I am not OK.
For the past several months people have been asking me as an opening to a conversation, “how are you doing?” Up until October 7th my response was always, "Very well – Thank God – each day is a gift."
The other night a friend from the Midwest and I spoke, and he asked me, “How are you doing?” And I responded, “I am not ok.” The same thing I have been saying now for over several months. He reached out to me because he knew that even though we had not spoken for several weeks. “I am here with you David”, he said. The conversation warmed my soul and left me in tears, forcing me to barely get out the words expressing my deep appreciation and love for him.
I am not ok, and not one single Jew is either. The spokesman for the 15 million of us I am not, that said I have yet to come across one of us that is.
Being able to trace our history back over 3,000 years we are unable to identify one country that has allowed us to maintain a permanent residency. Whether it be the Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans, Spaniards, Russians, Poles, Germans, or even now in France and Great Britain – we become unwelcome guests. Sometimes uninvited in the most horrific of ways.
Barely more than a handful of decades after the Germans decided that we were not welcome anymore, my pupils have fully dilated at the amount of anti-Semitism here in my country, in my State, and in the City in which I work. They remain dilated at the anti-Semitism displayed in full public view, under oath, on the internet, on the television, in writing and in action. They remain dilated by the governmental and non-governmental organizations that openly embrace it. Many of these entities which we stood shoulder to shoulder with in their defined roles and efforts to right wrongs or prevent miscarriages of justice.
I am not ok with worrying now about my children taking an Uber, wearing their Star of David outside their undershirt, being able to go to a Jewish owned restaurant or business – for fear of their safety – here in the United States of America.
I am not ok with the First Amendment being used to threaten my existence, my being here in the United States. There is no context necessary when people call for my extermination just because I am a Jew. There is no contract with the freedom of speech when it is used to threaten me because I am a Jew. There is no contract with the First amendment when it is used to gather selectively in front of a Jewish owned business to shut it down. There is no contract with the First Amendment if I am not able to freely worship and express my belief in Judaism. The First Amendment was not intended to be a death warrant for Jews, or any other groups of people. “We the People” is supposed to mean all of us. And when it does not, we have ample evidence in recent memory of what happens to all of us, not just the Jews.
The events of October 7th are irrefutable facts. You can view for yourself, in living color, the atrocities perpetrated on Jews in Israel because Hamas and Gazans broadcast them live and recorded them directly. An equivalent of approximately 50,000 Americans were butchered, slaughtered, raped, burnt alive, tortured, and mutilated on that day. Another almost 7,000 were taken hostage including babies, children, women, and the elderly, including Holocaust survivors.
I am not ok seeing people tear down posters of Israelis who are being held hostage. The Selective moral outrage boils my blood. I can name very quickly a number of other “conflicts” that currently find Muslims in the center of malintent. And yet not a peep – from anyone.
All that said and what that phone call provided me with, is that while I am not ok, my heart and soul are comforted by the fact that there are many people who are standing by my side. In dark moments the rays of light and warmth that emanate from those who care about you are brightest.
Praying that you all are bright lights to others,
Wishes for a great day, each one being a gift,
David/
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