Have You Ever Wondered, “Why Some People Think Jews Are Paranoid?”

Have you ever wondered, “What it felt like being a Jew living in Berlin on Kristallnacht?”

Listening to the screams of glass crashing on the cobblestones.

Smelling burning torah embers.

Tasting fear.

Hands in prayer, “Please G-d, No Gestapo pounding on my door.”

Have you ever wonder, “What it felt like to be a ten-year-old Warsaw Ghetto boy with your hands raised, being led out of the Ghetto by a Nazi soldier?”

Listening to the tears and weeps of surrender.

Smelling death in the form of the fallen Jewish fighters and Nazis.

Tasting a new flavor of fear mixed with at-least-we-went-out fighting pride.

Hands in prayer, “Please G-d, may our next battles against the oppressors be more successful.”

Have you ever wondered, “What it felt like being a Jew kneeling at the edge of a ravine at Bari Yar?”

Listening to lead exploding in Jewish heads.

Smelling the acrid, sour odor of a thousand spent bullets.

Tasting unspeakable horror.

Hands in prayer, “Please G-d, take me out of this misery.”

Have you ever wondered, “What it felt like being a Jew sardine-cramped into a locked, windowless cattle wagon on your way to “resettlement?”

Listening to the screams of babies.

Smelling the stench of bodily waste.

Tasting impending death.

Hands in prayer, “Please G-d, get me off this train so I can breathe, sit, pee, drink some water and eat a slice of bread.”

Have you ever wondered, “What it felt like being a naked Jew ordered to shower in a gas chamber?

Listening to the deafening wails of Jews inhaling poisonous gases.

Smelling bitter almonds fumes as they burned your eyes, throat and lungs.

Tasting nothing as you approach death’s door.

Hands in prayer, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our G-d, the Lord is one.”

Have you ever wondered, “Why some people think Jews are paranoid?

Tell them to listen to our story and to the screams of our people.

To taste our agony over the loss of six million.

To smell our pride at our rebirth and renewal.

Hands in prayer, “Please G-d, never let it happen again.”

Have you ever wondered, “If they were in our shoes, would they even think to ask such a question?”