Each Child Belongs to All of Us: Parents to Parents
What would you do for the safe return of your kids? One of the basic tenets of parenthood is the responsibility of the parent to care for their child and protect them. Maya Angelou wrote: “Each child belongs to all of us and they will bring us a tomorrow in direct relation to the responsibility we have shown to them.”
Parents are fierce protectors of their children and we are all the protectors of the next generation. Use your voice and your power as a parent to reach across cultures and religions to help release the hostages in Gaza so they can continue to grow in freedom.
Seeds of Compassion
Trees, plants, and the seeds they start from, are a metaphor for life, growth and renewal. Just as seeds need proper light, water, food and caring to grow, so do humans. We need to dig deep, find the compassion to care about each person and ensure that they have the freedom and conditions to survive and to thrive. Compassion, justice and love are core Jewish and human values. We must act in order to tend our “compassion muscles.” Compassion is not finite, it energizes and enables others to pay it forward.
Joseph in Captivity: Convene an Interfaith Gathering
What stories do all three Abrahamic faiths share in common that can shed light on the basic human rights to freedom and just treatment? How might our religious narratives help us take action for the hostages, regardless of their faith, and regardless of ours?
Day of Freedom: In the Footsteps of MLK
The 100th day in captivity almost exactly coincides with MLK day. Martin Luther King Jr. taught us important lessons about freedom and fighting for justice, which can inform our actions today and raise awareness about freeing the hostages. How can we learn from MLK to use our words to bring a voice to our movement? Who might be our allies? What can we do EVERY day?
Symbols of Freedom: Tie a Yellow Ribbon
Freedom is the ability to make choices and is a basic human right. What is the importance of freedom in everyday life? What is my obligation to fight for other people’s freedom? How can I make a difference in such a big story? Each person on this planet deserves to determine their own fate, to make their own decisions.
Fighting for freedom requires staying power, patience, dedication and faith in our own abilities to effect change. Justice requires that we be creative to do everything we can to make people aware, and accelerate the return of all hostages to their families.
How can we send a powerful message to the families of the hostages in Gaza that they are not forgotten? How can we keep this issue alive for our leaders in government so they will work for their release?
