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.

continued on page 12

