Pat, you brighten my days! I loved your "clunky" analogy because when I was a child my parents moved to a town in Texas, which was then segregated. My father and his family were very dark skinned Jews of Middle Eastern and African heritage with no European DNA as I would learn long after his death of old age. The neighbors hated us because he was what they called a N------Jew. They were angry that someone sold a house to a man they considered Black because he was a Jew and in early post-WWII America people were less comfortable about persecuting Jews. The members of BLM (which I supported until October 7) would probably deride your analogy because they say their situation is like that of the Palestinians. No it isn't. People of African descent in Gaza and The West Bank face racist discrimination similar to that of Black people in the USA -- just as Jews traditionally have. The most common Arabic word that Palestinians who are not Black use to describe those of African heritage means "slave" and the Black sectors are called "slave prisons." Sounds like Apartheid to me! Thousands of Jews supported the Civil Rights movement in the USA risking our lives to fight for the rights of African Americans. Where were the Palestinians? There are 14 million Palestinians in the world and 15 million Jews. Until we were pushed out if we didn't agree that Israel should be destroyed and that the October 7th attack on Israel was justified, All the organizations I worked with for equal rights and justice for African Americans were filled with Jewish activists like me. I never met one single Palestinian doing this work, although as an academic, I met many affluent, educated Palestinians who could easily have participated. And on my mother's side I am 1/4 Cherokee and was active in the struggle for rights for Native Americans, as are many Jews with no Native American heritage. But again somehow despite their stated support for the rights of indigenous people (as long as they aren't Jews), no Palestinians stood with us. So now when anyone accuses me of racism because I support Israel, I don't even try to argue with them. I just say, you advocate a Palestinian takeover of Israel and even if every claim the Palestinians make about Israel were true, this would still be genocide. If you think retaliatory genocides are justified, then do you support one in Germany? Maybe one in South Africa, with everyone of white European heritage being slaughtered? If no, how about in the USA? (I'd love to get back the land stolen from my maternal ancestors! But I wouldn't support killing or driving out of the country everyone of European -- or Middle Eastern heritage.) No, you only support a genocide of Jews, because you are the racist!
Pat..you’ve nailed it over and over again. Tears pricked at the back of my throat when I read today’s piece. We need to feel this understanding so badly and you always show up. That’s the definition of love. I value your every word ..please keep going. 💯superpower
I don’t remember how I found you/ended up here, but add me to the chorus of grateful Jews. Thank you for your moral clarity when I wasn’t sure anyone had any left. 🙏
Please, please, please keep writing and posting, Pat. Your words and analogies are a much needed salve for me (and I am sure many others). The haters scream lies so loudly, and violently. I appreciate your talent for stating truths that I am too emotionally overwhelmed to state myself. I find your posts grounding and look forward to reading more.
Please don’t stop preaching to the choir, because the choir desperately needs your voice and you’re doing good just by letting us know you’re out there with us. And you’re doing more than that anyway outside this blog.
I myself am in a bubble. I know it. I feel good when i read information which supports my world view. I question myself why every day i read items that i support. But there is a little worm in my mind which wants to change people's opinions, to mine. But of course my fellow readers, those who read this sbstack, for instance, already agree. So lets look at a particulary graphic anti semitism incident in Sydney Australia. A couple of Muslim health workers in a large sububan hospital foolishly expressed antisemitic sentiments on video. A male and female whilst on the job. Its worth a look. The response from the australian public and political establishent was immediate and 100% supportive of our Jewish citizens. Whats my point. Keep this alive .. we know with the 24/7 news cycle this will be dead in a week. If any one doubts the depth of anti Jewish sentiment within the Muslim community this must surely be a wakeup. There is already beginning the counter narative .. they were tricked .. it was just a joke. These are easy to disprove but the more difficult is the one where one organisation made a reply comment to the effect that yes it was awful and we need to counter anti semitism AND islamaphobia. Wecan debate this but this incident was 100% antisemitic. Its this type of conflation that should be stopped.
