A Vigil for Palestine
By J.p. Lawrence
The conflict in Gaza Nov. 14 to 21 sparked discussion for students at Bard. Students of J Street U and the Muslim Student Organization held a vigil on Nov. 28 in honor of those who died during the conflict. The Free Press spoke to those at the vigil to recreate an oral history of that night.
Sarah Stern, senior: It was sort of something that a lot of campuses thought necessary, because there are a lot of protests that are being held that were very one-sided. So they were either ‘Stand with Israel’ protests or ‘Free Gaza’ protests. And these people didn't really talk to each other or talk about the people dying. So the idea was to create a space where we could recognize anyone on either side who died.
Abby Lutsky, sophomore: The first thing that happened? We lit candles. It was outside in the meditation gardens across from the Fisher Studio Arts Center. And we just put candles around the bench.
Stern: It was close to 100. Visually, it was sort of striking.
Lutsky: There were five of us that were lighting all of them, before everyone came.
Hannah Khalifeh, junior: It was very dark, and all I could see were what looked like hundreds of candles lined up on the benches.
Iman Salahuddin M. Muhammad, Muslim Chaplain at Bard: It was frigid. It was cold. But it was warmed up by the people who were there. They brought some cocoa and some coffee. And they had candles lit.
Stern: We all made a small circle.
Lutsky: We had some poems, and we read [some] background stories, and a couple prayers were said.
Stern: First we had Iman Salahuddin do a prayer that I think he sort of free-styled. It was in English. Then we had the rabbi, David Nelson, do a prayer, which was for healing.
Muhammad: I was there with the Muslim Students Organization, and I said a little prayer for peace.
Rabbi David Nelson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion: When I heard the vigil was being cosponsored by J Street U and the MSO, I immediately decided that this was important enough for me to be there.
Muhammad: What was going through my mind was, this is something that we should all be a part of, because we who have understanding of the beauty of human life should feel bad when any human life is lost.
Nelson: The prayer that I chanted was the traditional Jewish prayer that is recited at a funeral, at a burial. It’s a memorial prayer that essentially prays for the peace and the eternal rest of the souls who have died. It’s very simple and very traditional.
Stern: For me, hearing the Jewish prayer was very meaningful. I also came from a strong Jewish background, and I don't really engage with it that often at Bard. So just hearing Hebrew, which remains an emotional language, in a prayer, ties me into meditative thought.
Stern: Then Abby read a poem.
Lutsky: It was by Yehuda Amichai…It's talking about the rights of people and how all this violence happened, but we have to remember they are still people.
Stern: After that, we had two biographies of people who died. One Palestinian, and one Israeli.
Lutsky: I think that everyone was really in the moment as things were going on.
Nelson: I can’t speak for anyone else; what was going through my mind was deep frustration and sadness with the fact that this kind of flair-up of hostilities over Gaza is now just one in a series. I have no illusions that this was the last one.
Stern: I heard other people gasp at parts of the biographies. I think just hearing about what actually happened to these people is very meaningful.
Lutsky: It was a small group of people together. At least for me, I was thinking about everything. All of the violence that had happened. It's hard to express exactly what has happened through these poems or through these background stories, but we were able to bring a glimpse of it and bring a focus on what has happened so far away from Bard. It's easy to disconnect.
Stern: I think that the circle, all of us standing at attention, obviously everyone being there together, gave me like sort of communal feeling. A lot of the time at Bard, around the flare-up in Gaza, I felt very alone. I was reaching out to people I knew were reading the news or whatever, but everyone was going on with their lives. Everyone was doing homework, looking at memes on the internet.
Lutsky: I just kind of felt that there are people here who really care about this and are reading the news just like I am, but I kinda felt I needed to do something more. I needed to get that sense of community.
Stern: I think this issue interests people in a very academic way, and I think I've started to see that translate to a sort of emotional connection.
Khalifeh: I am usually cautious about approaching the issue of Israel and Palestine with my peers, because I know we have differing ideologies, and I don't want to get into a conversation where both of us are trying to convince the other of something.
Stern: After that, I gave closing remarks. This is a moment to focus on people and not just politics.
Lutsky: People mingled a little bit. It was very cold. There were a lot of hugs and people thanking other people for coming. I just felt really happy that people came and that we had that moment together.
Khalifeh: I think it was a really good idea to hold a vigil, because with all the politics behind the attack, it's easy to forget the human side of it. And it was nice to have just a peaceful moment to think deeply about what was happening without debating about the issue or reading the news.
Nelson: I would hope we would never have to do anything like this again. I don’t think that hope is realistic at all. We will gather again, whether it’s this year or next year or the year after that, many more times, before the killing is over, on both sides.