DV Journal

Full disclosure: Like Whoopi, my mother’s maiden name was Goldberg. For all I know, we’re related.

I am saddened by the latest round of hate directed against Whoopi. I suppose if you’re putting yourself in the public eye, you should expect that every word you utter will be turned and turned again to detect even the slightest defect. Such scrutiny is even more reasonable when you are co-hosting a show in which sharing your view on contemporary issues is the focus.

Ms. Goldberg did not rise to fame for her political punditry. She did not pursue advanced degrees or engage in scholarly research. She’s funny. She’s an actress. I imagine such talents were front and center when she was invited to sit on a television set and opine about current events. Should we really expect nuance from a comedienne?

Last January, Whoopi spoke about the origins of the Holocaust being rooted not in race but in inhumanity. My credentials include advanced degrees and scholarly research. I spent years teaching university students about the Holocaust — entire semester courses where we discussed the roots, the process, and the consequences of the Shoah, the Hebrew term for the catastrophe that resulted in the murder of two-thirds of European Jewry, six million Jews, from 1940-1945. Whoopi was not wrong, and she is certainly not guilty of being an anti-Semite.

Anti-Judaism got the gussied-up name of anti-Semitism in 1879 by a German journalist who wanted to make Jew hatred sound less crass. Semites are not a race; Semitic languages, like Hebrew and Arabic, are spoken in North Africa and the Near East. By the Nazis’ definition, some of the most prominent Jew haters these days are Semites—Arabs. Does it make any sense at all to call some Semites anti-Semites? Modern scholars have discarded the hyphen in anti-Semitism to make the point that the term doesn’t mean what it was intended to convey.

When Whoopi said the Holocaust wasn’t about race, she was imprecise. For the Nazis, it was certainly about race. But, as Whoopi pointed out recently, why are we accepting the Nazis’ definitions and explanations? What, after all, is race?  For more than 30 years, scientists have been telling us race isn’t a scientific term. To use the jargon of social scientists, race is a “social construct.”

I remember this cover of Time Magazine (11/18/93) shining a light on the fuzzy borders of race. As I have come to learn, before World War II, Americans did not consider the Goldbergs, my mom’s family, to be White. After World War II, Americans had a change of view.  Or, at least, some did. That’s what Whoopi was talking about—perception.

Most Americans would ascribe whiteness to me.  I am of Ashkenazi descent—my grandparents were all born in Ukraine. Other American Jews, as well as roughly half of Israeli Jews, would not have whiteness ascribed to them, but they still would have been murdered by the Nazis and their legions of antisemitic sympathizers (including many Ukrainians). It may come as a surprise to Americans that by the early 1950s, the majority of Israelis had fled from countries in North Africa and the Middle East, spoke Arabic, and could fairly be described as Arab Jews.

One of the fascinating discoveries of the past decade was made by Sara Lipton.  In her book, “Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography,” she shows Jews were not depicted as looking any differently than their countrymen in medieval art until the 14th century. That’s why Jews had to wear identifying hats in earlier artistic depictions—so that Christians would know who was the Jew. The Spaniards, in their pursuit of “pure blood,” were instrumental in creating racial antisemitism by prohibiting descendants of Jews who had converted to Catholicism from holding political office. Given the anti-Hispanic sentiment among some Americans, it is ironic that the earliest racist legislation in Europe can be traced to 15th-century Spain.

There is no shortage of Jew haters. But to lump Whoopi Goldberg in that toxic mix is wrong headed and mean spirited. It’s also a distraction from those who truly are a threat to the Jewish community.

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On the eve of the Jewish holiday of Purim, the Greater Philadelphia chapter of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) released a 27-page report on incidents of antisemitism involving public officials and institutions in 2021.

Purim—a holiday commemorating Queen Esther saving the Jews in ancient Persia from a government official’s plot to kill them — is the perfect time to highlight the problem.

