Photo: Karolina Grabowska | Pexels
"How are you holding up?" Aziza Hasan texted to her friend, Andrea Hodos. She continued, "I love you. I am sorry. I am here." Hodos' son had a friend who was taken captive by Hamas in Israel. The shock and pain left her struggling to find words. "So much gratitude for your partnership," Hodos replied. Her grief was not only for those in Israel. She also wrote, "I'm so worried about everyone in Gaza for what is ahead." Aziza Hasan, a devout Muslim, whose family roots run through Palestine, runs a nonprofit for whom Andrea Hodos, a devout Jew and once a resident of Israel, is the associate director. The two women remark they are more like sisters than coworkers, often finishing each other's sentences in a friendship forged in care for all humans. As atrocities of war unfold, both women struggle and support each other against depression, nausea, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite. As community leaders, their Los Angeles organization -- which brings together Muslims and Jews -- found itself holding space for people of both faiths to convene together, holding the grief and pain in a circle that was witness to comments like: "I know Israelis who are going from funeral to funeral for children of their friends." "I know people in Gaza who have lost loved ones." "My generation has to make something different for the next. We don't have to repeat the hurt on both sides." Ms. Hasan observed, "When there's a relationship, there are moments of softening that allow a little more slack in the discussion and a little more care."
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