Like many Jews born in the post-World War II years, I grew up in the dark shadow of the Holocaust. However, I did not become a Zionist or an Israel right-or-wrong defender. My parents, proud temple-going Conservative Jews, did not hide the horrors of Nazi death camps from me. Born in Belarus in 1903, my father had his baby feet in the land of pogroms and his immigrant youth and adult feet firmly planted in America. Jewishness and pride in Israel were central to both of my parents’ identity. They spoke Yiddish to my grandparents and one another when they didn't want my sister and me to know what they were saying. My father was president of the Jewish Community Center. My mother was a local leader in Hadassah. We kept a kosher home with separate sets of milchig and Fleishig (milk and meat) dishes. Pork spareribs were the only exception when we went out for Chinese food!
Thank you for an open and honest discussion on the roots of Zionism and the inevitable consequences of a small-minded, narrowly focused, “self-preservation” attitude while still recognizing the realities of anti-Semitism. We cannot turn a blind eye and must fight all hatred to preserve our history and culture, but if we do so at the expense of others, we are doomed to fail.
Thank you for an open and honest discussion on the roots of Zionism and the inevitable consequences of a small-minded, narrowly focused, “self-preservation” attitude while still recognizing the realities of anti-Semitism. We cannot turn a blind eye and must fight all hatred to preserve our history and culture, but if we do so at the expense of others, we are doomed to fail.