Antisemitism - A Personal Experience
Antisemitism: hostility to, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews.
Antisemitism has been around for thousands of years, but it is only recently that people have begun to understand the many ways this hatred manifests itself. The word "antisemitism" comes from a Greek prefix meaning against and semite which refers to an ethnic group of Semitic-speaking peoples including Jews, Arabs, and Assyrians. This form of prejudice began as early on in history as 200 BCE when intellectuals were writing about Judeans who they said had rejected all other civilizations except their own!
Its founder, Wilhem Marr came up with this name for his prejudice against Jews. Antisemitism has been around since at least 1879 but became more popular during Hitler's rule of Nazi Germany; where he enforced harsh policies on Jewish peoples.
Isn’t it amazing there’s a name for hating a group of people? This ancient and deeply embedded hatred for the Jews has shown up throughout history. Whether it was the Crusades, the pogroms in Russia, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust of World War II, or the terrorist organization united to destroy Israel today, this is an old story that still tops the headlines. Here’s a couple just from today:
U.S. Faces Outbreak of Anti-Semitic Threats and Violence - In the wake of clashes in Israel and Gaza, synagogues have been vandalized and Jews have been threatened and attacked. (NY Times, May 27, 2021)
Young Jewish Americans rocked by new hate fueled by Israel-Palestinian conflict - Young Jewish Americans rocked by new hate fueled by Israel-Palestinian conflict. (CNN, May 25, 2021)
Swastika, antisemitic message found painted on side of Holocaust museum in St. Pete - Detectives in St. Petersburg are investigating a hate crime after a swastika was found painted along with an antisemitic message on the side of the Florida Holocaust Museum. (NBC News, May 27, 2021)
Even just now, I tried finding a picture to put to the right of this text. In the search box, I put, “Jewish people.” It was nothing but pictures of antisemitic propaganda.
It’s a scary world.
To this day, one of the proudest moments Marilee and I have had as parents is following through on this pipe dream of having our kids get Bar Mitzvah’d and then take them to Israel to see the land of their fathers. I’ve been to Israel a bunch, but in our house, you don’t get to go until you’ve suffered through a year of Hebrew and then stand in front of our closest family and friends and read from the Torah.
For almost two weeks we took him around the Holy Land. Seeing synagogues, baptism in the Jordan, jeep rides through the Wadi, floating in the Dead Sea, and joining hundreds of other 13 year-olds at the Wailing Wall as they had their Bar Mitzvah.
But there was a moment that caught us off guard as parents. Yad Vashem. The Holocaust memorial.
After seeing all of the beautiful sights, tasting all of the foods, meeting the amazing people, our hearts weren’t quite prepared for this moment. It hit us from behind.
You can imagine getting to show our kids, “These are your people! This is the land of your fathers!” to suddenly have another unique, but the dark reality we would have to teach our son.
I remember the first time I felt this. It was an identification with our people. It was when he was 8 days old: brit milah - Jewish circumcision. I remember looking at him and thinking, “Sorry dude, you’re Jewish. This comes with the territory.” That sentiment washed over me in a different way at Yad Vashem.
If you haven’t been, it’s gut-wrenching. Soul crushing. Devastating. Even the design is to make it feel like the walls are closing in on you. To think a group of people could be annihilated simply for being Jewish. The memorial could literally take days to get through. We decided to let him go through at his own pace as we would follow. Room after room, picture after picture, video after video, the destruction of a people chronicled and memorialized for history.
Our son is an avid reader and he absorbed panel after panel and like most things, my wife picked up on it much faster than me. I didn’t realize it until I looked at her. She was crying. This wasn’t her first time at Yad Vashem, she has been multiple times. Her grief this time was not because of the devastation of the desecration of a group of people she loved, it was the pain of a mother’s heart. And then I got it.
I can’t explain (though I’m trying) what it is like to watch your son on his Bar Mitzvah trip, for two weeks galavanting through the country and he must be thinking the same thing I do as we tour Israel, “I LOVE BEING JEWISH!” “Son, this is who you are are.”
It really is a beautiful heritage. But then, this moment. Because you are Jewish, people will hate you. For their entire lives as parents, you instill the truth that they are loved. This moment of “breaking the news” to your child that you are hated - it’s not easy. There’s really no way to explain it. It’s this mix of sadness and fear of bringing a child into the world knowing they’ll be hated. “Sorry dude, you’re Jewish. This comes with the territory.”
We’ve had a year of incredible division and hatred. I just wrote the phrase, “unprecedented division,” but that wouldn’t be true. We’ve been here before. Whether it was Haman, Hitler, or Hamas, my people have always had an enemy seeking to destroy us. But this is my version, in my generation, where hatred rears its ugly head once again. I’ve felt it, personally.
Over the last year, I have felt empathy, compassion, and even identification with the black community. I understand what it is like to be hated for simply who you are, not for anything you’ve done. In addition to the millions of Jews who perished during the Holocaust for the purpose of purifying Europe and eventually eradicating non-whites, many do not remember that black people were also killed by Nazi terrorism.
In the human heart, hatred and prejudice can live underground for a time. When an inciting incident occurs, the hatred floods out.
Through the incidents that have happened in the Middle East over the last couple of weeks, we have seen hatred of people erupt. Unfortunately, antisemitism has crossed the borders of the Middle East, spilled into Europe, and traversed the oceans to our own backyard in violence against Jewish people in Los Angeles and New York.
I have friends living in New York afraid to come out of the house. I know Jews in Los Angeles afraid to wear their yarmulke (skull cap) for fear they will be identified and attacked for being Jewish.
I love being Jewish. This heritage and history I belong to are rich and full of depth. But being part of the “chosen people” comes with a price. You will be hated. You would think after the atrocities of World War II we would never go back to those days again, but I fear they are closer than we think. I look at my children and want the best for them, but I fear the world they are growing up in and their belonging to a group of people makes them hated by other groups of people.
What do you do in moments like these?
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” - John 14:27
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33
This has been a record year of hatred across all demographics. From attacks in NYC to Neo-Nazi rallies in Italy to Nazis marching on their college campuses to Holocaust deniers and antisemites running for office; this is all one hellish nightmare that we hope will never see the light of day, but it feels like the darkness has already come.
