Let’s get this out of the way now. I’m a Jewish Baby-Boomer and when I was a kid in the 1950s and 60s, nearly 1/3 of American adults were antisemitic. So, antisemitism is something that has always been a part of my life.
Even growing up in a relatively progressive suburb of Buffalo, in one of the most Democratic counties in the country (the uber-liberal Bella Abzug carried Erie County in a US Senate primary won by Daniel Patrick Moynihan), I knew that a significant portion of my classmates and neighbors were antisemitic. Being told at age 7 that I “killed Christ” while tossing around a football with the kid down the block was a bit of a surprise (I never even met Jesus), but at that age I figured there was no evidence to prove it. While I still remember the incident to this day, I basically ignored the remark.
The paradox of being a secular Jew but not a particularly religious one is that I’m proud to come from a 5,000 year tradition that wrote the Talmud, a sacred text that teaches us to question everything. Yet, I’m careful not to say anything that would sound “too Jewish” in certain neighborhoods in Greater Boston.
I’m proud that most Jewish holidays are more political than religious, yet the current political situation in Israel is the antithesis of everything I, and a significant portion of American Jews, believe. Israel was founded to be a Jewish democracy, but the ultra-right-wing zealots (generally speaking, when those words are put together, it’s not good) currently running the Israeli government are blind to the fact that in a democracy all citizens have rights, not just Jewish citizens.
For much of my adult life, antisemitism was an “under the radar” kind of bigotry. I often joked that Jews generally come in 4th in a list of those hated by the right-wing in this country. First are Black Americans, next non-white immigrants, then homosexuals (only the out ones), and the Jews take the fourth spot on The List of the Hated.
For much of my adult life, antisemitism was an “under the radar” kind of bigotry. I often joked that Jews generally come in 4th in a list of those hated by the right-wing in this country. First are Black Americans, next non-white immigrants, then homosexuals (only the out ones), and the Jews take the fourth spot on The List of the Hated.
Of course, you had to keep your eyes open, and ears tuned to know that antisemitism was present until recently. In a public restroom, you’d see a swastika scratched into the wall and realize it had been there long enough for it to be cleaned up but wasn’t. Or someone says you’re “a bit too New York,” for the job. When the school-aged daughter of close friends always looks forward to Hannukah at your house because she doesn’t know any Jewish kids in her neighboring town, you know that town hasn’t been welcoming to outsiders since 1750.
Antisemitism, along with all other targeted bigotry, has been bubbling along outside of “polite company” for all my life. However, in today’s digital age, the ability to anonymously post racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, misogynistic, and antisemitic graffiti online allowed the haters to express themselves. Anyone with access to the internet can write a post announcing the darkest things in their hearts and get a dopamine rush knowing that they got hundreds of “likes” on their post.
This storm of hate heated up significantly when Barack Obama dared to be a Black man serving as president. Then in 2015, Donald Trump came down an escalator and launched a successful presidential campaign with an openly racist speech that blew the lid off Pandora’s box. All the guardrails of “polite society” were removed, and the result is the America we live in today.
This storm of hate heated up significantly when Barack Obama dared to be a Black man serving as president. Then in 2015, Donald Trump came down an escalator and launched a successful presidential campaign with an openly racist speech that blew the lid off Pandora’s box. All the guardrails of “polite society” were removed, and the result is the America we live in today.
Now, as I enter my seventh decade on the planet, we have white supremacists openly shouting, “Jews Will Not Replace Us,” and swastikas desecrating tombstones in Jewish cemeteries on a weekly basis. It is a dramatic and frightening turn for the worse.
The Anti-Defamation League says that antisemitic incidents are at an all-time high. This is a dangerous escalation from the subtle, ongoing drumbeat of garden variety antisemitism that I’ve experienced over my lifetime. Today, THE HATERS HAVE GUNS and they’re not afraid to use them.
I have family who worship at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, the site of one of 340 mass shootings in the US in 2018 ( it was up to 647 in 2022, and 2023 is on a record-setting pace). The Tree of Life massacre hit close to home, but so did the racist shooting in Buffalo (my hometown) in 2022 where the alleged murderer was obsessed with “The Great Replacement Theory.” His manifesto devotes a full 29 pages to the topic that Jews are the true actors behind that conspiracy as well as being behind the movement for transgender inclusivity. Yes, we Jews are #4 on The List of the Hated, but when a hater has an assault weapon at their disposal, it doesn’t really matter who’s on top, because we’re all targets.
Despite my snarky nature, I’m basically an optimist – because there isn’t much choice. If we don’t have hope, we’ve given up. So, I’m choosing to agree with those who believe that Gen Z and their Millennial older siblings are so diverse ethnically and more open-minded than previous generations, that things will change gradually for the better.
In the meantime, let’s speed up this process by defeating Donald Trump’s Republicans, who have handed out permission slips to the bigots, racists, and antisemites among us ever since that trip down the escalator.
