Anger….and a request

Last week on October 7 I participated in a memorial marking the first anniversary of the largest pogrom suffered by the Jewish people since the end of World War II. There were over 1,000 people in attendance, members of the Columbus Jewish community and our allies including several local and state politicians.  It was not a session for vitriol or hate but rather an acknowledgment that what many (not me) thought was unthinkable in today’s world was, unfortunately, all too possible.  The purposeful murder of Jews for who they are as well as the attendant world-wide explosion of antisemitic speech and violence has come into sharp focus in the last 12 months.

The evening was somber and painful as relatives and survivors of the October 7 massacre told their stories.  Prayers were said for the those murdered and assaulted, for those kidnapped and taken hostage, for the Israeli Defense Force soldiers who have died in the subsequent conflict.  We heard stories that would wither your heart.  Entire three-generation families murdered.  Children orphaned by the murderers taken in by other families.  Spouses whose partners were called up as reservists and left home with little notice and no knowledge of when they might return.  It was powerful and heart-rending.  We all said Kaddish for those who died.

What we did not do was scream or yell or use hate-speech to denigrate Palestinians.  We did not call for their destruction.  This observance was about the Jews and others who were murdered, and other than a few references to the Hamas murderers, this was an evening of mourning and introspection.

The theme of “never again” was mentioned frequently.  Both because of the shock that a massacre of Jews did happen again, and in the context of the lack of understanding regarding the Israeli response. 

I thought attending would make me feel better, provide some group catharsis, provide hope for the future.  I got some of that, but mostly I came away even angrier than before.

I come from a family who lost most of their relatives to the Holocaust.  My grandmother once said that she could count 60 relatives never heard from again.  My father did not believe it could not happen again.  He believed, and I learned from him, that a recurrence was all too possible.  Two and a half millennia of antipathy toward the Jewish people is just not that easily overcome.  In this case, history favors the pessimist.  I never expected to see (again) thriving Jewish populations in Western or Eastern Europe.  The same in Central and South America.  And the far east’s antipathy is simply beyond my understanding but nonetheless real.

I believed the United States represented (along with Israel) the exception.  Not that the US had eradicated racism or Jew-hatred, but we no longer tolerated it in the course of “normal” society.

That was the past.  I no longer believe that the US is the exception.  It is not as bad (yet) as Europe, but it is headed in that direction.  Do I believe a majority of Americans are antisemitic?  No, I do not.  But I am angry because I believe that a significant minority of both the left and right wings of the political spectrum are in fact antisemitic, and their speech is contributing to a normalization of antisemitism and violence against American Jews .

I am angry that over 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. were reported in the year since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack.  According to the Anti-Defamation League this reflects a 200 percent increase over the previous year and is the highest number of incidents ever recorded in a single-year period since ADL began data tracking in 1979.

I am angry that women’s groups, who routinely and emphatically call out sexual violence as a violation of humanitarian law when committed by Russians in Ukraine or against Yazidi women, or by ISIS,  or by Boko Haram in Nigeria, were virtually silent in reaction to the sexual violence committed by Hamas against Israeli women and girls. Not a word.  Not one damn word.  If you have a strong stomach, you should view Sheryl Sandberg’s Screams before Silence.   It happened.

I am angry because the same women’s groups imploring me to write my Senator to object to Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court because of his alleged sexual abuse were silent when it was Israeli Jews being raped. 

I am angry at the student protesters who demonstrate support for Hamas by holding up pictures of Haniyeh and Sinwar, both committed terrorists with American blood on their hands.

I am angry with those Americans that believe that “by any means necessary” is right and justified when done to Jews in Israel by Hamas but when used by Israelis against Hamas and Hezbollah it is deemed Palestinian genocide.

I am angry because mainstream media is complicit in the normalization of atrocious acts against Jews.  Calling a terrorist like Haniyeh “moderate and pragmatic” is akin to saying that Lizzie Borden was “upset.”

I am angry because of the ideology that convinces supporters of LBGTQ+ rights, Black Lives Matter, women’s rights (among others), people whose very existence would provoke violence against them by Hamas and Hezbollah, protest against Israel and Jews.

I am angry because all of a sudden it is “normal” to say things about Jews that would not be tolerated if said about any other minority group.

