Ordinary Violence

As a Jew who writes on psychedelics and ancestral trauma, I feel like I’m supposed to have an opinion on the current conflict. Instead I feel numb; would telling people to "feel their feelings" help?

The sound wasn’t particularly loud; a low-toned whistle passing far overhead; easy to miss amidst the conversations burbling throughout the vineyard. But as we admired the ripening grapes and clipped a few to bring back to the apartment, I couldn’t tune out the zipperlike whoosh.

It was the sound of Israeli artillery shells, inbound to Gaza.

That was back…