Thread by @lawofruby

Last night was one of the most joyful experiences I’ve had as a #girlmom: watching four fourth-grade girls revel in their girlhood and dance like no one was watching in the aisles of the #TSErasTourFilm. And then, it turned scary. 1/

My thoughts about the Israel-Gaza war are complicated, evolving, and maybe most importantly, sometimes in tension with how I feel about a country I’ve never visited but whose existence I’ve been taught since childhood is inextricable from my religion. 2/

But last night allowed for no nuance. When the film ended, it was time to walk four girls home just a few blocks. And according to Twitter, my timing coincided with a protest steps from the theater. 3/

Friends sent me footage this week of Jewish students trapped in the Cooper Union library; I saw footage of multiple people ripping down posters of Israeli hostages all over NYC. And suddenly, with three Jewish kids in tow, only one of whom was mine, walking through that protest went from feeling uncomfortable to feeling unsafe. 4/

I have not posted about this war largely because it is outside my lane. But the fallout therefrom is wholly within my lived experience, an experience that includes driving home one Sunday night when I was about their age.

That Sunday night, as my dad’s car was about to turn the corner into our driveway, his headlights shone on the retainer wall outside our house and revealed a garish, hastily spray-painted swastika.

Last night, I was both caregiver to four little girls and the little girl I was, terrified in the back seat of our car. And so we waited, in the theater, until a ride-share car could take us home, which is itself a privilege.

I am no expert on war, nor do I believe my views on it are salient to whatever audience I’ve built here. I am just telling you this: Jews, young and old, are terrified; many of us feel hunted, as apparently our Israeli kin were tonight at an airport in Caucusus.

p.s. I don’t want you to feel sorry for me or the girls. I just want you to join me in standing firmly against anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bias in our country.