I was raised Jewish in New York City, but for my entire life, my family and I have spent summers in Israel. It’s a place that I love and a place I feel connected to, and is meaningful and important to many Jewish people. 

 

Israel is a Jewish state. This was officially declared in 1948 after the Holocaust. Jews worldwide, who had previously been a stateless people, finally found a home. Israel, especially Jerusalem, is the location of several important Jewish cultural sites, such as the Western Wall (or Kotel), Masada, the City of David, Yad Vashem (a Holocaust remembrance museum), and many more.

 

However, Israel is also home to many significant sites for other religions and cultures, including Christianity and Islam. Additionally, at the time Israel was declared a Jewish state, there were people already living there who were not Jewish. Some of these people did not want Israel to be a Jewish state. 

 

This fundamental disagreement has been the source of conflict ever since, beginning in 1948, the very year Israel was created, when surrounding countries including Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Transjordan declared war on Israel. 

 

Since then, Palestinians (people who lived in Mandate Palestine before the creation of Israel) and Israelis have been fighting over the land. The wider Arabic world has generally been on the side of the Palestinians, and naturally, this has created tension between Jewish and Arab people globally.  

 

In the summer of 2020, I spent my summer in Israel as usual, only this time, I was sharing a kibbutz with a group of not only Jewish students, but also Palestinian students. In my time spent with this group, I developed many deep and meaningful friendships. So much so, that when the fighting with Gaza escalated that summer, I was able to maintain these friendships, often across our political divides. 

 

Previously establishing relationships with one another allowed us to humanize each other and see more than just politics. 

In the same way, I believe that Our Common Denominators’ conversations can help polarized people recognize their commonalities. I also believe that this is the most important step to finding a solution to this conflict. Both sides must first humanize and recognize the other. 

For this reason, Our Common Denominators’ conversations are not about politics, but rather about forming a meaningful connection. By focusing on what connects us rather than what separates us we can begin to face that which divides us.

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If you're interested in participating in a Common Denominators conversation, get in touch.