Yes, that charming story made its way to me in North America as well. Lots to unpack here, but the idea that we cannot condemn antisemitism without taking on Islamophobia (or a laundry list of other issues) is a serious problem. It is a repetition of the idea that Jews do not deserve protection and defneding unless and until it affects people we ACTUALLY care about.
Joinin' the choir of fans here Pat with more grattytude than ye kin shake a lulav at! An' imho the pot roast joke means that a little kosher schmaltz has rubbed off on ya (an' mebbe on the roast too?) an' it suits ya well! Yer 2 skills are noble ones! I cain't do math ta save mah life either (I used ta balance a checkbook tho'--the full extent of my Math-a-Mattycull skills, but now that I'm on "empty" I've gotten rusty ;-)
Anywhoo...it also brings a tear ta my eye knowin' that yer out thar... really. That yer eloquent an' funny helps--but just yer "bein' there" an' devotin' time ta defend us... wull it really touches me lots.
We (many've us) feel a bit shocked havin' grown up not bein' hated--at least in our own country no less (in the US of Eh?)... As a stew-dent travelin' in YourUp a friend a' mine stayed in Bavaria in a barn-turned-B&B an' Hitler's portrait wuz on the wall... I thought "thank god I stayed in the youth hostel!"... but that wuz Bavaria, not New Yawk, not America.... We yankees imagined that hate stuff all was mostly ovah. I hadn't been called "Christ Killer" since I wuz 7 an' had only experienced a very modest amount of antisemitism growin' up (not even that ugly--little stuff like someone not knowin' I wuz a joo sayin' things like "I got this gold bracelet from the jews in the diamond district--it was a really good price so I hope it's "real" since they cheat so much." (YES, that's something I heard from a mother whose daughter was in a co-op group with mine...) But that wasn't the "NORM" it was the outlier comment so I let it go... NOW it's daily an' it's much worse. MUCH WORSE from folks I'd normally think SANE. If ya haven't heard da chews are all Satanists. Oy.
With nary I sneeze I say gezundtheit! -- sendin' good health, mazel, an' a sheynem dank yer way fer all ya do. Keep up with it too.... it's like a tonic (cel-ray 'er otherwise) fer many've yer readers includin' this homespun crackpot!
1936 (the British Mandate for Palestine lasted from 1920 to 1948) it was the Jews that called enthusiastically adopted the name Palestinian. They named their institutions, like banks and orchestras and newspapers, Palestinian. The Arabs were enraged by this. They complained to the Peel Commission of 1936 that the name Palestine was an offensively Jewish name! Specifically their spokesman said that "Palestine is alien to the Arabs."
Three decades later they became the Ancient Palestinian People. What rubbish!
"Who can challenge the rights of the Jews in Palestine? Good Lord, HISTORICALLY, IT IS REALLY YOUR COUNTRY..."Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, Arab Mayor of Jerusalem, 1829.
If your Grand Mosque is built on the foundation of the Jewish Temple, I think that says a little something about who was there first.
Yasser Arafat himself said in his biography that "The Palestinians have no national identity. I, Yasser Arafat, man of destiny, will give them an identity through conflict with Israel "
"Half of us Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis " Statement by Fathi Hammad, Member of the Hamas political bureau and interior minister in the Gaza strip from 2009 to 2014.
Six degrees of Jew as Gad Saad discusses eloquently
Problem. Shintos living with Atheists = No Problem. Atheists living with Confucians = No Problem. Confucians living with Hindus = No Problem.
Lesson 2(b)
Muslims living with Hindus = Problem. Mus lims living with Buddhists = Problem. Mu slims living with Christians = Problem. Muslims living with Jews = Problem. Muslims living with Sikhs = Problem. Mu slims living with Bahai's = Problem. Mus lims living with Shintos = Problem. Muslims living with Atheists = Problem. MUSLIMS LIVING WITH MUSLIMS = BIG PROBLEM.
