6 | FEBRUARY 27 • 2020
guest column
Finding Hope in a Spring
Views
I
magine checkpoints lining 8 Mile Road.
A bus approaches the border of Detroit
and the suburbs, headed for Oakland
County, and two heavily armed officers
step on board to check IDs.
Depending on your residency
status and ability to obtain
a rare permit from Oakland
County’
s government, you’
re
permitted to cross. Few
Detroiters are able to obtain
these permits, but resi-
dents of the majority-white
Oakland County are able to travel freely.
In Detroit, we know about segregation.
We can see the long-lasting impact of its
history in our communities. As American
Jews, we denounce these practices in
the United States. So why do we allow
these systems of oppression in Israel and
Palestine?
Some say that it’
s for security, our
safety. Some speak of their fear — of the
worst that could happen to Israel, and to us.
These are valid concerns and emotions
for a community that faces continued vio-
lence and trauma. We want a safe place to
live and thrive, like all people. I hear this
and honor this desire. But is a violent mili-
tary occupation the answer? Does this really
keep our community safe?
A few days into the new year, I traveled
with a group of more than 150 Palestinians,
Israelis and diaspora Jews like myself to Ein
Albeida Spring, a central water source that
villages in the South Hebron hills in the
West Bank have depended on for centuries.
The goal was to restore Palestinian access to
this central water source, which was histor-
ically used to nourish these communities.
The day was planned and led by Palestinian
activists, as well as the Center for Jewish
Nonviolence.
The spring is located in Area C, mean-
ing that it’
s under complete Israeli military
and civil control. Fifteen years ago, settlers
Lisa Tencer
COURTESY OF LISA TENCER
editor’
s note
The Dinner Table
G
rowing up, I was used to spirited
debate in my family. That conven-
tional wisdom of avoiding politics
at the dinner table wasn’
t really a thing; at
our dinner table, someone would often say,
“What do you think about this?” and just
kind of see what happened.
Sometimes we fought. But we
always came back together in
the end, because, well, that’
s
what families should do.
At its best, our Views sec-
tion can be the same. It’
s a big
dinner table for all of us, and
I’
m naïve enough to believe
we can have a decent meal with our neigh-
bors without throwing food.
Those meals take many forms. We like
to feature light, humorous pieces and
thoughtful personal narratives from our
community. We will also soon be bringing
on some regular local columnists.
Sometimes we may run unsigned edito-
rials that represent the institutional voice
of the publication. And, when appropriate,
we also publish reader submissions that
wade into the issues that most animate
American Jews, including Israel, when
there is something of new merit to be dis-
cussed. Sometimes, as loyal readers know,
that means running voices from AIPAC
or the Michigan Jewish Action Council;
sometimes, as in this week, it means a
voice from IfNotNow.
I don’
t want my role in this process to feel
sinister or opaque. So I’
m being transparent
with you now, while my tenure is young
and I still have some wiggle room. To tell
the truth, it makes me happy to receive
reader submissions from across the Jewish
ideological spectrum. To me, that means
we can be seen as a welcoming place for
different Jews who might not otherwise
have a respectful (key word) dialogue with
each other. That certainly sounds like the
“
community resource” part of JN we’
re all
fighting to preserve in the first place.
Of course, a too-permissive opinion sec-
tion in such polarizing times can become
the domain of mudslingers and bad actors.
So there have to be some guardrails. JN’
s
historic editorial standards provide us with
guidance, but there will always be new
judgment calls to make. I’
ve been talking
about it with Arthur Horwitz around the
office, and we are still figuring this out. Can
a Jewish publication be both a free and open
exchange of ideas and a true unifier for the
Jewish community?
For now, I want to believe it can. Metro
Detroit’
s Jews are going to disagree about
many things and, as your editor, I’
d be a
fool to pretend otherwise, especially during
an election year. We may fight, but in the
end we all have to eat anyway. So we may
as well sit down to dinner.
Andrew Lapin
continued on page 10