I’m saddened and angered to hear about the bomb threats called in to multiple Jewish schools in the US today. The cemetery desecrations are just as bad. If there’s one thing we know as Israeli Jews it’s that there are lots of people out in the world who wish to do us Jews physical and mental harm. When I lived in the US for 30 years I don’t remember having such an acute awareness of antisemitism, perceived or actual. Maybe it’s the thousands of rockets that I’ve encountered shot at my city. Maybe it’s the endless news I read every day in the Israeli press about how country A wants Israel wiped off the map and country B is pushing Israel to accept country A’s terms.
The moral of these recent events for me is commonality and support.
Jews in the US are all of the sudden so aware in such a terrible yet real way that they have enemies, like the Jews here in Israel have known since the founding of the state of Israel.
Today, US and Israeli Jews need to come together across party lines to support Jewish life in the US and Israel and for that matter worldwide. How about taking this opportunity to find common ground in all the uncommonality we exist in? US and Israeli Jews may be opposites in many ways, but today, we are brought together in the worst way and maybe that’s for the best. Maybe that’s the meaning in all of this, to see the good in all the bad. Maybe, just maybe, that’s the lesson we should learn. That we need to be there for one another. Regardless of political leanings and because of the fact that we are all affected when another Jew is threatened.
I saw a shirt with an F-16 on it at the Jerusalem shook a while back that said Don’t worry America, Israel’s Got Your Back. Well, today we need to know that Israel has America’s back and that America has Israel’s back.
Shavua tov. Have a good week everyone!