Responses to the Thoughtful Responses to the 9/11/25 Letter to GreenFaith Boulder County

The current and past GreenFaith Boulder County organizing committee members were thoughtful and kind and hesitant to lose the mission of climate justice. I have not asked if I can post publically the words of the organizing committee members so I am not including them here. In response, however, Micha Kurz and I wrote the following emails in the order below, respectively:

From: Micha K. Ben David
Date: Fri, Sep 12, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: GreenFaith Boulder County and Starvation in Palestine
To: Current and Most Recent Past GFBC Organizing Committee Members

Dear friends,

Thank you all for your thoughtful reflections, and for sitting with the weight of this. I hear the desire for caution, the concern for our relationships, and the real fear that these conversations can fracture us instead of strengthening us. I also hear, beneath the surface, that many of us are wrestling with discomfort.

Pete, thank you for naming your conflict honestly. Sarah, thank you for bringing forward the voices of local Rabbis who are feeling unsafe. Marybeth, I appreciate your wisdom in calling for us to breathe and listen.

I want to say clearly: I’m not interested in shaming anyone, least of all Donna. I’m grateful to everyone who has shown up with heart in this conversation. What I am asking is that we recognize how silence functions. To step back from Gaza, to say it is “outside our scope,” is itself a political act—one that reinforces the very systems of violence we oppose when we fight for climate justice.

The truth is, environmental collapse and genocide are not separate. The same state and corporate powers profiting from fracking here in Colorado are profiting from war and occupation in Palestine. The same logic that erases Indigenous, Black, and immigrant voices here erases Palestinian voices there. Our struggles are braided together.

I know this is difficult terrain. I know it feels risky. But I also believe that this is precisely what interfaith climate leadership demands: the courage to name connections, to tell the truth even when it unsettles us, and to create space where the voices of those most affected are not excluded.

If GreenFaith Boulder County cannot carry this conversation as a whole, perhaps we can create a smaller circle—those who feel called—to hold it face to face or on Zoom, as Marybeth suggested. I am more than willing to participate, to share my lived experience as an Israeli Jew, and to listen deeply. My hope is not to divide, but to help us find the moral clarity we will need if our faith communities are to have any real impact in the years ahead.

With respect and solidarity,
Micha

For context, there had just been a big push for public visibility. The Global Flotilla, and events one of the organizing committee members, Bonnie, was tracking:
Sept. 18  is the day a year after the UN gave ultimatums to Israel to fulfill (which they likely won't) or they would create consequences
Sept. 23  is a date the General Assembly convenes ...and there is hope by the LifelineforPalestine organization that some country will call for an Emergency Session to call forward the "Uniting for Peace" process
See for references Newsletter — Our Sacred Earth

From: Lodi Siefer
Date: Mon, Sep 15, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Subject: Re: GreenFaith Boulder County and Starvation in Palestine
To: Current and Recent Past Organizing Committee

Hi Bonnie (and all),

Given that it appears this process for the current organizing committee will take some time, if I may I'd make a suggestion to make individual outreach to the people you'd like to sign on/take action around the 9/18 and 9/23 dates/events. 

I'll spread the word in my circles - thank you for bringing these pieces to my attention.

Also, I wanted to share that Laura Gonzalez, one of the people who has been trying to get Boulder City Council to pass a ceasefire for Israel/Palestine was arrested the other week and is having a hearing tomorrow, Thurs 9/16 at 1:30p at the Boulder County Jail, 3200 Airport Rd. 

Speaking of discomfort and being asked to extend into places where discomfort lives, I was part of a vigil/protest that Laura was part of and the intensity of calling out complicity felt difficult for me to tolerate in my body, I was able to stay at the event because of cultivated relationship with one of the other organizers. While I was uncomfortable with how Laura was protesting, I imagine that if I was inside her body and identities and lived experience, it would likely be exactly how I would show up. Later, I was able to see another side - the place of wounding and "never again" -- the generational trauma that brings out a fierce protective love that looks like rage and has immense power to it that can feel frightening - even while it is actually nonviolent direct action.

My tax dollars are funding a genocide and I want my local reps to help represent me. Bless Laura for her tireless and fearless fight on my behalf.  

Below is an ask to help Pack the Courts in solidarity along with instructions about how best to do that. [Images redacted for this posting.]

Here is a link to learn more and to give to the legal fund of Laura Gonzalez. She was recently arrested, taken from her home in the night. There’s more about the situation and how to donate here:
https://chuffed.org/project/147969-front-range-anti-zionist-legal-fund

Thanks for considering. 

Also, Lynn Segal, who has been a longtime member of the GreenFaith Boulder County effort and listserv, was charged last week with harassment (maybe other charges?) for her activism around calling the City Council to pass a ceasefire.

How will we show up in solidarity for all GreenFaith community members around this issue that is clearly coming into the community. 

Well wishes,
Lodi