The Heartbreak Feels Unbearable

The heartbreak feels unbearable.  

Heartbreak is not Either/Or. 

It is AND/BOTH.  

Anyone trying to convince you that your heart should not break over people’s suffering is doing something other than love. 

Love is And/Both. Suffering is And/Both. Our relentless commitment to you is this: In times of heartbreak, we will show up in the And/Both.  

On 10/7, Israeli civilians were subjected to unimaginable acts of terror at the hands of Hamas, which killed at least 1,400 Israelis and took 199 hostages. It was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, an atrocity in which the world’s silence allowed the genocide of 6 Million Jews. In towns bordering Gaza, Israelis continue to endure terrifying rocket fire.

We can never be silent when civilians die at the hands of terrorists. 

We can never be silent when civilians die at the hands of F-16 bombs.

Since 10/7, at least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed at the hands of the Israeli government, and 2 million Gazans–half of whom are children–have been cut off from electricity, water, food, and humanitarian aid. 1.1 million, with no place to turn, were given 24 hours to flee their homes, amounting to what the UN calls a “death sentence” to those sick and injured in hospitals.

We can never be silent when people across the world are killed because of their faith or ethnicity. We can never be silent when it happens in our own nation. 

Islamophobia kills. This weekend, an Illinois man–repeating genocidal war rhetoric–fatally stabbed a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy and seriously wounded his mother.

Antisemitism kills. Antisemitic violence is at historic highs in the U.S. Jews comprise less than 2% of the U.S. population, but experience 51% of faith-based hate crimes.  

We can not close ourselves off to heartbreak. We must live in And/Both. We must do what we can.  

Together Rising invested $100,000 in The New Israel Fund and $100,000 in MECA to provide medical aid, clean water, food, and trauma support for civilians suffering unimaginable loss.  

May we continue to show up for the hurting.

May our heartbreak make us more tender.

In Relentless Hope,

Together Rising