Here is a heavier question: how do you deal with feeling hate? Ever since visiting the West Bank in Palestine I have struggled with it from a spiritual and mental health perspective. I know that Hashem wants us not to hate, and that hate and anger are bad for my mental health. But when I see what Israel is doing in Gaza, when Israeli soldiers pointed guns at my Arab friends, those feelings rise up.
And they lead to a third emotion: guilt. Guilt that I can’t do more, guilt that I can’t be there, guilt that I am (relatively) safe and comfortable in the USA.
So I would love to hear your perspective on how you try to handle these emotions.
For Hatred : I think the best way to overcome it is to remember the humanity of the other side, even the criminals. We should keep in mind that most of human beings are the resulta of the environment they grew up into and are highly aaffected by it, misinformation, brainwashing, ingrained national narratives, etc are always parts of deciding who we are. We can pretend to be free thinker however we want, but the reality that most humans are influenced by things they didn’t choose to have is real. So, from there, we can imagine why the people who do bad things do it. I don't believe that there are a lot of intrinsically evil people out there. If we or the people we love were born into a settlement in the WB, I don't think we would have been so much different from the settlers we hate. This doesn't take off their agency. They are responsible for the bad deeds they do. It's just a way to remember their humanity and not to reduce them into mere political bad actors.
Anger : I think that anger is just a highly emotional reaction that's nearee to human physiology than psychology. It's perfectly normal to feel it. But we shouldn't allow it to blind our consciousness from choosing the right thing to do. And it's also related to hatred, so I think you can deal with it the same way.
Guilt : I think most of us here feel the same and more. Our brothers and sisters are being massacred in an unmaginable intensity, and we can not do anything. I think we also take more guilt since Gaza is just an episode in a very bloody era. Before, we had Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Lybia, Yemen, and Sudan. I personally deal with it by reminding myself that the current situation on the ground is the result of centuries of power dynamics and won't really change overnight, and our capabilities to change it are low. But honestly, this often fails to cool down my guilt flame. So, I eventually remind myself that being sad won't help anyone, and I should try to do all I can to help however low it seems.
My parents and family always speak fondly of Jews in Morocco. We come from a city which had a sizable community. So we know they are human like us and not all of them are similar even tho many are zionist.
As for hate towards the IOF, the state of Israel and their supports it is roaring. But hate fixes nothing and only backfires we are better then them.
But guilt is the hardest especially when we are the first to unite against Israel but our leaders do NOTHING. But all of them will be judged by Allah and those killed are martyrs who will stand as witnesses to their lack of actions.
The crazy thing is that our grandparents and great-grandparents literally used to be neighbors and colleagues and good friends. It seems like that was ancient history, but it was only ~70 years ago!
1 word "colonialism" divide and conquer. France in particular and together with their Ashkenazi Jewish institutions used the Jews as an easy minority to make use of across their colonial empire. They educated them in French and made them more so Ashkenazi even allowing them to hold citizenship.
This led to Jews in Algeria been kicked out for being traitors to the French and many Moroccan Jews having to leave for France and later Israel
To be honest I would disagree that hate is a bad thing intrinsically. It is good and just to hate the Israeli regime and it is good and just to oppose it through violent means, in my opinion.
In terms of guilt, we're right there with you... maybe even twofold 😔
I use my anger and hate constructively sometimes— I’m a mixed race Palestinian (living in the US) and have been using these emotions to help evacuate medically fragile Palestinian children and connect them to resources in my area. I also scream into pillows at night when it gets really bad. A few days ago, I found out another former coworker of mine was killed and I found out on Instagram. That makes 54 friends and former colleagues martyred. I did a lot of screaming. I’m also a Palestinian Christian so I get really really mad when people in the US talk about us because they’re almost always wrong. I’ve generally stopped having good faith conversations with people.
for guilt, I’m not going to lie. It consumes me. I had a baby this year and my husband actually had to take my phone because I kept spiraling. As a Palestinian American, you spend almost every day thinking “what if my family had gone South instead?”
But not to be blithe, but sometimes you just have to touch grass or cuddle a baby (in my case). Guilt spirals help no one.
I hear you. Last week was Sukkot, the Jewish holiday where you build a sukkah (hut) and spend time outside to reconnect with nature. I took it as an opportunity to unplug from Reddit and the news. For so long now I would automatically take my phone out and check the news from Palestine. Hopefully going forward I can try to stay connected but not be compulsively plugged in.
I allow myself to feel hate and I channel it into organized political action against the colonial political program.
Hate exists for a purpose and even in terms of mental health, I think it's much healthier to feel and channel it than to try not to feel (justified) hate.
In your words, Hashem in ours Allah has ordered us to hate evil and to do good without expecting a reward for it. Hating the Israeli regime is an act of good it means you still have morals you know right from wrong. Allah has ordered us to always denounce evil and corruption and to advise one another. So, from our perspective, as you can see, we don't have unconditional love, I believe you don't have that either. Also, PS: we pray to the same God.
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u/conscience_journey Oct 27 '24
Here is a heavier question: how do you deal with feeling hate? Ever since visiting the West Bank in Palestine I have struggled with it from a spiritual and mental health perspective. I know that Hashem wants us not to hate, and that hate and anger are bad for my mental health. But when I see what Israel is doing in Gaza, when Israeli soldiers pointed guns at my Arab friends, those feelings rise up.
And they lead to a third emotion: guilt. Guilt that I can’t do more, guilt that I can’t be there, guilt that I am (relatively) safe and comfortable in the USA.
So I would love to hear your perspective on how you try to handle these emotions.