Never Again doesn’t mean never again. Jews articulate masterfully their condition. They coin comforting terms seemingly devised to stop any further holocausts from occurring. It gives us security that unfortunately isn’t based on any reality I can discern. We have Jewish scholars rising to any anti-Semitic occasion to describe in detail the derivation of the latest form of Jew hate well referenced and conclusive. Jews excel at intellectual pursuits. We analyze our tormentors accurately but we don’t stop them. And too we aren’t so nice to each other. We have a faction among us often described as self loathing. They are a varied lot of tormented sordid beings who wield much power destructively. Then there are the do-good Jews who write assiduously about our Jewish condition much as I do now. I write to encourage Jews to seriously step it up.
How would we do that? It would include guns. The holocaust was a mostly defenseless extermination, which is widely acknowledged. Many today disparage the NRA and our second amendment. What better way to control citizenry who cannot defend themselves. Jews should never again allow that to occur yet how many Jews own guns or are skilled at using them?
We might also acknowledge that our current administration was ushered in with furious good deed gusto by misguided rich Jewish individuals who championed a black president who turned out to dislike them and Israel. How do we respond? Hardly at all! In fact, short of carrying an Uzi to finish off our fellow Jews, there is no price to pay for dishonesty against our own people. A green light is offered to do about anything you choose even if it’s deception that could result in Jewish loss.
Take Edward Snowden, an enemy of the United States viewed as a traitor. He is confined solely to Russia with no passport, stuck literally in the USSR at the young age of 30. He’s in a self imposed prison of his own making, punished even if the US hasn’t had their opportunity to isolate him for the next 40 years. Is he guilty? There are differing opinions on that, but we do know he has been tried and convicted by many here in the states, and Snowden is paying the price. The Jewish people might do well to examine this example for much in the same way, there are powerful Jewish individuals who are hurting their own people with no price to pay.
Control And Manipulation
Upon examination, there are countless examples of punishments metered out to those who defy rightly or wrongly the laws of their land including those perceived as violating their religion, their country, their family (especially if you’re female in Sharia imposed countries), their gender; restrictions that limit the right to live as free men and women. Little is said about these egregious laws that I clearly do not advocate. I merely point out the extremes to which an ethnic group will go to control their people and manipulate how they are perceived by others. Islamophobia is their made to order strategy designed to cleverly deceive western civilization, and Jews aplenty who wouldn’t dream of offending a Muslim man who abuses his wife. Those accused go running as we saw embarrassingly at Brandeis where Ayaan Hirsi Ali was summarily dismissed from addressing Brandeis students, most of whom are Jewish. Jews react more than not in the wrong way for the wrong reasons. Then we turn to the Europeans who insidiously attempt to restrict circumcision, kosher foods, anything related to opposition toward Jews. Their looming Muslim demographic scarily contributes to anti-Semitism as well as the declining European birth rate rendering much of the continent a dying un-replenished people. European Jews are leaving, many of them, but some will remain with no self defense waiting for a calamity that could befall them. Jews are being murdered there, as before.
And who would come to their rescue? Not America with its weak leadership whose signature foreign policy includes ongoing torment of Israel, a country that dares to be remarkable and courageous. American Jews watch this behavior with silence more than not. Our message appears to be implied acquiescence.
Jews Are On Their Own…
Jews are on their own even for those who live comfortable life styles and seem oblivious to what is happening to Jews worldwide. We observed Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation, an institute credited with collecting countless testimonies from Holocaust survivor’s, award President Obama its Ambassador for Humanity tribute for his efforts to protect human rights. Really? Is Spielberg politically pandering to a president who defies the human rights of Israeli Jews by placing them in harms way or is he blinded by fortune and ideology? Jews accept this behavior. We support other Jews no matter how they behave even if it hurts Jewish credibility and I suggest it does! Perhaps we should reconsider our approach to those who sell out their people. There might be less of it if we did.
There are groups in which name calling or stigmas are strictly prohibited. We see that among Muslims and Black people who are well protected by well honed strategies they’ve developed. When certain behaviors are deemed politically incorrect we avoid them. Name calling is punished for those who unwittingly cross that line. Just look at the now tarnished Donald Sterling. He may be a racist but his classless girlfriend ratted him out and it went viral. He’s tried and convicted for sharing private beliefs that were unknowingly recorded to entrap him. Seems unfair and it may be. Racism isn’t tolerated. It isn’t even tolerated when no discernible racism has occurred. It is an accusation now used handily by politicians and powerful Blacks who seek to politically manipulate policy. It’s been working quite well for our current administration. That we elected a black president indicates pretty clearly that America is hardly racist.
Jewish Narratives?
Anti-Semitism is used brazenly. It is a global phenomenon. That’s because there is no pushback. No compelling Jewish narratives even from Israel where it is needed most. No messaging that demeans those who dare to blacken the Jewish people. Jew hatred is used freely by many people whose lives are often restricted by lack of opportunity, like the intractable Palestinians who scapegoat Jews in an organized and deceitful manner; they are just plain angry, filled with hate. I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore. That line from the movie, Network characterizes our enemies but it should more aptly describe the feelings of Jewish people who are surely exhausted from centuries of violence and hatred. In fact, the pervasive form of self hate that some Jews manifest comes in part from the battering the Jewish people have withstood for centuries. This suppressed rage has never been tapped. It is cumulative free floating trauma among a people trapped in convoluted layers of persecution. Jewish denial is rampant. Therapists are sought post crisis to help those suffering from trauma to release the psychological poisons that fester and can lead to suicides, substance abuse, violence. Should we be surprised by Jewish behavior that is often self destructive and threatens to engulf us? Where is that anger and why isn’t it addressed other than by scholars who analyze it well but offer no practical management skills. These are powerful considerations that deserve serious examination yet are mostly ignored. I suggest this problem is wreaking havoc among the Jewish people.
Finally, I’d ask how our well-funded Jewish organizations whose purview is stunningly narrow can ignore these facts. So too, they tolerate anti-Semitic behavior in universities, the well funded BDS movement, Hillel chapters that encourage with J Street anti-Zion events, tolerance for our administration’s skewed approach to the state of Israel – our only ally in an increasingly dangerous Middle East. And where is our outrage in allowing Iran to develop nuclear power which threatens Israel and all of western civilization.
The Curse of Liberalism
Liberalism among Jews doesn’t serve our people well. Jews embrace an ideology that has dramatically changed and is not in their own best interests. They continue thinking in the same ways even when it hurts them. Where is their self- regard and dignity? Where is their leadership? Why aren’t reform rabbis, Jewish leaders, Jewish organizations speaking out boldly to American Jews to provide much needed information and awareness
New Approaches
As the storm clouds amass menacingly, I suggest we look inward and start thinking about new innovative approaches to bolster our own human rights and self-respect in this increasingly hostile world. Jews must wake up or anti-Semitism will continue to advance at our own peril.
Leave a Reply