WHY DO I WRITE?

END-OF-YEAR REFLECTIONS ON PREACHING TO THE CHOIR.

Me in 2024.

I’m getting reflective as this year comes to a close. My thinking has been especially focused by a friend who recently let out a bunch of stuff he had apparently been holding in. He made me ponder why I write this Substack and who my intended audience is.

I started these posts earlier this year and they’ve kind of taken off like I never anticipated. This has been one of the uplifting things in yet another bleak year.

But my friend said I was preaching to my own tribe. He said that he was probably the audience I was trying to reach, and implied my writing is too aggressive, accusatory and finger-wagging to change minds. I should be funnier, he said. (You catch more flies with honey, was his message. Why can’t you smile more, was the subtext.)

His messages made me reflect. Why am I writing these posts? I absolutely am singing to the choir and what value is there in that? Whose mind am I going to change by eviscerating those who carry the ideas I attack?

Well, first, I am writing these for myself.

I am a non-Jewish ally who has been fighting antisemitism and anti-Zionism (if these need to be differentiated) for decades. After October 7, I saw up close the impact on my Jewish friends not only of those attacks but of the world’s reaction to them. Instead of solidarity with Israel and Jews worldwide, we have seen an unprecedented spike in antisemitism. This has shattered almost every Jew I know, making them question their place in our societies and the security of their families. It has made me question the morality of almost every (now silent) person with whom I have worked on political campaigns, marched in antiracism rallies, cheered on at Pride parades and allied with on every topic I’ve thrown myself into for most of my life.

So these pieces have been my attempt to work through my understanding of the world we now inhabit.

But I am a professional writer and so “writing for myself” is obviously never really a thing.

So who is my audience? Is it friends who aren’t yet convinced that they need to stand with Jews and Israel? Is it my job to cajole and coax them to choose Jews and peace over terrorism, genocide and antisemitism? Well, perhaps. But if you’re not convinced by now, is there really anything I can say to change the minds of those who stand, arms crossed, RBF, with a sign out front saying “Israel is genocide. Change my mind.”

If, after October 7, you still need convincing to stand with the Jews, nothing I say is going to convince you.

If, after the 20th century, you still need more arguments about why it matters to stand with the Jewish people, I’ve got no arguments to help you make up your mind.

If, after the history of the Jews in Europe, you still equivocate on why a Jewish state is a literally existential necessity, my words can’t possibly turn your heart.

If, after millennia of antisemitism, you still can’t decide which side you’re on, I’m not going to waste my time with you.

The thing that really struck me in the “I’m probably your target audience” comment is the narcissism.

It’s not always about you.

Imagine the self-centeredness of someone crossing their arms in the face of the Black Lives Matter movement or during the Truth and Reconciliation process and declaring, “Yeah, I’m not convinced yet. Keep trying.”

No. If you’re not convinced yet, that’s your problem, not mine.

So … who then? Who am I writing this stuff for?

I never imagined this to be the case, but it seems preaching to the choir, or “writing for my tribe” actually has value.

Every single one of my Jewish friends is feeling more alone in the world in the past year-and-a-half than they ever have in their lives. They feel betrayed by erstwhile allies (because they have been). They hear the din of silence from antiracists when it comes to antisemitism. They see the world clamoring for the destruction of the only Jewish state. And they see precious few non-Jewish voices coming to their aid — and almost none at all from where I come from: the progressive, activist left. If I can shine a tiny ray of light for those folks, and let them know that there are people who empathize with them and understand, that’s my audience.

This morning I went through some of the comments I’ve had this year on my posts. I am tempted to add a disclaimer that I’m not trying to blow my own horn here, but what the hell, it’s Christmas.

Nailed it. I think you understand antisemitism better than I do, and I’ve experienced it firsthand for more than 50 years.

Another cogent, thought-provoking and accurate essay. Thank you for being a constant voice of reason during these nonsensical times.

Your writing, and just knowing someone with your perspective is out there, is one of the salves that has gotten me through the year.

Pat I am regularly amazed at how you understand and write about such nuanced reality. Thank-you so much for your courage and clarity.

Pat, I’ve lived as a Jew for 80 years and you have helped me see and understand so much.

Pat…I could cry reading this article…you have described my personal experience to a tee.

Thank you for your voice of sanity in the wilderness.

Pat, this is brilliant! For 50 years I’ve pondered and studied these issues, yet I’m continually astonished by your fresh insights!

Reading this turned my day from crappy to happy. This is what the world needs.

I am reading from the shelter to distract myself from the rockets that are being aimed at my children.

I am so glad I found you. I much appreciate the content and the way you express yourself. The moral support is so important for us in Israel.

I have voiced this opinion for many years, but I’ve never seen it expressed so logically and brilliantly. This should be the centerpiece of every Rosh Hashanah sermon this year. Spectacular opinion piece.

Bless you. I mean it. I was reading along and then I noticed you mentioned you weren’t Jewish and I had to check because by now I’ve come to the conclusion that the only people who think the Jews are actually human are other Jews. You totally nailed the situation.

Sometimes I don’t know what I would do without your work.

Thank you for reminding me that there are sane moral people out there. I need reminding…

All I can say is thank you. I don’t feel so alone. Thank you.

It’s a breath of fresh air to hear moral clarity on the left.

Your insights are thoughts I don’t see anywhere else. Really deep.

The truths in this article need to be repeated ad nauseum until they impact the discussion at large.

Thanks for this. It’s becoming ever more demoralizing to try to resist the gaslighting. This really helps.

I use what I learn from you on conversation/debate on a regular basis.

Someone had to say it! You stated it well! Thank you.

Thank you for your fact-based clarity again and again.

As a Jew, it is profoundly heartening to hear a non-Jew express such a clear understanding of our angst and to stand up for us with such moral courage.

I will share this far and wide with the hope that it will help at least a few understand!

Yet again you’ve articulated so much of how and what I feel beautifully.

I am so grateful for your voice. It deserves to be widely heard.

Well, Merry Christmas to me.

If my writing changes no minds, but restores a tiny bit of hope for Jewish readers who are feeling unprecedentedly beaten down, then that’s enough.

Maybe I am talking past the arm-crossed, RBF, “change my mind” crowd. But, also, if my arguments and articles can empower decent people to make their case more clearly, then I’m adding something to the dialogue. I don’t really have many talents. But I can write.

Having been forced to consider why I do this, though, I have come to a couple of conclusions.

If people haven’t made up their minds by now, they are not coming over to our side.

In response, we are faced with (at least) three paths. We need to …

1. Strengthen our own resolve to fight for what is so clearly the right thing, support one another as we struggle against hatred, and find resilience and resolve wherever we can to try and stay positive and not give up in the face of a world that seems indifferent to injustice.

2. Turn our attention to the well-intentioned but passive majority. Opinion polls tell us that most people in Canada and the rest of the West are unequivocally on the side of Jews and Israel. We need to quit wasting our time trying to convince people who revel in their contrariness to change their minds and do what’s right. We need to encourage those who know what’s right to be right louder.

3. Empower our allies with the knowledge and arguments to defend Jews and Israel — but maybe more importantly, we need to get the hell off defense and go on the offence. The enemies of Jews and Israel include the most violent, regressive, homophobic, misogynistic, hateful and detestable forces on the planet. And yet, somehow, we have allowed them to put us on our back foot? Get the hell off the defensive and start attacking the ideas that undergird their horrific worldview.

That’s why I write.

Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Celebrate what you celebrate with gusto. Rejoice. Recharge. Return rejuvenated for the fight.