Originally written June 2024/5784
When I was a kid I learned that the number thirteen was unlucky. I reveled in the trivia fact that many large buildings didn’t include a thirteenth floor. I obsessively checked elevators for years to confirm the veracity of this. As I grew into teenagehood, I learned that thirteen moons matches up with the typical menstrual cycle. And that thirteen became known as bad/unlucky by patriarchal Christianity which rejected all connections to goddesses, and the maligned and misunderstood processes of periods, sex, and birth.
What does it mean that a number associated with the divine feminine became so “unlucky” that buildings continue to uncount their thirteenth floors? Keywords that come to mind: misogyny, monotheism, misinformation.
Over the last few months, Fox News has reported extensively on the “progressive failure” of the city of Portland, the “antisemitic riots” at universities nationwide, and “massive” Trump's rallies. Noticeably absent from that coverage has been the majority of the ex-president’s legal trial. Now that he’s been convicted, Fox headlines imply conspiracy.
What I understand is that when most of us humans are under stress or fear, decisions become black and white, us or them, police state or unruly chaos. What I also understand is that almost everything lives in shades of gray.
Antisemitism is real, the state of Israel is not representative of Jews worldwide, AND I believe as a white Jewish person in the U.S., I have a responsibility to speak out loudly against my tax dollars being used for genocide in Gaza.
As I speak out, I know at the same time there is not enough focus on genocidal violence in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where millions are displaced, in large part because of global anti-blackness. My heart aches as from Palestine to Sudan to the DRC, neighbors use against one another the very tools of ethnic cleansing, domination, and violence manufactured by white supremacy.
Among all of this, I’m trying to find hope in the amazing victories of labor and student organizing, the strength of our protest movements, and how we can build community even in the worst of times. When I think of “unlucky” number thirteen, I think of people’s capacity to relearn what we were once taught. We can know our history and add to the telling.
Image description: A photo of an ancient carving in stone. The Venus of Laussel clutches a crescent-shaped horn bearing 13 notches — a potential reference to lunar and menstrual cycles. Source: Education Images/Universal Images Group/Getty Images