Reflections Spring 2019

By Rachel Barcelona

It’s funny how easy it is to remember the smallest details of our life when we find ourselves in mirrored moments of our past; something as simple as walking down a familiar street can ignite a memory from weeks or even years beforehand. And the more I consider my time, my experiences, my own reflections, the more I realize how much positive growing can be done in a year. Reflecting is an integral part of our human nature; it is through reflection that we not only ask ourselves questions about who we are and what we want, but challenge ourselves to do more—to be more.

We often hardly notice how quickly the months pass within a year or the way that seasons seem to seamlessly roll by. The gentle hues of my Israeli summer suddenly are washed away by the crispness of a Pittsburgh autumn, the excitement of a new school year. This winter is a blur of chapped lips, hot tea, and cuddling in bed with my roommates when we wanted to hide away from our schoolwork. I constantly find myself counting moments in my life through the seasons, and as they change, I, too, endure a slow transformation.

A year ago, 70 Faces had its first publication. Nearly 6 months later, we were reeling from the Tree of Life Massacre and the aftermath of chaos it caused in our lives. So many of us learned the hardest ways to hurt and the strongest ways to heal. Despite the difficulties, our Jewish community did not shy away from reflecting on our experiences. The hurt and healing, they live on in their rawest forms as words on pages, memories tied deeply to the past. Eventually, though, we learn to keep walking forward, one small step at a time.

But what became a fundamental element of our own introspection was the meaning of our Jewishness—how we defined it, how we expressed it, how we lived with it. When we experience tragedy, it is nearly impossible to not question every part of our identities, our sense of purpose.  

Judaism in and of itself is almost impossible to define. I think back to jokes about crazy Jewish mothers and chacos and matzo ball soup. I think about turquoise hamsa necklaces and pomegranates and kippas. I think about identity and ownership and complexity and how Judaism intertwines itself into every complicated piece of our existence. Whether we are Jewish and interfaith, Jewish and artistic, or Jewish and queer, we all experience Judaism through a different set of eyes.

They say that there are 70 ways in which we can interpret the Torah. Here at 70 Faces, we extend this idea far beyond the confines of Jewish texts. If the winter was a time for silence and reflection, this year, spring of 2019, we have bloomed; we are stretching out our cramped branches and finally digging our roots into our own visions of what Jewishness truly means – anything and everything we want it to be. The possibilities are endless.