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Remembering the Innocents

An Online Ritual

“Through suffering, I have learned that we must share our love with the whole of creation.” (Etty Hillesum, Jewish writer)

"I wish children didn't die. I wish they were temporarily lifted up to the sky until the end of the war. Then they would return home safely, and when their parents asked them, 'Where were you?', they would answer, 'We were playing in the clouds.” (Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer)

 

Every child has a name – and each name represents a whole world. Over the last year and three months, from October 2023 until today, over 17,000 children, unwillingly involved, have been killed: in Gaza, in Lebanon, in the West Bank and in Israel, the large majority from Gaza.  A loss that is difficult to grasp, and yet, we believe it is important to know, to take a moment to absorb the magnitude of the disaster.

We invite you to join a sacred ceremony of remembrance. For two continuous days, beginning January 26, 2025, we read the names of the children. We  read 11,635 names - these are the verified names we have been able to collect from the most recent lists available.

The ceremony span approximately 36 hours, with 231 people from around the world joining together to read name after name, honoring each young soul lost. Reading each child's name, regardless of their nationality or religion, we insist on honoring the sacredness of each life. It's an act of rebelling against systems that want to make us believe that some lives are more important than others.

Preparing this ceremony has broken our hearts repeatedly. There were moments when our eyes could no longer focus on the lists, when we had to pause to weep. We invite you to join us in this space of witnessing and grieving.

We are Dina Awwad-Srour and Emma Sham-Ba Ayalon, two female peace activists, one Palestinian, the other Israeli. We found shared inspiration in Etty Hillesum, the Dutch Jewish writer who perished in the Holocaust. We believe that Etty's words carry the wisdom of deep humaneness that the world needs so urgently now.

 

Five years ago, we traveled to the Westerbork transition camp with Zen Peacemakers and participated in a bearing witness ritual honoring Holocaust victims by reading their names. Now, we continue the act of remembrance, refusing to remain silent in the face of atrocity, understanding that if there's a shared path of nonviolent co-existence for Israelis and Palestinians, it will begin by acknowledging each other's pains and mourning together.We draw strength from Etty's example of maintaining humanity even when fear, hatred, and revenge threaten to overwhelm it.

We invite you to take part in the event,to watch, to breathe, to bear witness. This is the least each and every one of us can do – The souls of the children ask: Stay with us, Remember us. 

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© Etty Hillesum Cards 

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