Farewell Letter to our Neighbors |
Several years before October 7, we became friends with a young married couple living next door to us. They were a Black woman and a White woman who went on to have a son together. Our relationship developed and deepened over time and we all saw my partner David and I as surrogate parents and grandparents to them and their son. Conversations about Race, LGBQT issues, politics, family relationships, neighborhood issues were normal between us and we both greatly appreciated the uniqueness of what we had. Then October 7 happened and almost immediately they started posting ugly Jew and Israel hate messages on social media, sent me a private message lecturing me about Israel and my “beliefs”, blocked me on social media, refused to look at us in the street, and hung a large Palestinian Flab with 3 fists raised in the air prominently on the front of their house.
For a variety of reasons, we were planning on selling our house and move to a condo in the future – living next door to them hastened our process. Now that we have moved and sold our house, I decided to write them a farewell letter, which follows below:
“I wanted to write and express my gratitude to both of you. I have learned so much from you during the last several years, and now that we have gone, I wanted to share.
First, I learned how reaching out and inviting difficult conversations to understand and build bridges can be so wonderful and rewarding. Then I learned how because I am a Jew, I did not deserve that same respect and conversations.
First, I learned how to “do the work” so I could understand more about racism and on a deeper level. Then I learned that you did not feel you needed........