Lesson (3a)
SO THIS LEADS TO *******
They're not happy in Gaza. They're not
happy in Egypt. They're not happy in Libya. They're not happy in Morocco. They're not happy in Iran. They're not happy in Iraq. They're not happy in Yemen. They're not happy in Afghanistan. They're not happy in Pakistan. They're not happy in Syria. They're not happy in Lebanon. They're not happy in Nigeria. They're not happy in Somalia. They're not happy in Sudan.
I'm glad you write what you write. Here's why: after the release of the hostages a week ago where we saw three men who threw us all back into images and fears of the horrors of the Holocaust, I finally had enough. I posted my gut-wrenched truth on FB and then my progressive friend came after me for equating the "hostage taking operation" with genocide. Which I did not. However, what I did was tear a part the entire argument from "hostage taking operation" to "genocidal culture and actions versus genocide" and I was able to do that effectively (at least according to my Israeli friends) largely because I read you. You make me smarter, you add to my arsenal, you give me the depth of perspective and background that I need to go out into the world and say "I've had enough" until they, yes, have nothing else to say. But in arenas like FB others are listening.... taking notes.... and that does matter.
So.... let's not sugarcoat it.... let's keep going.
Pat, you brighten my days! I loved your "clunky" analogy because when I was a child my parents moved to a town in Texas, which was then segregated. My father and his family were very dark skinned Jews of Middle Eastern and African heritage with no European DNA as I would learn long after his death of old age. The neighbors hated us because he was what they called a N------Jew. They were angry that someone sold a house to a man they considered Black because he was a Jew and in early post-WWII America people were less comfortable about persecuting Jews. The members of BLM (which I supported until October 7) would probably deride your analogy because they say their situation is like that of the Palestinians. No it isn't. People of African descent in Gaza and The West Bank face racist discrimination similar to that of Black people in the USA -- just as Jews traditionally have. The most common Arabic word that Palestinians who are not Black use to describe those of African heritage means "slave" and the Black sectors are called "slave prisons." Sounds like Apartheid to me! Thousands of Jews supported the Civil Rights movement in the USA risking our lives to fight for the rights of African Americans. Where were the Palestinians? There are 14 million Palestinians in the world and 15 million Jews. Until we were pushed out if we didn't agree that Israel should be destroyed and that the October 7th attack on Israel was justified, All the organizations I worked with for equal rights and justice for African Americans were filled with Jewish activists like me. I never met one single Palestinian doing this work, although as an academic, I met many affluent, educated Palestinians who could easily have participated. And on my mother's side I am 1/4 Cherokee and was active in the struggle for rights for Native Americans, as are many Jews with no Native American heritage. But again somehow despite their stated support for the rights of indigenous people (as long as they aren't Jews), no Palestinians stood with us. So now when anyone accuses me of racism because I support Israel, I don't even try to argue with them. I just say, you advocate a Palestinian takeover of Israel and even if every claim the Palestinians make about Israel were true, this would still be genocide. If you think retaliatory genocides are justified, then do you support one in Germany? Maybe one in South Africa, with everyone of white European heritage being slaughtered? If no, how about in the USA? (I'd love to get back the land stolen from my maternal ancestors! But I wouldn't support killing or driving out of the country everyone of European -- or Middle Eastern heritage.) No, you only support a genocide of Jews, because you are the racist!
Fascinating perspective. Thank you Carol.
Pat..you’ve nailed it over and over again. Tears pricked at the back of my throat when I read today’s piece. We need to feel this understanding so badly and you always show up. That’s the definition of love. I value your every word ..please keep going. 💯superpower
Thank you Shelley.
And once again, I can't thank you enough for your ongoing support, which has meant a great deal to many of us.
I appreciate your words Ian. Todah.