“We wanted to show people how bad it is,” said Steve Feldman, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia ZOA. “It’s not just minor nuisances. It’s pretty bad.”

The Delaware Valley Journal previously reported about two of the incidents. In one, anti-Israel content was posted on the website of the Free Library of Philadelphia, including a video of a library employee telling children “Zionism looks a lot like racism.”  Although the library’s director promised to end those antisemitic programs, they continued, the report said.

In another major incident, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney issued an official proclamation in support of a pro-Palestinian Liberation Organization event on the first day of Hanukkah. The Israeli consulate in New York sent Kenney a letter asking him not to attend.

Other elected officials attended that Nov. 29 event, including three members of the city council, two state representatives, and one state senator—all Democrats, except one council member who belongs to the Working Families Party.

Kenney “did not include any Palestinian Jews in the event…It was the Jewish people who lived in the land in pre-state Israel for generations who were commonly known as ‘the Palestinians’…Through its actions, Kenney and the city erased this history, as well—even though there are Palestinian-Jews living in our region today,” the report said.

Also, Kenney and the other officials spoke in front of Palestinian Liberation Organization flags, even though the PLO has murdered and maimed thousands of Jews and hundreds of Americans.

Other incidents in the new report include the School District of Philadelphia allowing a student organization, the Muslim Students Association, with a decidedly anti-Israel/anti-Jewish record to have chapters in two high schools, Northeast and William W. Bodine. It also works closely with a cultural organization that has erased Israel from its maps of the Middle East and takes anti-Israel/anti-Zionist positions. The Black Lives Matter organization is a regular influence within the school system, according to the ZOA.  And BLM demonstrators have vandalized synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses, the report said.

A statement from the Philadelphia School District said, “The School District of Philadelphia is a culturally rich district with a diverse population of students and families. In our statement on anti-racism, we believe in, and will continue to cultivate, a system that addresses all forms of inequity. The School District of Philadelphia is committed to providing safe, healthy, inclusive environments that are free from all forms of discrimination and foster learning

“The school district recognizes that the discussion of certain topics can be highly charged. The district also recognizes that such discussions can help students learn to identify important issues, explore fully and fairly all sides of an issue, weigh carefully the values and factors involved, and develop skills for formulating and evaluating positions.​ ​However, such discussions should always be free of coercion or bias. The district further has a policy for investigating allegations of bias and discrimination, neither of which have any place in our schools.”

Also, a city-sponsored soccer tournament, the Unity Cup, designates “Palestine” as a country on a city website, although it is not a nation, the report noted.

And a city agency that helps newly-released prison inmates displayed on its website a Marxist organization’s article which attacked the Jewish state in an anti-Zionist screed laced with false allegations about Jews. After ZOA objected, the article was removed.

A city-owned Israeli flag was set ablaze, and the incident was recorded on video. One of the vandals was apprehended but was released without being charged. The Israeli flag has been vandalized two other times, in 2018 and 2016, the report said.

The report calls on the city to take steps to remedy and “counter Jew-hatred,” including at the library. It also calls for Kenney and other officials who took part in the pro-PLO event to apologize.

“Today, every synagogue, Jewish school, and Jewish community center must have sophisticated security systems to protect people, and most and perhaps all have armed security guards at all times or when there is an event or worship service. Jews have been murdered in synagogues, in Jewish businesses, and at holiday celebrations, and recently a rabbi and two congregants were held hostage in a synagogue.”

“There is no telling who in the community-at-large could be triggered by false accusations about the Jewish state and the Jewish people,” the report said.

A spokesperson for the City of Philadelphia did not respond to requests for comment.

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Any allusion by Jews in America that “it” can’t happen here should evaporate as quickly as the rain from a mid-day desert thunderstorm.

The “it” of course refers to conditions deteriorating so badly here that life for Jews in this country would be untenable. It has already become uncomfortable for many who are fearful of wearing garb that identifies them as Jewish, or walking to and from synagogue.

