10 | FEBRUARY 20 • 2020
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had a story of his own. When
he was just 8 years old and
the internal armed conflict
was raging, there was a knock
on the door of his home early
one morning. His father rose
from the breakfast table and
cracked the door open; he
then turned to his family and
said, “There are men outside
who want to speak with me.”
Then, looking directly at
his eldest son — the 8-year-
old boy who would one day
become our tour guide — he
instructed, “Listen to what
your mother tells you; do
what she says,” before stepping
outside.
Moments later, the gunshots
started. When that 8-year-old
boy tried to run out to help
his father, his mother held
him back. But after the shoot-
ing ceased, the father was
nowhere to be found. They
never did find him. Our guide
told us that, in his family’
s
heart, they buried their father
long ago.
Of all the grantee partners
we met, it was the young
members of an artist coop-
erative who inspired me the
most. They are taking trauma
and pain and transforming it
into art. They are gathering
their strength as friends waste
away in prison simply for
defending the human rights of
others. Armed only with cour-
age and a dream for a better
future, these artists influence
their country to challenge
the prevalent narrative of
corruption, impunity and deg-
radation. They use their art
to inspire hope, change and
justice.
Few of us know what
we would do in the face of
genocide. When the mon-
sters come, when the gun is
pointed at our head, when
our town is scorched, few of
us know what we would actu-
ally do. But if, God forbid, I
ever find myself in a life or
death situation, I hope I have
the resilience to lead a life as
meaningful as the ones I wit-
nessed in Guatemala.
Josh Whinston is a rabbi at Temple
Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor.
CHRISTOPHER DILTS/AJWS
Rabbi Whinston shares a
reflection with the Global
Justice Fellowship cohort in
Guatemala City.
resilience from page 8
allies from page 6
the flag.
• On Jan. 23, at the
Auschwitz-Birkenau death
camp in Poland, for a
commemoration of the 75th
anniversary of the liberation of
the camp, senior delegations
from the Muslim World
League and the American
Jewish Committee came
together and locked arms
in a show of friendship and
solidarity.
The Secretary-General of
the Muslim World League,
Mohammad bin Abdulkarim
Al-Issa, who is based in
Mecca, led 62 Muslims from
28 countries and, upon
touring the camp, stated: “To
be here, among the children
of Holocaust survivors and
members of the Jewish and
Islamic communities, is both
a sacred duty and a profound
honor. The unconscionable
crimes to which we bear
witness today are truly crimes
against humanity. That is to
say, a violation of us all, an
affront to God’
s children.”
• Last year, Rwanda Air
announced it was launching
direct flights from Kigali,
Rwanda, to Tel Aviv. Its CEO
announced at the time that
he was “very excited” to
“strengthen diplomatic ties”
between the two nations.
Two months earlier, Israel
opened its first embassy in
Rwanda. And two years before
that, Rwanda’
s president Paul
Kigame spoke at AIPAC’
s
Policy Conference in
Washington, D.C., and stated,
“Israel has the right to exist
and thrive as a full member of
the international community.”
• Last November, on a
London subway, a Muslim
woman wearing a hijab
intervened to defend a Jewish
man and his children, all
wearing kippot, from a man
calling them “Satan” and other
obscenities. She was able to
de-escalate the incident.
• In January, the Guardian
Angels, a volunteer
organization that patrols
the New York subways
unarmed to help deter crime,
announced it would begin
focusing on the streets of
Crown Heights, a heavily
Jewish neighborhood. Curtis
Sliwa, the founder of the
organization, made the
announcement and stated:
“It’
s like every decade there’
s
a wave of anti-Semitism,
expressed with violence,
horrific acts of crime … We
have a moral obligation to
make up for historical anti-
Semitism.”
Locally, I have the honor of
serving as a co-director of the
Coalition for Black and Jewish
Unity and the Michigan
Director of African American
Outreach for AIPAC. I spend
a great deal of time working
with non-Jews on joint
events, committees, seminars
and projects that support
Israel, fight racism and
anti-Semitism and promote
solidarity between our two
communities.
For several years, as the
lone Jewish representative,
I traveled to Israel with 200
Christians who wished to
deepen their knowledge and
show their love and support
for Israel and Jews. I wish
more Jews could see what I
get to experience firsthand
— genuine acts of goodwill
toward the Jewish people from
dynamic, kindhearted and
principled people.
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