Obvious Is Not Always Believable

Before October 7, 2023, I was either naïve or idealistic, or both, in believing that we could all get along together. I stubbornly held onto the belief that consensus could prevail over conflict, harmony over hatred. For a quarter of a century, that belief motivated me in my community relations work, in which there were no distinctions between people of diverse backgrounds. After all, we are all created in G-d’s image. If you give respect, you receive it- or so I thought.

I even believed in a long-term plan for a two-state solution in the Middle East despite decades of Palestinian rejection of such a concept in favor of no Israel. In the aftermath of October 7 – the day dignity was destroyed- one is obliged to conclude that states come about only through statesmen and ladies.

I was a guest lecturer on “Race, Religion and Respect” before law enforcement cadets. I labored long and hard to build bridges of understanding between diverse city communities. The spans of those bridges are being assailed by turbulent waves of hatred that lay latent just beneath the surface and have erupted all around us in the aftermath of October 7.

That was then. What about now? Just last week, I visited a local Jewish day school where security barriers and guards continue to be added to especially in the wake of the shocking events recently in Washington and Boulder. In the former two, peace-seeking Israeli embassy employees were assassinated. In the latter, Jews were burned by a flame-throwing individual who, for good order’s sake, brought to the scene a backup of Molotov cocktails. One of the victims, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, thought she had seen the last of Jews being burned 80 years ago.

Our local synagogues are also forced to resemble fortresses reinforced by security personnel, protective measures, and vigilant police officers.

Meanwhile, just over a mile down the road at the Islamic center, all is calm and peaceful, and there is no sign whatsoever of any potential threat or of the need for security precautions. That is the way it should be, but for all of us!

That distinction rather makes a mockery of claims by media pundits and religious leaders of all denominations claiming that there is equivalency between antisemitism and Islamophobia. Seemingly obvious is not always believable. Those who preach this ‘equality’ have not uttered one word of condemnation over the recent antisemitic attacks all over North America.

Our fight is not with weapons or even hate-filled rhetoric, but rather with peaceful civic action to defend Jews and Jewish interests where and when they are under attack.

My outstretched open hand is still extended in peace, but no longer in cases where a clenched fist is waved in my face.

Nobody should be concerned about walking in the street, riding the subway, or going to their library on a university campus just because of the religion they happen to identify with.

History teaches repeatedly that dialogue is the antidote to the disease of hatred that erodes the very foundations of civilized society for everybody, but it takes two to tango.

Of course, I should have known better, as the persecution associated with antisemitism is centuries old, and anti- Zionism is but the latest manifestation of it. That said, Israel- the only Jewish state on the planet is not going anywhere, and neither are we Jews in the diaspora until the blessed time arrives that we can physically stand shoulder with our brothers and sisters in the Holy land.

In the meantime, be proud of who you are and tolerant of who you are not.

I was going to start this article by stating unequivocally that I am unapologetically a proud Jew and a committed Zionist, but then most of the audience this missive is actually intended for wouldn’t have gotten past the first paragraph! So, perhaps obvious is after all believable.