Music + Words = A Pretty Nice Time

Reading and listening recommendations for mind expansion.

Dear fam,

I woke up yesterday morning in my Big Kid’s bed. She was in my bed, snuggled up with my wife, so it was just me in the bubble-gum pink bed with the strawberry-patterned sheets.

I was there because Toddler had been awake all night with various bad dreams and anxiousness. Who knows exactly what troubles a two-year-old’s sleep? What matters is that she needed her mama by her side. Every time she’d almost drop off to sleep, she’d sit bolt upright and call, “Mama?!” just to make sure I was still there.

One thing parenthood has taught me is that even the longest nights eventually give way to sunlight. This one, too, melted into the following day. But it’s echoes continued into my morning, resounding through my achey joints and lower back, straining my nerves and patience. This made it even more difficult to wake up to about eleventy-thousand messages and notifications about the news back home in Israel. Which was bad. Very, very bad.

The activist chat groups I’m in were overflowing with messages planning protests and sharing articles. Today, the rage continues to overflow — my father-in-law, for example, attended a protest in Jerusalem, alongside scores of others around the country who are calling for an immediate cessation of violence. These tens of thousands know what the government is trying to do (consolidate power, prioritize nationalistic ideals over the actual safety and rights of people, dismantle the rule of law insofar as it exists) and they’re mad as hell. I am mad as hell, too.

I’m also tired. We’re all so tired. Hoarse from saying the same things over and over again: Violence is not the answer. Bring the hostages home. Stop the destruction in Gaza. Killing civilians doesn’t keep my family safe. Please, please leaders of all our nations would you mind caring at all about human lives?

How any times is it appropriate to ask leaders to care about the welfare of their own people¹ above political gain?

Still, we can’t stop saying the things. And we can’t stop trying to expand our minds with new information and challenging dialogue. This week, for example, I engaged in a wonderful conversation with a friend who doesn’t align with me politically. We made the ground rules clear — stay respectful, think before typing, come curious and not defensive, assume the good intentions of one another. We’ve known and loved each other for about 25 years now, so this was relatively easy to maintain. Returning to love helps a lot.

Through the discomfort, I think we both grew a little.

Anyways. This recommendation email is dedicated to ideas that are helping me continue to expand and grow my thinking about the rancor and destruction in my homeland. As always, not an endorsement of the ideas per se, but of their capacity to inspire thought.

Sending you love and strength,

Mikhal

English-language Recs

1. This one goes out to people who feel hopeless. These are three separate plans for peace — all different, all with their own problems and gaps. All thinking outside the box about a “intractable” problem that might not be intractable with the right leadership. I won’t tell you what I think of them because I don’t want to influence you, I just think it’s worth noting that there are still ideas out there that have not been tried:

   1. The Regional Plan for Peace, promoted by the UN, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, in collaboration with the Palestinian Authority.

   2. Realign for Palestine, promoted by Gazan-American Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib and the Atlantic Council

   3. Two Interdependent States, promoted by Israeli and Palestinian activists from A Land for All

2. JTA reports that Elon Musk’s DOGE cut off $250 million dollars in peace funding for the Middle East. So that’s not great.

3. Timothy Snyder
   writes about the complicated use of the word antisemitism and the danger of misusing such an important word.

4. Harriet Brown
   writes about a similar topic, especially as it relates to the detainment of Mahmoud Khalil.

5. In a fascinating Instagram post, Kaizen D Asiedu makes a different argument about the detainment of Mahmoud Khalil. Swipe all the way through.

   thatskaizen

   

   A post shared by @thatskaizen

6. Rabbi Jill Jacobs wrote this opinion piece for the Forward about Trump’s actions against Columbia University.

7. The Associated Press reports on how the families of the hostages fear for their loved ones now that violence has resumed, and on the numbers of dead and injured during the last year and a half. For every number, I imagine the eyes of the person who is lost or captive. What do they look like when they laugh, or when they love? This is how to read the list of numbers, I think.

Hebrew-language Recs

1. ניהול וסכסווך: ישראל ולבנון — I was serving in the IDF on the border with Lebanon during the second Lebanon War, and this series about the history of Israel & Lebanon’s complicated relationship has been fascinating.

2. לחסד וגאולה המשך ישר — This album by Israeli singer-songwriter Aya Korem was written and recorded during the first 11 months of the current violence. It is breathtaking and, at least for me, it opens a well of ache and love for the country I see bleeding.

3. בין עזה לברלין — Full disclosure, I haven’t heard this yet but it’s recommended by my father-in-law so I know it’s good and thoughtful. A candid conversation with Gazans living in Europe about their lives and ideas for the future.

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1. I mean, ideally of all people, but hey — let’s start with low-hanging fruit.