Let’s get this out of the way now. I’m a Jewish Baby-Boomer and when I was a kid in the 1950s and 60s, nearly 1/3 of American adults were antisemitic. So, antisemitism is something that has always been a part of my life.
Even growing up in a relatively progressive suburb of Buffalo, in one of the most Democratic counties in the country (the uber-liberal Bella Abzug carried Erie County in a US Senate primary won by Daniel Patrick Moynihan), I knew that a significant portion of my classmates and neighbors were antisemitic. Being told at age 7 that I “killed Christ” while tossing around a football with the kid down the block was a bit of a surprise (I never even met Jesus), but at that age I figured there was no evidence to prove it. While I still remember the incident to this day, I basically ignored the remark.
The paradox of being a secular Jew but not a particularly religious one is that I’m proud to come from a 5,000 year tradition that wrote the Talmud, a sacred text that teaches us to question everything. Yet, I’m careful not to say anything that would sound “too Jewish” in certain neighborhoods in Greater Boston.
I’m proud that most Jewish holidays are more political than religious, yet the current political situation in Israel is the antithesis of everything I, and a significant portion of American Jews, believe. Israel was founded to be a Jewish democracy, but the ultra-right-wing zealots (generally speaking, when those words are put together, it’s not good) currently running the Israeli government are blind to the fact that in a democracy all citizens have rights, not just Jewish citizens.
For much of my adult life, antisemitism was an “under the radar” kind of bigotry. I often joked that Jews generally come in 4th in a list of those hated by the right-wing in this country. First are Black Americans, next non-white immigrants, then homosexuals (only the out ones), and the Jews take the fourth spot on The List of the Hated.
For much of my adult life, antisemitism was an “under the radar” kind of bigotry. I often joked that Jews generally come in 4th in a list of those hated by the right-wing in this country. First are Black Americans, next non-white immigrants, then homosexuals (only the out ones), and the Jews take the fourth spot on The List of the Hated.
Of course, you had to keep your eyes open, and ears tuned to know that antisemitism was present until recently. In a public restroom, you’d see a swastika scratched into the wall and realize it had been there long enough for it to be cleaned up but wasn’t. Or someone says you’re “a bit too New York,” for the job. When the school-aged daughter of close friends always looks forward to Hannukah at your house because she doesn’t know any Jewish kids in her neighboring town, you know that town hasn’t been welcoming to outsiders since 1750.
Antisemitism, along with all other targeted bigotry, has been bubbling along outside of “polite company” for all my life. However, in today’s digital age, the ability to anonymously post racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, misogynistic, and antisemitic graffiti online allowed the haters to express themselves. Anyone with access to the internet can write a post announcing the darkest things in their hearts and get a dopamine rush knowing that they got hundreds of “likes” on their post.
This storm of hate heated up significantly when Barack Obama dared to be a Black man serving as president. Then in 2015, Donald Trump came down an escalator and launched a successful presidential campaign with an openly racist speech that blew the lid off Pandora’s box. All the guardrails of “polite society” were removed, and the result is the America we live in today.
This storm of hate heated up significantly when Barack Obama dared to be a Black man serving as president. Then in 2015, Donald Trump came down an escalator and launched a successful presidential campaign with an openly racist speech that blew the lid off Pandora’s box. All the guardrails of “polite society” were removed, and the result is the America we live in today.
Now, as I enter my seventh decade on the planet, we have white supremacists openly shouting, “Jews Will Not Replace Us,” and swastikas desecrating tombstones in Jewish cemeteries on a weekly basis. It is a dramatic and frightening turn for the worse.
The Anti-Defamation League says that antisemitic incidents are at an all-time high. This is a dangerous escalation from the subtle, ongoing drumbeat of garden variety antisemitism that I’ve experienced over my lifetime. Today, THE HATERS HAVE GUNS and they’re not afraid to use them.
I have family who worship at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, the site of one of 340 mass shootings in the US in 2018 ( it was up to 647 in 2022, and 2023 is on a record-setting pace). The Tree of Life massacre hit close to home, but so did the racist shooting in Buffalo (my hometown) in 2022 where the alleged murderer was obsessed with “The Great Replacement Theory.” His manifesto devotes a full 29 pages to the topic that Jews are the true actors behind that conspiracy as well as being behind the movement for transgender inclusivity. Yes, we Jews are #4 on The List of the Hated, but when a hater has an assault weapon at their disposal, it doesn’t really matter who’s on top, because we’re all targets.
Despite my snarky nature, I’m basically an optimist – because there isn’t much choice. If we don’t have hope, we’ve given up. So, I’m choosing to agree with those who believe that Gen Z and their Millennial older siblings are so diverse ethnically and more open-minded than previous generations, that things will change gradually for the better.
In the meantime, let’s speed up this process by defeating Donald Trump’s Republicans, who have handed out permission slips to the bigots, racists, and antisemites among us ever since that trip down the escalator.