How Did We Get Here?
I must admit I’m really not all that smart. This won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who knows me, but what the people I am closest to have figured out is while this is true, I am blessed to be able to see things coming that others don’t. Again, it’s not intelligence, it’s sort of knowing what prism to look through. Let me attempt to explain in hopes you can understand what I am trying to say. For decades during the heyday of the NBA under David Stern, I had a sense of how the playoffs would play out. I won’t get into it here, but suffice it to say the people I told about this made tens of thousands of dollars over the years betting those playoffs by following my prognostication. Not smart, just knowing where to look.
I mention that because this week is Yom Ha’shoah and across the world memorials will be taking place in most every city or state where Jews reside. Yom Ha’shoah commemorates the destruction of European Jewry during the Second World War commonly referred to as the Holocaust. The Nazi’s enacted a program which led to the death of six million Jews including 1.5 million children. It is a somber event and sadly with the passage of time, more eyewitnesses who lived through the horror, leave this world. My dad was one. He passed away eleven months ago at 93.
I suppose this is not going out on too much of a limb, but you can mark my words that wherever there is a Jewish presence in America or anywhere else outside of Israel, there will be protestors causing a scene and trying to disrupt the event. Not much of a stretch, I get it. While that is a low-class disgusting display in its own right, it will get even worse. How can it get any worse, you ask? You can be sure some of the loudest in the crowd amongst the protestors, will be Jews. Try and wrap your head around that for a moment. Relatives of victims who perished at the hand of Jew-hatred, will be protesting memorials being held for their murdered grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I would venture to say some will be wearing Kippot on their heads and maybe even a talit. But they will be there, and joining forces with the enemies of our people. They say the size of your funeral usually depends on the weather. But rain or shine, the size of the anti anything Jewish crowd does not. They will be there full throated and causing consternation to all those who attend the solemn reflective event.
I truly hope I am mistaken about this, but I’m not too optimistic. For some reason the Jewish anti-zionists are out in full force this week and it’s only Monday. I don’t have a lot of time or willingness to entertain them, but to be honest, they have given me much to think about. How did we get here? How is it that some eighty plus years after the horrifyingly efficient extermination of more than one-third of world jewry, there are Jews today who applaud the murderers work and more than that, outwardly wish to repeat it, albeit not exactly the same way. Before you get worked up and question my suggesting they approve of what the nazis did, consider whose side they have chosen to be a part of. Last week in a comment left on a post of mine, someone mentioned this quote from FDR which I think we can apply here. “Judge me by who my enemies are.” If your moral compass is so stained that it leads you to side with those who have expressly said they want to annihilate you, your very presence applauds the work of those who have set the example for them.
The Chicago Tribune reported a comment a couple of years ago from a Jewish instructor at a University of Chicago Anti-Zionist seder. “Our home is wherever we are. There’s no nation-state that is our national homeland.” The irony is so rich it’s actually too stupid for words. Did it even dawn on anyone in the crowd listening to this ivory-tower academic that they were sitting at a Passover meal meant to celebrate our freedom from slavery in Egypt as we set out on our way to receiving the Torah at Sinai with the ultimate goal of settling in the land of Israel? The land of our forefathers promised to our grandfather Abraham?
How did we get here?
The story is reminiscent of one I heard about the Jews from Worms, Germany, who after the destruction of the first temple settled there and built a community. When the Jews returned to Israel after 70 years of exile, they urged their brothers to come back home. Having gained substantial wealth and prestige, the German Jews responded, “You may dwell in the great Jerusalem; we will dwell here in small Jerusalem.” I think it is quite instructive to understand what happened afterwards. From 1096-1453 there were no less than 15 different major pogroms or massacres of Jews on German soil. Nazi Germany was not the only attempt in the Fatherland to kill Jews en masse, it was just the last one.
Another comment caught my eye from an anti-Jewish website I won’t name, but the remark says more about this person’s definition of Judaism than anything else she does. “Today, right now, to me, being a Jewish American means standing up against the Israeli government and practicing the values that have been instilled in us since Hebrew school.” There was more to her drivel, but what stood out to me like a sore thumb were the words Hebrew school. When asking the question how did we get here, hebrew school may very well be a big part of the answer.
