Editorial on American Jews and the state of our democracy

[nycbos]

2. What the Trump years made me realized was...

Last edited Sun Oct 30, 2022, 01:12 PM - Edit history (2)

... I would have been one of those comfortable German Jews in the 1920s. "Hitler is a clown, a buffoon, there is no way he could possibly take over a civilized nation like Germany. We fought in the war for the Kaiser, how dare anyone say we are not German." I really thought there was something special about our nation's institutions, that we have this peaceful transfer of power for over 200 years and there was no way it could happen here. The fact that our institutions have been operating on pretty much the honor system for 200 years was a horrifying reality.

My relationship with Judaism is complicated. I'm a non-observant secular Jew. I identify with the culture not the faith. I don't believe in god. I don't keep kosher. On one hand there's a big part of me that believes religion itself has a negative impact on humanity. But on the other hand my great grandfather came here fleeing antisemitic programs in Poland. And my grandfather went to medical school in Scotland because medical schools in America a quota on the number of Jews they would accept. So it's still important for me to identify as Jewish because one it's middle finger to the people who have been trying to kill us for 5000 years. It's a message we're still here.

I am worried because I know full well that the Nazis did not make the distinction between the observant and non observant. And I don't know where I could go if things got bad including Israel.