A Letter to My Boys
Shoah Legacy Writer, Deena Poll Goodman, Second Generation

Dear Trevor and Matthew,

I write to you today, and reflect on conversations regarding the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, the massacre by Hamas on Israel.
There is no time for indifference.
You say stay off of social media, watch less news mom-
I say, this is no time for indifference.
We can love and have hope.
We can educate and teach others about racism and the connection with antisemitism,
AND this is not a time to be indifferent.
As Rabbi David J. Wolpe said recently, ‘the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference’.

Speak up now, this is no time to be indifferent. Tell your truth, your Ancestors history, your holocaust story, this is no time to be indifferent.

I can be fearful and hopeful, and not quiet nor complacent. Maybe you can not understand my concerns about my physical safety in Jewish Los Angeles, or in the United States, let alone in this world. Why do I do the things I do, you can’t understand them. You say ‘they want you to be fearful’, I say I need to be cautious and live my life. Caution is not something you, at age 21 and 24 know much about.

This moment, is no time to be indifferent, and is all too familiar.

Love,
Mom