Connecting the Dots

As I prepared for my Jewish American Heritage Month Lecture,

I read my outline and thought, “This outline might be a useful tool for other lecturers or TOI bloggers.” So I published it. And I challenged my readers try to connect the dots. (Points 2-13 one dot for the past, one for the present and one for the future) Give the exercise a try. It’s a worthy mental exercise.

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An Outline of My Ted-like Talk—Connecting Thirty-Six Jewish Dots From the Past, to the Present to the Future:

1. Who is Mort Laitner to give such a presentation?—A short 75-year history.
2. Anti-Semitism Now and Then—Everything is Relative—We seem to be able to forget the horrors of past—Neo-Nazis on our streets—Why Are They So Quiet?—The Internet;
3. Netanyahu’s Obama’s History, Biden (Self-fulfilling prophecies) and Trump;
4. The Pro-Palestinian Student Protesters—A long history, Goals—BDS, cutting off arms shipment, From the River to the Sea;
5. Miracles: Israel, Pre-statehood, Statehood the Present Day—The Glass is More than Half Full—Zionism, Herzl, Turkish Expulsion, Balfour, 1920 Riots,1929 Riots, Nazis, the Palestine Economy, 1939 White, British Lies, The German Army in Egypt, 1948 UN partition, Four Wars 1949,1967,1973, 2023;
6. A Glance at America’s Right and Left Wing—A Golda Meir—A Socialist Story;
7. The Shoah Clock—Never Again—1933 to 2024;
8. Israel and the Bomb—Three stories, Ben Gurion 1950, The Sinai War 1956 and Yom Kipper War 1973;
9. Five Countries—Iran, Russia, Syria, Turkey and Lebanon—Seeing the Big and Little Picture;
10. The Israel/Gaza War—Lessons Learned—The Battle For Stalingrad—Economic—Tourism, Inflation, Psychological, How long will it go on? Definition of Victory— Security, The Settlers—The Media;
11. The Jewish Renaissance in America, Northern Exposure;
12. Existential Versus Non-Existential Threats—Define as relates to–American Jews—Israel;
13. All things can be used for good or evil (Emmanuel Kant)—All events can lead to good or evil (Nazi pre-war expulsion of Jews from Germany economic policy—-Holocaust—Israel)
14. Readings: A Seder Speech for 2024, The Last Jew in Vinnitsa On A Tee Shirt; The End of the Jewish Renaissance in America, When Fascism Comes to America—A Poem; Hamas What the Fuck Were You Thinking.

If this post made you think about the big picture and connect the dots, I’d love to hear from you.