‘I Miss the Old You’ (pre-10/7): A Plea from an Antisemite

“I miss the old you.” I received a message from an old online friend. “You are not the same.” The old me is gone. I am sure for a lot of us we would like to go back to Oct 6th. Part of me wished that too.

I think my friend is ” freaked out” because my views have changed. I am no longer the Democrat who had no room for other ideas, who hated the other side with a vengeance no matter what. I am not the person who couldn’t or wouldn’t see the cracks in my party’s treatment of Israel, or the betrayal of its own Jewish constituents.

The absurdity of a brainwashed person telling me I am brainwashed? becomes more ridiculous, and even laughable the longer I think about it.

Note to my friend: My dear I believe you are an antisemite. The argument I get is you can disagree with the government but still like Jews. While that may be true (because we don’t always agree with our leaders), the absolute disdain for Israel and the way it handles this conflict, and the belief in the Palestinian propaganda, you qualify. And apparently I am now a racist because I posted about Britain’s gang rapes.

I was told many insulting things, such as she could not believe how I have fallen for the Israeli propaganda. And that G-d forbid the IDF treated the Palestinians the same way as October 7th in previous years.

What an abhorrent thought. It is not in our DNA. We follow a code of ethics. It is not Torah. We value life. 

I am horrified, but not surprised. She is French, not Jewish. Oh and by the way did I know that Zionism is not the same as being Jewish? Has she opened a history book? We are one and the same. We are not separated from the land.

But still she tries to save me from my Jewish self. “It breaks my heart to see you this way”, she tells me. She was genuinely worried for my soul that it should fall into the hands of  the lying Israelis. 

But make no mistake, I am safer in the hands of my Israeli brothers and sisters than I would ever be in  her version of  the world.  

I called on my community. I needed to speak with another Jewish person. Almost immediately I received offers of calls, and one awesome Jewish woman stepped up and called me.

The thing that is ironic, is that these accusations about how closed minded I’ve become, was an exact mirror to her behavior. That is what projection is. Everything I was accused of what exactly what she was doing. And what about my Medicare, and how it will end and all the other fear based, other side tropes that people use. Wild accusations ensued, as to my allegiances and “how wrong they are.” She tells me I sound like a MAGA. That is preposterous, I don’t even like him (but voted for him).  My response was, “Concentrate on your own country, you have tons of problems.”

 I wonder had France experienced an October 7, how they would respond?

Who is anyone to presume another’s identity? I flew back with these retorts. We have so much history, and our collective experience cannot be ignored or swept under the rug.  I know I was not being heard. Because they simply can’t. I remember a time when I was that way. Everyday there is a fresh wound, or a scab that is peeled off revealing  the sadness of the families of the hostages, the displaced, and the heartache for fallen soldiers. I take that in. So don’t tell me who I am.

My takeaway in all of this, is I am not too bothered (but felt the need to write about it, on some level I feel hurt.). I know who I am. It doesn’t matter what they think. I am a Zionist. I have so much admiration and love for our people. Friends will come and go. When they show up this way, it is Hashem, removing us from the wrong people. Thank you Hashem. There is only one thing that matters.

May the hostages come home safe and sound. May Hashem guide the Jewish people to victory over terrorism and hate. May we continue to spread light to this world of darkness. And come to think of it, I don’t miss the old me at all. Am Yisrael Chai!