Before you get in a lather, let me explain. Both my parents taught hebrew school in our small town so I am familiar with the goings-on. Most all of my friends who were not my classmates attended hebrew school. The one consistent theme from each and every one of them was how much they hated hebrew school. Why shouldn’t they? They went to their public or private school until 3 o’clock then had to begrudgingly attend after school Jewish studies one or two days a week until 6pm while all their school friends were playing little league or hanging out at the park. But that’s not even the real issue as I see it and I speak here of the religious hebrew school my friends went to. To say there was a little bit more than an elementary knowledge of anything Jewish upon completion, which happened usually in 6th or very rarely 8th grade, would be generous at best. I am not arguing it’s not a good thing to teach students a little something Jewish as opposed to nothing, my point is it’s not real, it’s not genuine. It’s watered-down Coca-Cola which is nothing like the real thing.
As I got older I had peers who taught at hebrew schools that were not religious. The standard for what was called Jewish education at those institutions, was to be honest, religiously criminal. It would have been better had their parents not sent them at all. Torah, the actual essence and core of Judaism, was not relevant. And if Torah is not relevant when you are young, it surely won’t be when you are older unless of course something changes. In fact, both the incredible rate of return to Judaism and the tragic intermarriage rate in America can both be attributed to a lack of a proper Jewish education. Once Torah is void from the equation, why should Israel ever be relatable to you? Torah and therefore Judaism is intertwined with the land of Israel and it is difficult to separate the two. Fact is, a vast number of Torah commandments can only be done in Israel. One has to wonder why the Creator desired that, if “our home is wherever we are” was the actual permanent destination for His people. It is obvious from the many agricultural Torah laws alone, such as Teruma, Shmittah, Ma’aser, Shivi’is etc that the G-d of the Jews believed it to be far more desirable to live in Israel should one, in fact, be concerned about a Jewish way of life. I am not disparaging diaspora Jewry, G-d forbid. I was part of it for decades and I understand why committed Jews live in the diaspora. I don’t begrudge them that for even a moment. But what I am saying is the evidence is quite overwhelming G-d wanted the Nation of Israel to be in the land and not “wherever we are”.
This is not to say that the “religious” world is absolved from this behavior. They too are guilty of giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Their words and actions are used as a powerful sword against our people and the pain it has and will continue to cause their brethren has been incalculable. However, I do not anticipate their participation in holocaust protests, Netureii Karta notwithstanding. While I doubt even they will have the chutzpah to do that, it wouldn’t surprise me. All enemies of the Jews will be on call this coming Tuesday and make no mistake, if you are calling for the destruction of a certain element of your people and the land, you are very much an enemy of the Jewish people. I will address the “religious” shortly in a future essay.
Full disclosure, this entire concept of speaking out against my fellow Jews is extremely painful for me and I struggle with it every time I sit down to write about my people. I take small solace in the knowledge that an overwhelmingly large number of protestors come from the reform/reconstructionist/humanist movement which makes me wonder if they are Jewish at all. Those who know, know.
On Tuesday here in Israel, we will acknowledge all those who were murdered by the enemies of the Jews during the reign of terror the third reich unleashed upon our people. There will be no protests outside the halls or next to the outdoor ceremonies. In Israel, we understand who our enemy was yesterday and what they wanted to do to us. And we are reminded multiple times daily who they are today. At the very least, I do hope you take a moment on Tuesday to recognize what we have lost while at the same time be comforted by what we have rebuilt.
As our prophet Jeremiah (49:15) foretold; “I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men.” His words are as true today as they were when he first spoke them. No matter if we are hated by non-Jews or our fellow Jews, “He that keeps Israel does not sleep nor slumber.” (Psalm 121:4). That is why we are still here and why, much to the chagrin of our enemies, we are not going anywhere.
I hope that fact keeps them all up at night.
