When I Close My Eyes: Remembering October 7, 2023
When I close my eyes, I try to distance myself from the pain of October 7, fearing that I will be consumed by it.
When I close my eyes, I grapple with how, in the early days after October 7, before any Israeli response, demonstrators inverted their moral compass.
When I close my eyes, I try to forget that posters of hostages were ripped down from walls.
When I close my eyes, I try and comprehend how Jewish graves and Holocaust memorials are desecrated.
When I close my eyes, I mourn the loss of both Israeli and Palestinian children.
When I close my eyes, I recoil at being fearful of being Jewish in today’s America, walking past guards at synagogues and community centers.

When I close my eyes, I wonder whether a glimmer of light will ever seep in through the darkness, believing that somehow, it must, because, if God created man and woman in God’s own image, that image is holy.