I am angry that leaders – be they political, educational, or others, are allowed to issue “apologies” for saying things that advocate violence, discrimination, and dehumanization of Jews without much consequence.  “I’m sorry” does not cut it.  This goes double for professors with tenure who believe that their right to “academic freedom” allows them to denigrate and humiliate Jewish students.

I am angry because we have somehow allowed objections about Israel, its current government, and its actions to degrade the capabilities of terrorist organizations and their supporters to somehow justify attacking Jews and Jewish institutions in the United States.

I am angry that there continue to be well-funded efforts by Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and others to encourage agitation against Israel and Jews in the United States and Europe.  If you believe the last year of protests have erupted spontaneously, you are sadly mistaken.  This response was planned, scripted, funded, and executed by people committed to the delegitimizing (and destruction) of Israel and the Jewish people.

I am angry because such a vocal minority does not believe that Hamas, Hezbollah, and their ilk along with their funders and supporters in Iran, Qatar, and others represent an existential threat to Israel.  Or they believe it and either do not care or are supportive.

My anger has manifested in several ways, some more productive than others.

First, it has made me poor company on occasion.  While I understand the need to inform people of the facts, I have little tolerance when their opinions allow them to disregard said facts.  Overall, I have been a bit grumpy about this – and just about everything else.

Second, my building anger and frustration over the past year has given rise to greater involvement in the local Jewish community.  Rabbi Hillel (the Elder)** said famously, “If I am not for myself, who is for me?”  True then and very true now.  Hillel died in 10 CE.  Some wisdom is timeless.  

Third, after our alma mater made a total hash out of their reaction to October 7 by disregarding the impact on Jewish students and faculty and when our pleas for a more appropriate and productive response fell on deaf ears, my spouse and I ceased to consider that institution worthy of our philanthropic efforts.  This is an institution with which we have both been heavily involved for close to 50 years.  No longer.  And that is heartbreaking for us.

I do not believe the majority of Americans are antisemitic.  But I do believe that there is a significant minority of Americans who are and, moreover, it will require heroic efforts for them to cast aside that prejudice.  Moreover, I believe there are too many people remaining silent.

This is what the world has come to.  But honestly, in the history of the Jewish people, when has this not been true?   When in the last 2,000 plus years has there been a totally safe haven for Jews?  A time and place where we were truly accepted?  The answer is never.

The fact is that Jews represent only 2.4 percent of the US population and 0.2 percent of the world population, and have historically been an oppressed minority in virtually every country they have resided in.  In spite of our faith in “never again” it turns out that modern times are no different.  Europe is experiencing a huge wave of antisemitism.  The Middle East and North Africa have already reduced their Jewish population to next to nothing through oppression, violence, and outright expulsion.  American Jews are waking up to the reality that it could, in fact, happen here. 

Survival of the Jewish people requires that we be considered valuable to the society in which we live.  I think we’ve proven our worth – American Jews have contributed much to the success of this country, through scientific advances, technological innovation, creations of cultural and artistic significance, and much, much more.  We have contributed well beyond our weight.  I believe the United States would be worse off without the contribution of its Jewish citizens.  Let’s make sure it does not come to that.

To do so, we need the support of the non-Jewish population, without which I believe the impact of antisemitism will only get worse in the United States.  Simply put to my non-Jewish friends and readers: we need your help.

Start with this:  the next time you are in the presence of someone spouting antisemitic rhetoric or Jewish conspiracy theories (you know, like space lasers or Jews control the [fill in the blank] , or anything that starts with “they all….,” say stop.  Ask them to educate themselves.  And then ask them not to speak like that in your presence.

And ask us how we are doing, how it feels to be a Jew in America today.  Over the past week, as we remembered the October 7 massacre, as we contemplated the frightening rise in antisemitism, as we gathered together to observe the Jewish high holidays and listened to our rabbis’ sobering and challenging sermons, we have taken stock.  I can’t speak for all American Jews, heck I can’t even speak for my own family members, but I suspect many American Jews are thinking and feeling differently than they did a year ago.  Please ask us.

Edmund Burke said  “”The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”  I implore you to do something.  Start at the ballot box.  Then do more.  Burke had it right.  He also said,  “Nobody made a greater mistake than one who did nothing because they could do only a little.”

**Interestingly Hillel also wrote “That which is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow.  That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation.  Go and learn.”  And he migrated from Babylonia to Israel and was a woodcutter by trade.  Sound familiar?