The side I choose is humanity. Blame my parents if you want.

 I’ve never been to Israel.

It seems likely I won’t make that trip anytime soon, if ever.

I was never taught to love Israel, or to see it as “my” land. 

My parents stayed true to their demographic and generational compass and, like many Jewish parents born in America in the mid 1930s, elected to raise me as a good American and let me sort out religion for myself.

(They either never got, or never read, the memo about Judaism being more than a religious practice, but also a way of being in community and in the world.)

I’ve had to sort out an awful lot for myself, to varying degrees of success.

After being bugged for years to write a song about Israel, I came up with this several years ago.

It’s reception has been mixed to good, depending on who’s in the room. Most people have liked it. A few have told me privately it’s naive. 

But it’s what I’ve got, and I came by it honestly so I stand by it.

I’ll add it to the current discussions and expressions of pain and love, and hope it reaches someone who needs it.

And I’ll go to sleep praying for peace.