Showing posts with label Proud to be Jewish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Proud to be Jewish. Show all posts

Monday, January 30, 2023

Several Palestinian websites report about arson and graffiti that apparently was done by Jews in Sinjil, near Shilo.

While destroying cars and defacing property for no reason is not acceptable, the sites are reporting that the "settlers wrote racist slogans calling for the killing of Arabs."

The message on the graffiti?


"Am Yisrael Chai" - "The Nation of Israel Lives."

Nothing about Arabs. Not racist at all. 

Again, there is no excuse for revenge attacks, but does anyone call out  how the Palestinians try to use these incidents to incite hate with lies? And it is done purposefully - plenty of Palestinians know Hebrew. 

Here's a great music video with that theme of Am Yisrael Chai by Rav Mo.






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Friday, December 02, 2022








Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 




Some nice news for a change.

JIMENA, Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, published a video of a portion of a Jewish wedding ceremony celebrating the bridegroom according to Syrian Jewish tradition that occurred in New York City.


I'm not familiar with this responsive chant, but apparently this part  is nearly identical to a traditional Syrian Muslim wedding ceremony (with mentions of "Mohammed" replaced with "Moses"). 

According to STEP News, Syrians have been sharing this video, amazed that Syrian Jews have kept these traditions: "The video sparked a wide interaction among the Syrians, who expressed their admiration for them and their preservation of the heritage, as one of the commentators said: 'It is unfortunate how our country lost them as it lost us.'"

Syrians congratulated the couple on Twitter.





Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Jon Stewart spoke about the recent antisemitism scandals from Black celebrities on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He was funny and perceptive, but not entirely right.


Stewart said, "Penalizing somebody for having a thought, I don't think is the way to change their minds or gain understanding. [Kyrie Irving] is a grown ass man and the idea that we say to him that we're going to put you in a time-out - 'you have to sit in the corner and stare at the wall until you no longer believe that Jews control the international banking system' " is not effective. 

He's right. It will not change the minds of the antisemites. In fact, it strengthens them, as they just take penalties as proof that the all-powerful Jews really do control the world.

Instead, Stewart said, we have to deal with it in a straightforward manner to gain understanding. Colbert asked exactly what that means. Stewart replies, "I think reflexively naming this antisemitism is as reductive as some of the things they might be saying. It immediately shuts down a conversation."

He then quoted Kanye West saying that "hurt people hurt people," that Jews must realize that Black antisemitism comes from a place of pain even if their facts are incorrect, and that it is more effective to directly deal with and counter the tropes than to shut down the conversation.

I agree that antisemitic tropes must be countered with facts. That's what I do, every day. 

When Black celebrities began publicly saying that they are the real Hebrews and Jews are imposters, I did not see a single media outlet actually look at the source of their claims and debunk them. I did. When modern antisemites obsessively attack Israel and claim that they are merely "criticizing" it, I show, from many angles, how anti-Zionism is rooted in antisemitism and how it remains so today

Contrary to what Stewart claims, however, he wants to pull punches with some kinds of antisemitism. He says that using the word shuts down the conversation, but it doesn't have to. When someone says something that is antisemitic, we shouldn't shy away from calling it out. Not to necessarily call the person an antisemite - one needs more evidence over time that someone is not just mindlessly repeating lies. However, we must point out that statements from Kanye West and his defenders or Ilhan Omar or Nick Cannon or Marjorie Taylor-Greene or Mahmoud Abbas or Roger Waters or David Miller or Joseph Massad are in fact antisemitic, and explain why. 

Which is what I do.

Part of being straightforward is to show how "progressives" and Blacks and Muslims sometimes are just as guilty of spreading antisemitism as white supremacists. 

Now, Stewart is partially right in saying that there should be a dialogue. Kyrie Irving is probably far more guilty of being ignorant than of being an antisemite, and it is possible that education might help. Unfortunately, that is usually not the case. Someone like Irving is not mentally equipped to watch the "Hebrews to Negroes" movie, to read a debunking, and to figure out which one is correct. The entire reason people are attracted to antisemitism to begin with is not based on facts but on prejudices - it is easier to blame Jews for one's misfortunes than to take responsibility for them. All of the "facts" in the Hebrews to Negroes book and movie are easily disproven, but people believe them because they want to, and no amount of facts will dislodge that desire.

Exposing antisemitic lies is more important for the masses who have not yet been exposed to them than for the people who are already spreading them. And we must not soft-pedal that.

