I grieve for my breast cancer sisters in Gaza. If they have survived the bombings, they probably don’t have treatments, because they don’t have medicines, clinics, nurses or doctors. Maybe they don’t have food. And they might not have much family left to live for, either.
As a Jewish nurse, I feel obligated to speak up. I don’t know what the political solution to this crisis should be, but ceasefire has to be the first step in the rebuilding process that will end many decades of violent, inhumane oppression of the Palestinian people. Certainly it is a complex geopolitical situation, with many to blame for where we are today. But innocent civilians who are just trying to live their lives should not be caught in the middle. Destroying Gaza cannot be the solution.
I don’t know what my grandma, of blessed memory, would say about the current situation. She felt a strong connection to Israel, where we have several beloved family members living, and she also saw just about everything through the lens of the question: “Is it good for the Jews?”
To that I would respond to my grandma: “No, what is happening to Palestinians is not good for the Jews. We are all hurt by it. And it’s making antisemitism worse.”
Jewish survival does not, and cannot, depend on the destruction of Palestine. We think about the horrors of the Holocaust and we say “never again.” Never again, for anyone. Portland City Council is meeting today, Jan. 3, and on its agenda is a resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza. Please join me in asking our city council to put Portland on the right side of history.
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