{"id":1912,"date":"2021-04-16T08:42:11","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T12:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/?p=1912"},"modified":"2021-04-16T21:05:20","modified_gmt":"2021-04-17T01:05:20","slug":"think-of-criticalhope-as-one-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/2021\/04\/16\/think-of-criticalhope-as-one-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Think of Criticalhope as One Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

Critical hope seems at first to be a contradiction in terms–a clash of two universes of discourse.\u00a0 \u201cHope\u201d has to do with the experience of faith which inspires vision, which engages us in action and (hopefully) to a sacred, healing resolution. \u00a0 \u201cCritical\u201d seems to come from the world of thought which leads to analysis which leads (hopefully) to truth.\u00a0 Alternatively, the word \u201ccritical\u201d implies crisis and omnipotent need–a critical care unit in a hospital–a sense of being on the brink.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always thought of hope as something we do in spite of circumstances.\u00a0 But perhaps hope itself must evolve.\u00a0 I\u2019m starting to think of \u201ccriticalhope\u201d as one word. \u00a0 It is the ability to see the suffe<\/span>ring and pain in the world.\u00a0 It is the clarity to know that pain and suffering could be alleviated by actions talked about and never taken. It is vision with a drop of cynicism.<\/span><\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

I have an image seared into my mind from childhood.\u00a0 I was watching television and saw Jack Ruby shoot and kill Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas Texas in 1963.\u00a0 I was 13 years old.\u00a0 I still remember Oswald\u2019s face in that moment even after half a century.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0\u00a0eyes are the windows to the soul.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this moment I have so many deaths seared into my very soul.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t breathe\u201d has become a mantra of horror.\u00a0 We are bombarded by false information and fear mongering.\u00a0 We see violence and oppression occurring before us as it happens on a daily basis.\u00a0 It is a new paradigm. We can no longer hide from the suffering of our fellow human beings. I see\u00a0 us as having two choices.\u00a0 We can either go mad overwhelmed by it all, or we can engage in \u201ccriticalhope.\u201d What does that look like?<\/span><\/p>\n

To roll one\u2019s eyes but still go to the demonstration.\u00a0 To put on a yellow shirt and be in the line of grandmothers protecting demonstrators even if it will have no obvious effect.\u00a0 To write legislators, to support organizations dedicated to change, even if we are not sure change will ever happen.\u00a0 There is a phrase in Hebrew which doesn\u2019t really translate into English–<\/span>davka<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 I translate it \u201cbecause of\/ in spite of.\u201d\u00a0 I see my powerlessness, so davka, I go out and act. I see racial inequality as too overwhelming, so <\/span>davka <\/span><\/i>I work to end it.\u00a0 I see so much hatred in the world, so <\/span>davka<\/span><\/i> I am more firm in my belief in human love.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My faith has been powerfully challenged so <\/span>davka<\/span><\/i> I believe that \u201ccriticalhope\u201d will save us all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rhonda Shapiro-Rieser is CRSL’s Jewish Community Adviser.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"