Beyond that, the most effective way to fight antisemitism is not with endless arguments (even though that is what this website is about.) It is for Jews to act as proud Jews. For Jews not to allow ourselves to be put on the defensive. To not apologize for anything other Jews do, whether in Brooklyn or Jerusalem.  To not ingratiate ourselves with modern Jew-haters by dividing us up into "good Jews" and "bad Jews." 

To fight antisemitism, Jews need to learn and keep learning about our history and heritage. We need to be knowledgeable about, and proud of, the miracle that is Israel. We need to stop acting apologetic and start acting proud, to love the Hasidim as much as Seinfeld, to study the Torah and Jewish philosophy as much as we obsess over the New York Times. 

When Jews are apologetic about their Judaism or about Israel, and when we prioritize being progressive over being Jewish, non-Jews will pick up on the idea that we are uncomfortable with ourselves and our place in the world. 

When we are proud to be Jews, people will like us and want to be like us.

That is the most effective way to fight antisemitism.





Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Sunday, May 29, 2022

There is a flip side to saying that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.

It is that Judaism is inherently Zionist.

Some posters I made .... and there are plenty more examples.










Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

This week there were two news stories that do not bode well for the American Jewish community.

The first was the sparsely attended "No Fear" rally against antisemitism in Washington. The second was the release of a survey showing that many American Jews believe that Israel is guilty of apartheid and even genocide.

Both of these events point to a catastrophic failure of the American Jewish community.

Lauri Regan, an experienced organizer, writes a scathing critique of the No Fear rally. While many of its problems were technical, the main reason it was so small was ironically because it wanted to include as many Jews as possible. 

To be successful you need a focused message and a theme people can get behind. You need to attract a core of enthusiastic participants. But the organizers were more interested in signing up liberal Jewish organizations who are either apathetic or hostile to the Jewish state and who had demanded that the rally must not be overtly Zionist - organizations who deny the existence of antisemitism from their political allies on the Left. 

If the organizations attending cannot even agree on the definition of antisemitism, the event is a failure before it even starts. 

What does "No Fear" even mean? It is an empty slogan. Jews are being viciously attacked in the streets and online, and a kumbaya slogan does not blunt these attacks one bit.

When you water down the message to not offend anyone, you end up with a message that attracts no one. 

The real reason the rally failed is seen in the Jewish Electorate Institute poll. Together with other polls of American Jews, it shows a community that has decreasing emotional ties to Israel - and few ties to Judaism. Young Jews show the direction that the community is going - less attachment to Israel, and less attachment to Judaism. 

This graphic from Pew should frighten anyone who cares about the future of American Jewry:


Nearly half of US Jews have no interest in engaging in any Jewish activities or showing any link to Judaism altogether. 

Their apathy about Judaism and about Israel are linked. 

More committed Jews tend to be more committed to Israel. Antisemites hate Israel. American Jews who are conflicted about their Judaism as similarly conflicted about Israel. Denying the links between Judaism and Israel today is denying reality. 

The solution for both is the same: knowledge and pride.

Most American Jews don't know the first thing about Judaism, and they don't know the first thing about Israel. Similarly, most American Jews have little sense of pride in either their Judaism or in Israel. 

This is the root of the failure of the American Jewish community. It is a failure of the leaders, it is a failure of the synagogues, but even more it is a failure of the parents who have the primary responsibility of instilling pride in their children. 

It took generations to bring us to where we are today. It is the product of decades of caring more about succeeding in America than in instilling Jewish pride in their children.  

If Jews can't get our own act together, how can we expect non-Jews to support us? 

Sadly, many of these Jews are already lost. And for too many of them, the only time they invoke their Judaism is to pretend to be heroic in their anti-Zionism.

But it is not too late for American Jewry altogether. 

There are some great new groups that aim to educate and instill pride in Judaism, Israel or both. It in not necessary to be Orthodox to be a committed, knowledgeable Jew, and it is not necessary to support settlements to be a proud, enthusiastic Zionist (look at Hen Mazzig or Einat Wilf.) 

Just as it took time to get to where we are today, it will take a long time to rebuild Jewish literacy and Jewish pride. It takes real commitment. It starts with your own family. 

When Jews know our own history, we are equipped to defend themselves against the lies. When Jews have pride, though, we gain fans.

People are attracted to those who know who they are and who are unapologetic about it. Sure, Jews need to know enough to counter the lies, but that is only a small part of the job.  We need to be proud of our Judaism and of Israel. We shouldn't be defensive - we should be enthusiastic. We should treat Jews in America and Israel as our family, whom we love and support even if they drive us crazy sometimes.  

This is how to fight antisemitism. And it is critical to raise the next generation to know who we are: that we are Jews, we are proud, we are one people, and we are not going anywhere.








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