I take a yoga class about once a week and the teacher consistently ends the class with “In case no one has told you yet today, ‘You are freakin amazing. Namaste.’” 

I believe her. We all are.

To be living to this age; to be living in this age; to be able to look back and be proud of most of your yesterdays; to know that the work is far from done and to know that it might be getting harder and harder to believe that it every will be done. I take that back. It won’t ever be done. The art of being human takes a lot of effort, and we rise and fall and fall and rise almost as often as we breathe in and breathe out.

That’s an exaggeration of course. The art of being human is knowing that nothing seems to remain the same. On my way to Yoga, I was listening to NPR. They were discussing the Administration’s executive orders and their impact on graduate students who are studying and doing research here in some of our most prestigious universities.  Deportation orders; ICE arrests; threats of “defunding” grants and programs and tying so much of this to protecting Jewish students and being pro-Israel and anti-Hamas all were included the in conversation. Throwing all of this up against a wall painted red and black with the words “Free Speech”.

I am waiting for all of this to backfire. That means I am afraid the day will come when the tide will turn and resentment against the Jews will grow for having privileged and protected status. I know it isn’t logical and it’s probably a function of my generation. But I am very wary of the Administration’s motives. They can turn on a dime. Witness: Zalensky.

But enough. This is what I know (in Biblical parlance): Gird your loins. The fight is far from over. The walls of the city may be breached but with will and confidence and faith in each other we can rebuild – and believe that not only are we ‘freakin ‘ amazing but so is our country. In the words of Jewish tradiiton: may it come soon and in our days.