I have spent many years working to promote the understanding of difference; being involved with identity-based groups of which I am a member to foster our rights and learning from that model to be an ally for others who find themselves mistreated or ignored by society. I see these roles as connected—identity matters to me only as a means to understand and therefore to combat oppression, putting into action my interpretation of Hillel’s notion that if I am not for myself (and people who are like me), no one will be for me, but if I am only for myself and my “kind,” what indeed am I? It is in the role of an ally to the people of Palestine that I have felt called to get involved with campaigns that support nonviolent grassroots strategies to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I believe my greatest contribution to tikkun olam has been...