The latest attack on a Jewish institution and Jews: A Muslim terrorist stormed into Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, near Ft. Worth, and took the rabbi and three congregants hostage to wrest the release from prison of Muslim terrorist Aafia Siddiqui (a k a “Lady al-Qaeda”) this past Shabbat. Thanks to G-d’s grace and the work of local, state and federal law enforcement, none of the hostages suffered physical harm.

Yes, the Jewish People continue to be the prey of choice by a spectrum of attackers.

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker credited a recent security workshop for the well-being of the hostages – he said training made it possible for him and congregants to know when and how to escape their captor. It is unclear whether or not a security guard had been on the premises at the time of the attack, or whether or not that would have made a difference.

Attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions in America have increased dramatically in recent years and especially in 2021. The meteoric rise of violence and other physical attacks coincides with increased rhetorical attacks against Jews in academia, in the media, among some government officials and on social media. Most of these attacks have been directed at the world’s largest and world’s oldest Jewish community: The Jewish state of Israel.

Past taboos about attacking Jews in public have evaporated.

All of the verbal attacks are based on outright lies and distortions to advance what is portrayed as the “Palestinian” cause, as well as eternal stereotypes against Jews. Nearly all are part and parcel of the generations-old Arab and Muslim war against the Jewish People.

What happened to Jews in Europe time and time again did not begin with the murders of tens of thousands and then millions. Each began with the combination of lies about and dehumanization of Jewish People at an institutional level including by academia, media and government.

Accusing someone of being racist or of oppressing others, or claiming they commit “apartheid” or are “colonizers” are some of the most damaging charges that one can make against an individual, a People or a nation. Today there is a steady stream – one repeated ad infinitum – of such false accusations against the Jewish People and the Jewish state. Academia, media and some in government are again the chief disseminators.

No, we are not now on the precipice, though we must raise awareness and call for a concerted effort by all who are decent to retard the attacks on Jewry immediately before more are terrorized and attacked and our civil liberties are further damaged.

A few years ago and earlier, American Jews were shocked to witness or learn about the level of security necessitated at synagogues, Jewish schools and community centers in Europe to safeguard the premises and those inside. It was unimaginable that American Jewry would have to install bollards around the perimeters of its buildings, hire armed guards, have 24/7 security cameras and locked doors, and resemble “Fort Knox.” But today in the United States, it is rare that a Jewish institution does not have at least one of these features – and many have all of them.

How awful. This is not normative and must not be accepted as “the new normal.”

Why is it that such persecution of the Jewish People in America is permissible? Why is it that to advance their cause, others can lie about, demonize and dehumanize the Jewish People for exercising their rights to self-determination as well as their self-defense? When did academia, media and some government officials abandon standards of facts, accuracy and balance to instead further an agenda that has as its goal inflicting a cataclysm on the Jewish People, who have been persecuted and annihilated from time immemorial?

Until deterrence is restored, there must be a heavy price to pay for lying about Jews and inciting Jew-hatred.

Let’s be clear at least here: The goal of the predominant attacks against the Jewish People today is to destroy the Jewish state of Israel; to destroy the largest Jewish community in the world today; to destroy the place that is central to Judaism.

The lies and demonization go far beyond criticism of a government and its actions; they go far beyond taking issue with the need for there to be a nation-state for the Jews. The attack against the Jewish state of Israel, and the attacks against the Jewish People throughout all of time are meant to strike a final blow against a singular People.

The attack against Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville will likely be looked upon as a singular event in this era of fleeting attention spans and denial of Jew-hatred. Some have ridiculously and outrageously claimed that the attack had nothing to do with Jews at all! But there is a bigger picture taking shape here and this attack is one tile in a larger mosaic. By speaking out now and taking action now, we can prevent the picture from becoming an ugly monstrosity. All people of good will must do so. Surely, history will be the judge of what we did and what we failed to do.

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