What in the World

It's Monday. I'm Here for You.

The Pick Me Up is a Monday morning newsletter filled with advice, personal stories, and tips to help you get out of bed and jumpstart your week.

Greetings friend.

It’s me — Jen Glantz.

I really like to use this newsletter as a source of inspiration, a virtual hug inside of your inbox, a pick-me-up.

But this week, it feels hard to do that.

I’m writing this to you on Friday the 13th. Days after the terrorist attacks started in Israel. Days after so many of the people I know in/from Israel have reported deaths of family members/friends or are searching for loved ones who are missing.

Days after it was reported that it was the deadliest day for Jewish civilians since the Holocaust. Never again, but then, it slowly starts to happen again.

Right now, all over the news are warnings about potential terrorist attacks around the world, especially on Jewish people.

I am a Jewish person.

And I am scared.

I wanted to use today’s newsletter to share resources and ways that you can donate/get involved to help those impacted by what’s happening in Israel — not just with monetary donations, but with your time or with other supplies. What’s happening there is brutal, heartbreaking, horrific. If you have any other organizations or resources to share, please put them in the comments below.

Even though I feel immense fear doing this — I wrote a little bit below about my own personal perspective about what it’s been like to grow up Jewish, travel to Israel, and always have a lingering voice inside of my head when I’m in temple or at a Jewish gathering, that I might not be safe. I know there are many other groups of people who might feel a similar way about not being safe because of their religion, race, or geography. Your stories matter. I invite you, if you are comfortable, to share them with us in the comment section below, or hit reply and share them just with me. There’s a lot of hate in the world. I vow to make this newsletter a space of openness and kindness, above all else.

Why you’re getting this: I'm Jen Glantz and this is The Pick-Me-Up newsletter. I've been sending it every Monday, for 8-years, to thousands of awesome humans, just like you. Thank you for letting this email live in your inbox. It truly makes my heart explode with joy.

Ps. I’m so grateful that you’re reading this because writing this newsletter every week is my favorite thing. If you know anyone who would adore getting this in their inbox, it would mean the world if you’d share it.

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⚡Today’s Pick Me Ups

Usually in this section I share articles, podcasts, and items that I really adore. But this week, I want to share ways that you can get involved if you want to help the people impacted by the Israel-Gaza war. There are a lot of ways to donate money but that might not be practical for a lot of people who don’t have extra dollars to spare. So on this list, there are other organizations and ways you can volunteer without spending a dollar.

• Here are two lists (list 1 / list 2)

• TIME put out a list of ways to support/donate here.

• NPR has a list of vetted charities/organizations and also shares more information on how to double-check a charity is real before donating money.

• A friend shared this Amazon wishlist to collect items for IDF soldiers.

• Bethenny Frankel has a Israel-Hamas relief effort here.

• Another friend shared this organization and her company is matching donations.

• My friend’s company is donating all profits to support those impacted by the Israel-Gaza war.

• A reader shares this resource Hands On Tzedkah's Emergency Fund for Israel.

• A friend shared this list with me of ways to get involved and learn more. Her co-founder went back to Israel to serve in the IDF.

If you have any other organizations that you’d like us to know about, please comment below and share them with our audience

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Can we sit near the exit door?

I was raised Jewish — and that’s always meant so many different things to me.

It has meant tzedakah (charity / spontaneous acts of goodwill). Baking Challah on Friday afternoons and passing it around the table for people to rip off a warm handful of bread after a long week. It meant getting Bat Mitzvah’ed at the age of 13, “confirmed” at the age of 16, and going to Israel at the age of 19 and 21. It still means going to Temple on the high-holy days, setting the table with traditional food, and inviting everyone in the neighborhood over for a meal, even if they’ve never celebrated that Jewish holiday before. It’s also meant wearing a Jewish star necklace, but also being told to hide it in certain places or take it off and put it away, just to be safe.

For as long as I can remember, being Jewish has also meant being extremely aware that there’s hatred, anti-semitism, and acts of terror, that have happened, could happen, and will happen on Jewish people.

It has meant always sitting close to an exit door.

I went to a Jewish school from mommy-and-me until the 8th grade. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized driving to school every morning and having to pass through a secured gate, an armed guard, and going through multiple check-points just to get to my desk, isn’t the “norm”.

I remember going to my neighborhood public high-school on the first day of school, wondering why it was so easy to get into the parking lot and into the classroom. Where are the security guards? Why aren’t they checking my ID?

I went to Temple a lot growing up, but some holidays I remember my parents saying it might be best for us to stay home. There were a lot of terrorist attacks on temples. It was too much of a risk to go.

But whenever I’d go, and whenever I go now, I always try to sit near the exit door. I try to take deep breaths and relax but I can’t help but scan the room, watch the movement of the security guards, and wonder if being in this environment isn’t such a good idea. Praying often brings peace, but when you’re Jewish at a synagogue, sometimes it washes you with a wave of anxiety and what ifs.

As a Jew, whenever I’d be in a city with a Holocaust museum, I would spend an afternoon there. Less than 100 years ago, 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. It’s my duty as a Jew to never forget that, to never let it happen again.

I’ve never told anyone this before, but the first time I went to Israel, at the age of 19, I was so nervous that something bad would happen to me there. Cafes, buses, schools were being bombed quite often. I was scared I wouldn’t be okay.

Before that trip, I opened a word document and typed out a will. I wrote a letter to my family just in case I didn’t make it back home.

I’m writing this to you on Friday the 13th, when the leader of Hamas declared a Day of Jihad. In New York City, warnings have been blasted that there might be terrorist attacks, especially on Jewish people. I’ve had friends, family, people I hardly know tell me to stay safe, stay home, and be careful.

I’m not searching for an exit door today because I’m not leaving my apartment.

Perhaps I’m giving into fear or baseless threats. But I’m scared.

Yet, I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m able to hide out in my apartment. So many other people are not.

I try to tell my non-Jewish friends about the fear that’s always bubbled-up in my heart. How I was told to hide my Jewish star necklace. How strangers on the internet message me that Jewish people deserved to die in the Holocaust — anytime I write about being Jewish. How I’m scared to send this newsletter today because I don’t know if I can stomach the hate that could enter my inbox.

There are a lot of people struggling right now.

You don’t have to have the perfect or right words to say to them. 90% of love is just showing up. It’s simply this:

I’m thinking about you. I am here to support you. I will show up whenever and however you need me to.

Love,

Jen Glantz