TO BE EYELASH TO EYELASH
Today I released a song called “Eyelash to Eyelash” in memory of my Jewish grandmother Libi who passed away three years ago. I channeled my grief, desolation, and hopelessness into my songwriting. The song’s title comes from the root “cilia” (meaning eyelash) of the word “reconciliation.” To be reconciled is to become so close to someone again that you are eyelash to eyelash with them. I long not only to be eyelash to eyelash with my grandmother, but also with God. My opening lyric sometimes still rings true for me today: “These days it feels like even God is on hold.”
While violence rains down on Palestine, who am I to be safe at a distance? As my tax dollars go towards billions in military spending, I am complicit in their suffering. I pray for reconciliation and discernment. During this season of Lent, my heart has been broken as I share in their grief. As Americans watched the Super Bowl, Israeli bombs fell in Rafah (“the safe zone”). Two Israeli hostages were freed. Over a hundred Palestinians, many of whom were children, were brutally killed. How can two human lives be worth more than 100 others? How can violence ever bring peace? And what can I, one person living in the comfort and privilege that I have, do about it?
Lent began on Valentine’s Day and that evening, after receiving ash on our foreheads, my partner and I attended an LGBTQIA+ vigil for Palestine to mourn, sing, and pray. It was a meaningful way to honor a day centered on love and recalling our mortality. We’ve since made it a weekly Lenten practice to attend local interfaith prayer vigils for Palestine. Being in solidarity with others helps us move from isolation into collective action and hope. Making art and rosaries to support free Palestine, Congo, and Sudan is a form of resistance. I continue to discern what more I can do.
In today’s readings, Isaiah calls for repentance. The psalmist and Jesus denounce hypocrisy. How might we make peace and nonviolence our aim? How can we align our values with our actions and move towards being eyelash to eyelash with the poor and marginalized in our communities and around the world?
Jessica Gerhardt