It's hard to keep posting.
It's hard to keep fighting.
It's hard to have to keep justifying my right to exist in this world over and over again.
It's hard to fight ignorance.
It's hard to keep my head up.
It's hard to keep pace and strength.
The amount of lies and misinformation is staggering.
The most infuriating part for me is the disconnection and inability to rectify fact from fiction.
So I once again remind you, my digital friends, of who I am as a person.
I am Sarah and I am Jewish.
I am a wife and mother of daughters.
I am a teacher and an advocate for children.
I am a feminist and believe in women's rights and power.
I am a tree hugger and environmentalist.
I am spiritually connected to Gd.
I am not religious.
I am a believer in peace through religion and the understanding that we are all brothers, sons of Abraham. Children of Gd.
I am also considered a "settler". I live beyond the "green line" in a pluralistic community of Jews who generally do have positive connections with our Muslim neighbors.
Tekoa is a place I had heard of my entire life. It's a place that my first cousins have lived in since the early 80s. A place we got pen pal letters from during the Gulf War. A place that we saw in old family videos we would mail across the world to each other.
A windy, dusty, hilltop outside of Jerusalem where my uncle could research wind energy and work on inventing a wind energy turbine on the edge of the desert. The place where my cousins grew up.
Before the Oslo Accords (before the Intifadas), my family was actually friends with many of their Muslim neighbors. They would share meals and play music together. They had genuine friendly relationships.
Fights between Fatah and Hamas and general Palestinian infighting cut those very real relationships off. It became too dangerous for the Muslims friends to maintain relationships with Jews.
Tekoa, like many communities in the south, is a farming community. Through various farms we produce mushrooms of all varieties, roots like ginger and turmeric, asparagus, blueberries, olives (of course), and more. We work with Palestinians and forge relationships through our shared connection to the land... And more simply a shared connection to just live our lives in peace.
Over the past few months, I've thought many times about the Palestinians I know and have formed friendships with. The butcher from our local shop for example. He finished his psychology degree the same year I finished my teaching degree. We lamented over zoom lectures over corona closures together. He, like us, also has two young girls around the ages of our daughters. Now, it's too dangerous for him to talk to us, lest he be seen as a traitor.
People at their core are color/race/religion/gender blind. They don't see differences, only that there's another person.
When we were in Tiberias recently Nickoma took Siikwan to the park early one morning. There Siikwan met a little Muslim girl with her grandmother. The girl only spoke Arabic, no Hebrew. Siikwan speaks English and Hebrew, not Arabic yet (hopefully one day but we're not trying to overload her brain at 5). They played and laughed and found ways to have fun and connect without the barriers of titles like "Jew" or "Muslim". Siikwan came back to our rental talking about her new best friend at the park. Because with kids that's how it works. Beautiful, pure, and simple truth.
Are we "evil settlers"? I see it as we are some of the real front lines of peace and connection. We live in the closest proximity and, before October 7, interacted daily.
Not everyone is an extremist.
Not everyone is chanting death to Palestinians or death to Jews.
Many of us are just trying to do our best to live nice lives in Israel. Trying to be good and do good.
I just ask you to consider when weighing out stories and viewpoints and deciding what you believe is true....
Me. Consider me. Who I am, what I believe and stand for.
May we see an end to war, hatred, and pain of all forms.
May we learn to accept and love one another because through our differences there is beauty in the fabric of humanity.
One Love. 
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