An unusual honor to an American Organization, Jews and the meaning of memory

The motto of the Jewish American Society (JASHP) is “Shaping the future by remembering the Past.”

Jewish life and experience are based on memory. It shapes our present and tomorrow. If we do not remember, why should anyone else?

In the early years, when JASHP was seeking to define its purpose, an event in a Western American Mining town clarified what we were to do and have been doing, anywhere and everywhere since.

I was in a historical home in a frontier mining community, the former home of a Jewish leader in the town.  There was a menorah on the mantel that I observed as the docent guided us through the house.

I asked the docent whether the home’s owners had been Jewish.  The answer was blunt and unpleasant.  “Yes, they were Jews.  They came here after us Christians cleared the land and stole everything for themselves.”

Pure ignorant antisemitism.

I knew the family’s story.  They were among the first pioneers who came, struggling and risking everything side by side with their neighbors.  They stood with their Christian neighbors, defending their community from the elements, from Indian attacks, and from real Wild West desperados.

Jews did not come to steal from their neighbors; they came to build new lives, together with their neighbors, to make America a better place for all.

JASHP eventually placed a series of historical markers in the mining town.  Each marker, and every marker we do that relates to the Jewish experience, has the word Jew in it. A young woman looked at me when JASHP did a marker project in Iowa. She said, “I did not know there were Jews here.”

It is a basic part of JASHP projects and markers to affirm Jewish historical presence, legitimacy, commonality, and contributions.

JASHP has completed projects in forty-four States.  We have also completed projects in nine countries.  In the United Kingdom, we have completed over thirty projects with more being planned.  Jewish history goes back in the U.K. to Roman times.  In Canterbury, Jacob the Jew was central to the ransoming and rescue of King Richard the Lionheart.

In contemporary England, antisemitism is rabidly spreading.  Organizations are growing to banish all the “Zios” (Zionists) from the U.K.  The anti-Zios groups are demanding that the banishment be extended a step further.  They want all Jews banished from the U.K.

The haters certainly have never had a simple lesson about British Jewish history and their contributions.

For nearly a decade, JASHP has been working closely with Martin Sugarman, the archivist of the (British) Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women.  Together, we site Jewish historical markers in the U.K. Most of the markers recognize and honor Jewish military heroes of Great Britain.  Jews in the U.K., like in the U.S., are disproportionally represented in the honored legion of decorated military veterans in service to their countries. Many British and American Jews have given their last full measure of service.  Many rest in cemeteries far from home.

Antisemitism is fought on many levels.  For us, antisemitism is fought by creating permanent, visible historical markers telling the story of Jewry. In the U.K., almost all of our markers incorporate a Star of David.  Heads turn when walking past a marker with a Star of David. Each marker, most of which are for AJEX military heroes, is a pin prick in the hides of the antisemites.  The pin pricks in the bigot’s hides have been making them very uncomfortable.

Six months ago, Dan Fox, the head of AJEX, himself an active, high-ranking military officer in the British army, asked me to come to the annual AJEX Parade in Whitehall. The Parade is very significant.  Dan said AJEX had something for me.  He never shared what, only that I should plan to march. What Dan and AJEX had in mind was a very unusual honor for an American organization.

After WWI, the King granted a special honor to the Jews of the U.K. He allowed them to Parade past the Whitehall Cenotaph in London.  The Cenotaph is the U.K.’s major memorial to the fallen in all British Military conflicts.  The Parade occurs every year, one week after the National Memorial Day Parade.  Jews are the only group to have been granted this unique and special privilege.

Sunday, November 16, at a special AJEX reception, JASHP and two other honorees were presented with special recognitions and awards for service to AJEX and British Jewry. It was a recognition of our common fight against antisemitism, ignorance, hatred, and bigotry. JASHP was honored with a special set of authentic World War II military service medals.  The Chief Rabbi of the U.K. spoke; Lords and nobility were present.  Numerous uniformed Jewish and non-Jewish military personnel looked on.

After the award ceremony, we proceeded to the assembly grounds behind Whitehall’s Horse Guard Gate.  Over a thousand British Jews awaited, ordered in ranks. We marched out through the famed Gates, past the Cenotaph. Thousands more watched from along the sides. British military bands played and led the way; their electric red, ankle-length capes and silver Albert helmets festooned with a flowing crest of golden horsehair were dramatic.

It was an extraordinary experience.  Each marker and project JASHP does is unique, though without the pomp and circumstance that the British can do so well.

Whether in the U.S., the U.K., or in Mongolia, JASHP continues to tell the Jewish story.

Jerry Klinger is the President of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation

www.JASHP.org