I don’t remember how I found you/ended up here, but add me to the chorus of grateful Jews. Thank you for your moral clarity when I wasn’t sure anyone had any left. 🙏
I'm glad we found each other!
Please, please, please keep writing and posting, Pat. Your words and analogies are a much needed salve for me (and I am sure many others). The haters scream lies so loudly, and violently. I appreciate your talent for stating truths that I am too emotionally overwhelmed to state myself. I find your posts grounding and look forward to reading more.
Try and stop me! I appreciate your words.
Thank you for being one of the righteous ones.
You are very kind.
You are a reason I can maintain hope.
Thank you for your kind support Rikki. It is deeply appreciated.
Please don’t stop preaching to the choir, because the choir desperately needs your voice and you’re doing good just by letting us know you’re out there with us. And you’re doing more than that anyway outside this blog.
Thank you for your kind words.
I myself am in a bubble. I know it. I feel good when i read information which supports my world view. I question myself why every day i read items that i support. But there is a little worm in my mind which wants to change people's opinions, to mine. But of course my fellow readers, those who read this sbstack, for instance, already agree. So lets look at a particulary graphic anti semitism incident in Sydney Australia. A couple of Muslim health workers in a large sububan hospital foolishly expressed antisemitic sentiments on video. A male and female whilst on the job. Its worth a look. The response from the australian public and political establishent was immediate and 100% supportive of our Jewish citizens. Whats my point. Keep this alive .. we know with the 24/7 news cycle this will be dead in a week. If any one doubts the depth of anti Jewish sentiment within the Muslim community this must surely be a wakeup. There is already beginning the counter narative .. they were tricked .. it was just a joke. These are easy to disprove but the more difficult is the one where one organisation made a reply comment to the effect that yes it was awful and we need to counter anti semitism AND islamaphobia. Wecan debate this but this incident was 100% antisemitic. Its this type of conflation that should be stopped.
Yes, that charming story made its way to me in North America as well. Lots to unpack here, but the idea that we cannot condemn antisemitism without taking on Islamophobia (or a laundry list of other issues) is a serious problem. It is a repetition of the idea that Jews do not deserve protection and defneding unless and until it affects people we ACTUALLY care about.
It is important to keep the truth alive and thank you for doing that.
Your writing is deeply comforting to me. Thank you.
That makes everything I do worthwhile. Thank you.
Joinin' the choir of fans here Pat with more grattytude than ye kin shake a lulav at! An' imho the pot roast joke means that a little kosher schmaltz has rubbed off on ya (an' mebbe on the roast too?) an' it suits ya well! Yer 2 skills are noble ones! I cain't do math ta save mah life either (I used ta balance a checkbook tho'--the full extent of my Math-a-Mattycull skills, but now that I'm on "empty" I've gotten rusty ;-)
Anywhoo...it also brings a tear ta my eye knowin' that yer out thar... really. That yer eloquent an' funny helps--but just yer "bein' there" an' devotin' time ta defend us... wull it really touches me lots.
We (many've us) feel a bit shocked havin' grown up not bein' hated--at least in our own country no less (in the US of Eh?)... As a stew-dent travelin' in YourUp a friend a' mine stayed in Bavaria in a barn-turned-B&B an' Hitler's portrait wuz on the wall... I thought "thank god I stayed in the youth hostel!"... but that wuz Bavaria, not New Yawk, not America.... We yankees imagined that hate stuff all was mostly ovah. I hadn't been called "Christ Killer" since I wuz 7 an' had only experienced a very modest amount of antisemitism growin' up (not even that ugly--little stuff like someone not knowin' I wuz a joo sayin' things like "I got this gold bracelet from the jews in the diamond district--it was a really good price so I hope it's "real" since they cheat so much." (YES, that's something I heard from a mother whose daughter was in a co-op group with mine...) But that wasn't the "NORM" it was the outlier comment so I let it go... NOW it's daily an' it's much worse. MUCH WORSE from folks I'd normally think SANE. If ya haven't heard da chews are all Satanists. Oy.
