We are the next generation of Muslims and Jews. We are our only hope.

With so much death and pain surrounding us, it is hard not to be overwhelmed by the adversity that is staring right at us, to give up in the face of such struggle ahead. Yet hope defines our Muslim Jewish community.

We do not have all the solutions. We have conversations, based on mutual respect. Deeply rooted in the respect for each other’s emotions, even though we might not always share them. What we share is the will to listen.

We too feel the temptation to compare grief but it does not end the incredible suffering. For those of us on the outside of the conflict looking in, spread all across the world, it is our obligation, it is the challenge of our generation, to stand up and try something different.

We are only few. But still we are few.
We fight our own personal fights, every single day, to allow the humanity in us to prevail. We open our eyes, to see what hatred does to us.

We know, we cannot easily solve a conflict older than ourselves but we have the power to be a small part of a solution whose contours we may not yet know, whose details we may not yet fully imagine.

We are not a group of naive dreamers. Our strength comes from sharing messages with each other in this darkness with love and human decency. It comes from showing restraint and sanity on our communication channels instead of inciting hatred.

Our courage is inspired by our ability to still work with each other, speak to each other, and cooperate with each other regardless of what the news tells us to do.

We are far beyond the point of accepting anyone to speak on our behalf, besides ourselves. We are far beyond the point where anyone can incite us to divide us. We have many thoughts, feelings, positions and visions, yet we are one, united in a single belief, that we have to talk to each other, not about each other.

We are the next generation of Muslims and Jews.

We are our only hope.

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