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Raising
Awareness
Lily Grier
T’chiyah Havdalah
fundraiser supports
Standing Rock
protests.
Rabbi Alana Alpert conducts Havdalah.
Lily Grier | Special to the Jewish News
O
n Saturday, Nov.
26, more
than 50
individuals gathered
in Detroit at the home
of Rabbi Alana Alpert
for an unconventional
Havdalah experience.
Though T’chiyah, a
Reconstructionist congrega-
tion, hosts monthly Havdalah gather-
ings, this was the first that served as a
fundraiser.
All attendees were encouraged to
donate whatever they could to the
Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
The Dakota Access Pipeline, con-
structed by Energy Transfer Partners,
is designed to transport crude oil from
North Dakota to Illinois through South
Dakota and Iowa. If completed as
planned, the 1,172-mile pipeline could
contaminate the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe’s water source and would cut
through sacred burial grounds.
Calling themselves “the water protec-
tors,” protestors from the Standing Rock
Sioux tribe and allies have camped out
at the pipeline for the past seven months.
The local T’chiyah event began with a
Maariv service that incorporated a new
prayer titled “Hashkiveinu for Standing
Rock.” The traditional Hashkiveinu
asks God to protect us as we lie down
to sleep. In the adapted version, God is
asked to “awaken us to another day of
action, solidarity and support” and to
protect “those who gather prayerfully,
peacefully, unarmed.”
The prayer asks not for the destruc-
tion of those inflicting violence and
obstructing peace, but rather that they
may find guidance and renewed connec-
tion to the living Earth.
Before Havdalah, Alpert’s father,
Gregg Alpert, spoke about the impor-
tance of willingness to engage people
in uncomfortable conversations. After
hearing the flame sizzle into the grape
juice and setting an intention to go
into the week with newfound strength,
attendees helped themselves to dinner
and dispersed around the house to begin
those uncomfortable, challenging con-
versations.
Alpert believed it was
imperative to raise
consciousness around
Standing Rock, as she
says Native Americans
have been systematically
disenfranchised, stripped
of rights and humanity
throughout our country’s his-
tory, often marginalized even by social
justice-oriented communities.
“The brit [covenant] is a commit-
ment to being awake and aware of what’s
happening around us,” she said. “This
alliance is important not only because
of Jewish environmental values, but
also because of a responsibility to lift up
voices that have been so often silenced.”
Alpert saw Havdalah as an appropriate
forum for consciousness-raising, as the
ritual represents an awakening, an inten-
tional re-emergence into the world as
Shabbat ends and the new week begins.
She believes Judaism and broader social
activism are mutually reinforcing.
“Judaism operates as a natural system
for bringing folks together through
ritual,” she said. “People must also come
together to engage in social action.”
Alpert’s family redirected the resourc-
es they would have spent on a traditional
Thanksgiving dinner toward this com-
munal meal.
Hayley Sakwa, a 24-year-old Detroiter,
said, “I wanted my holiday to be rooted
in justice for all people, in solidarity with
all people,” she said. “I felt like I couldn’t
do Thanksgiving this year without pay-
ing attention to and supporting our allies
at Standing Rock.”
Alpert hopes this event was a begin-
ning for attendees, rather than an end.
The event provided attendees with a space
to develop an emotional relationship to
Standing Rock through Jewish ritual.
“This emotional work is necessary so
people can prepare to hear, to learn, to
take risks and make sacrifices,” she said.
On Dec. 5, the Army Corps of
Engineers said it would look for an alter-
native route for the final section of the
project, giving the Sioux a fragile
victory.
*
22 December 8 • 2016
12-05