. There may be a cure, and it starts with what we think about about when we think about BDS.</p>
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There is a spiritual principle that suggests you attract that which you consistently focus on. Some call this ‘prayer’ while others call it ‘Law of Attraction’, ‘holding in an intention’ or even ‘kavannah’. The Kabbalists talk about what happens when we continually hold a negative or positive attitude (1) and the Bible says that “God knows our thoughts from afar” (Psalms 139:2) and “God knows the inner thoughts of man” (Psalms 94:11). How does this apply when we continually focus on the negative impact of BDS, when we rail against it online or when we bemoan our fate in communal forums?</p>
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<strong>Question One: How Do We Frame The BDS Conversation?</strong><br />
The recent World Jewish Congress conference at the United Nations promoted the #stopBDS hashtag. Of course it is essential to discuss how we want to stop an opponent, and the Jewish approach is proaction rather than turning the other cheek, but what energy are we attracting if we continually focus on the exact thing we don’t want? If our entire focus is ‘Stop BDS’ then we are giving our full attention to the opposite of what we want. We are think about it, discuss it, meditate on it, but allow scant airtime to what we do want. Even last week’s Jewish Journal leader column, written by Tribe Media president David Suissa – a man for whom I have great respect – proposed the idea of a “Boycott Hate-Embrace Peace” movement (<a href=)
“>http://www.jewishjournal.com/david_suissa/article/fight_bds_with_a_pro_palestinian_narrative). Although David’s intention is positive, this approach still gives more attention to Hate, mentioning it in the title. If this campaign took off, with flyers and t-shirts and swag created in true campaign-style, it would involve reprinting the word ‘hate’ thousands of times! Again, we are focusing on that which we don’t want.
Question Two: What Do We Want?
This is a time to get very specific and give our attention to the details and key messaging of our campaigns. At this moment I certainly do not claim to have complete solutions, but as we were taught in yeshiva, “it is better to have a good question than a weak answer”. Perhaps we can bring our heads together to find positive messaging, to laser in on what we truly desire, and find messaging to support that intention. This might look like “Israel wants a stable Palestine”, “Israel wants two states living in peace”, “Israel believes in Palestinians”. Rather than #stopBDS it could be #startPeace or #ShalomMiddleEast. These slogans and hashtags are not yet refined, not yet print-ready slogans, but sketches/drafts/prototypes to steer us in a positive direction. As Steve Jobs taught, it can take tremendous time and effort to get to the most elegant and simple solutions (e.g. we take for granted the one-button Iphone, but remember the complexly-keypadded Blackberries and PDAs that preceded Apple’s glorious smartphone).
Question Three: Can We Believe In The Palestinians?
There is a tremendous power when we believe in another person’s ability. The Jewish people are in tremendous pain, especially of most recent attacks in Israel. There are however many Palestinian people who are also living in painful conditions: this may well be the fault a corrupt leadership but the point I am making is to acknowledge pain on both sides, regardless of cause. Intellectual arguments are redunant at this stage as BDS is an emotional campaign (see my recent article for the Jewish Journal: “>The Kabbalah Sutras – 49 Steps to Enlightenment”. He was recently appointed a member of the Jewish Diplomatic Corps, part of the World Jewish Congress.
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