Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Jewish stars are everywhere in
Pittsburgh. At first, you notice only one or two, a bit limp by now from the winter
weather. But soon you are seeing them everywhere. Crocheted or made of sparkly
paper they hang from every available surface.
A scrawny tree in the parking
lot of the Squirrel Hill Giant Eagle supermarket on Murray Avenue, for
instance, was decorated with the Jewish stars like a Christmas tree, giving me
a strange sense of cognitive dissonance. At the same time, I was moved to bits
to see this neighborhood-wide expression of support for its Jewish population.
The entire neighborhood was in mourning for the Squirrel Hill of once upon a time,
before a monster shot dead 11 Jews in a synagogue.
My impression is of a city
still reeling from the impact. Everyone has a story. My mother told me about
her recent hospitalization. How the patient in the room next to her had a heavy
police presence outside his door. She asked who was in there, no one would say.
She remains convinced it was Bowers.
My mother’s helper and friend
Linda told me what that day was like. She happened to be driving in Squirrel
Hill at the time. But suddenly there were road blocks everywhere. Drivers were
diverted from a several block radius around Tree of Life. Rumors were flying. People
were scared (which is what happens when something is going on and there is very
little or sketchy information). Linda was scared. Everyone was, that day.
Today, signs reading Stronger Than Hate are in every
storefront on Murray Avenue, and hanging in many windows on many homes. The
signs are thickest the closer one gets to the vicinity of Tree of Life. A
friend brought me a t-shirt with the slogan along with a photo of the victims.
He was sure I’d have a million of those t-shirts. But actually, it is the first
I’ve received.
Stronger Than Hate says something important about Pittsburgh, about
resilience. Pittsburgh isn’t ashamed of what happened. It repudiates what
happened. Squirrel Hill is saying loud and clear, “We won’t let this shooter
change our way of life or our neighborhood.”
And yet, other than this stated
resolve, I fail to see practical steps to prevent antisemitism from taking another
crack at Pittsburgh, or indeed take hold of America. I see a failure to prevent
a second Bowers, God forbid, from repeating the deeds of the first. People don’t
want guns in the synagogue. Understandably so. But what is the alternative?
What plan do they have going forward?
Meantime, my Facebook feed is
filled with allegations of Ilhan Omar’s antisemitism. There is article after
article on the Democratic Party’s failure to name and shame Omar in their
watered-down resolution that lumps antisemitism together with every other kind
of hate and bigotry. But I heard about none of this on any news stations during
my two-week stay in Pittsburgh. Not locally and not at the national level. The
Jews, moreover, except for the orthodox, remain staunch Democrats, who look the
other way at the institutionalized antisemitism in their own party.
Like Nancy Pelosi, and a
million other talking heads, they make excuses: Omar is inexperienced. She grew
up in Somalia, so what can we expect? Criticism of Israel is not antisemitism.
Lobbying needs a closer look. AIPAC needs a closer look. The tropes, they say,
are based on reality. Jews are powerful and wield too much influence.
This is shocking to me, well-versed
as I am in the history of the Jews, and what these excuses and allegations have
always meant in past times.
When I show evidence, in a Pittsburgh discussion group on Facebook, of an Imam in Pittsburgh who spouts antisemitic rhetoric from the pulpit, they call me a troublemaker and remind me that Muslims raised money for the victims of Tree of Life. When I explain my intent is only to disseminate information, they say, “That’s okay then. But be aware that others are attempting to cause trouble. We don’t want any trouble.”
When I show evidence, in a Pittsburgh discussion group on Facebook, of an Imam in Pittsburgh who spouts antisemitic rhetoric from the pulpit, they call me a troublemaker and remind me that Muslims raised money for the victims of Tree of Life. When I explain my intent is only to disseminate information, they say, “That’s okay then. But be aware that others are attempting to cause trouble. We don’t want any trouble.”
To be frank, the attempt to
stifle unpleasant truths frightens me. I fear for Pittsburgh in spite of its
strength and resilience. I am scared because Pittsburgh will not look at what I
see for fear of mirroring Bowers’ hatred and bigotry. They will not look at the
fact that antisemitism is rampant in America, distributed as it is in
coursework in universities, shouted from pulpits in mosques, and veiled as polite
dinner discussion at political fundraisers.
It is not just the crazy white
supremacists like Bowers. He is, rather, the trickle-down effect of the antisemitism
masquerading as anti-Israelism that pervades the entire country. Bowers is the
result of the propaganda that says that the Jews stole another people’s land, that
Judea and Samaria are really the West Bank of the Jordan River where Jews have
no right to build homes, and that American Jews have divided loyalties.
An acquaintance mourned the
fact that his daughter had been brainwashed on a college campus, poisoned
against Israel. “How do you get them back?” he asked.
“Birthright?”
But she’d already done a
Birthright trip. She’d been fine back then. But since that time, she’s been to
college. Everything she knew before she entered the ivory halls of academia was
gone, all of it replaced by anti-Israel propaganda and hatred.
On the right, in the orthodox world, they think Donald Trump is the savior of the Jews. They think he will save Israel. But rumor has it that Jerusalem is to be divided in the soon-to-be-aired peace plan. And in this disturbing video, we learn that eight years after 9/11, the government body tasked with monitoring sermons in mosques in the United States, still had not a single employee who understands Arabic.
On the right, in the orthodox world, they think Donald Trump is the savior of the Jews. They think he will save Israel. But rumor has it that Jerusalem is to be divided in the soon-to-be-aired peace plan. And in this disturbing video, we learn that eight years after 9/11, the government body tasked with monitoring sermons in mosques in the United States, still had not a single employee who understands Arabic.
The Tree of Life massacre has left its mark
on Pittsburgh. The stars are everywhere. So are the signs with their message of
strength. This tells me that Pittsburghers understand that antisemitism is
real. I worry, on the other hand, about the communal sense of invincibility embodied by the message of Stronger Than Hate. A feeling of invincibility is never a good thing where the Jews are concerned.
Will such city-wide declarations
of strength take pride of place over identifying and eradicating hatred? Will Stronger Than Hate become just another
jingoistic saying along the lines of Never
Again? Or will Americans at large learn to shove aside group-think and grow
the courage to see and confront what is really out there: the very real threats
to the Jews who live in the heart of Squirrel Hill and in America?
h/t Ardie Geldman for bringing the video
to my attention.