With nary I sneeze I say gezundtheit! -- sendin' good health, mazel, an' a sheynem dank yer way fer all ya do. Keep up with it too.... it's like a tonic (cel-ray 'er otherwise) fer many've yer readers includin' this homespun crackpot!
Hahaha. Thanks for your kind words!
1936 (the British Mandate for Palestine lasted from 1920 to 1948) it was the Jews that called enthusiastically adopted the name Palestinian. They named their institutions, like banks and orchestras and newspapers, Palestinian. The Arabs were enraged by this. They complained to the Peel Commission of 1936 that the name Palestine was an offensively Jewish name! Specifically their spokesman said that "Palestine is alien to the Arabs."
Three decades later they became the Ancient Palestinian People. What rubbish!
"Who can challenge the rights of the Jews in Palestine? Good Lord, HISTORICALLY, IT IS REALLY YOUR COUNTRY..."Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, Arab Mayor of Jerusalem, 1829.
If your Grand Mosque is built on the foundation of the Jewish Temple, I think that says a little something about who was there first.
Yasser Arafat himself said in his biography that "The Palestinians have no national identity. I, Yasser Arafat, man of destiny, will give them an identity through conflict with Israel "
"Half of us Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis " Statement by Fathi Hammad, Member of the Hamas political bureau and interior minister in the Gaza strip from 2009 to 2014.
I'm still waiting for the conspiracy theory that the Jews came in and deviously planted their holy site UNDER the preexisting Muslim one. Bahahaha
Six degrees of Jew as Gad Saad discusses eloquently
Problem. Shintos living with Atheists = No Problem. Atheists living with Confucians = No Problem. Confucians living with Hindus = No Problem.
Lesson 2(b)
Muslims living with Hindus = Problem. Mus lims living with Buddhists = Problem. Mu slims living with Christians = Problem. Muslims living with Jews = Problem. Muslims living with Sikhs = Problem. Mu slims living with Bahai's = Problem. Mus lims living with Shintos = Problem. Muslims living with Atheists = Problem. MUSLIMS LIVING WITH MUSLIMS = BIG PROBLEM.
Lesson (3a)
SO THIS LEADS TO *******
They're not happy in Gaza. They're not
happy in Egypt. They're not happy in Libya. They're not happy in Morocco. They're not happy in Iran. They're not happy in Iraq. They're not happy in Yemen. They're not happy in Afghanistan. They're not happy in Pakistan. They're not happy in Syria. They're not happy in Lebanon. They're not happy in Nigeria. They're not happy in Somalia. They're not happy in Sudan.
Lesson 3(b)
SO WHERE ARE THEY HAPPY? **
They're happy in Australia. They're happy in
97% 5:12
I’m not sure if I’ve shared this with you before, Pat, but this d’var torah by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks might be useful to you:
>> The audio in this post: https://open.substack.com/pub/outofbabel/p/freud-was-wrong
Brilliant Alan. Thank you. I love the analogy of Jews as Joseph.
I'm glad you write what you write. Here's why: after the release of the hostages a week ago where we saw three men who threw us all back into images and fears of the horrors of the Holocaust, I finally had enough. I posted my gut-wrenched truth on FB and then my progressive friend came after me for equating the "hostage taking operation" with genocide. Which I did not. However, what I did was tear a part the entire argument from "hostage taking operation" to "genocidal culture and actions versus genocide" and I was able to do that effectively (at least according to my Israeli friends) largely because I read you. You make me smarter, you add to my arsenal, you give me the depth of perspective and background that I need to go out into the world and say "I've had enough" until they, yes, have nothing else to say. But in arenas like FB others are listening.... taking notes.... and that does matter.
So.... let's not sugarcoat it.... let's keep going.
Bari, thank you. Your words make everything Ido worthwhile. What a message to wake up to. Huge appreciation to you.