Yom Hashoah - A "Right to Exist"

There is no such thing as a “right to exist”.

There is no such thing as a “right to exist”, because no person on earth gets to be the entity which bestows existence upon me. There is no earthly judgement which validates or solidifies my soul.

I do not ever enter into debate about Israel’s, or Jews’, “right to exist”. Falling into the trap of entertaining this is part of their method to take us apart strand by strand. There is nothing to defend in my existence.

I simply *do exist*. This just IS.
It just is, whether or not others feel discomfort.

We neither have any responsibility for others’ discomfort nor suffering. 
Neither their low self-worth, nor their envy. 
Neither their confusion nor their distaste.
Neither their businesses nor their economies.

We say ‘We will never forget’, and that we are here to stay.
These are not platitudes to fit into our practice of remembrance, a practice within Jewish culture taken extremely seriously - in our festivals, in our history, in our learnings. 

It is not a platitude, but a *vow*.
It is a *devotion* to ourselves, and to our loved ones who perished, and who continue to live right through our selves, through our very breath.

We make this vow to ourselves, to you, to all of you who feel discomfort, and to G-d, because it is the right thing. It is the just thing and it is from love.

We exist.
We are here, and we are here to stay.

We live. We will continue to live and stand, simply, clearly and strongly for all that is right and just, because that is who we are as a nation. Certainly not because I found a clever way to politically convince the hateful that perhaps they should give me the right.

עם ישראל חי