Oh, No!

Allow me a kvetch. Captivated by the news of a thwarted terrorist attack on commercial planes from London to New York City, I am honestly frightened at the hate that these people must feel toward the West. Their hunger for violence disgusts me, knowing that Islamic extremists have a particular hatred for Americans, for New Yorkers, and yes, probably for Jews.

That doesn’t mean that I will ever approve of racist comments regarding Arabs, people of Middle Eastern descent, or anyone else, for that matter. I am loath even to remain silent when I am present for vocal hatred, regardless of who is speaking.

I am further saddened when I hear such talk from the mouths of my Jewish sisters and brothers. Sadly, I was not surprised to hear anti-Semitic rhetoric from the mouths of Catholics and Protestants in Texas. One should be aware, however, that most Christians and their leaders would quickly condemn both these sentiments and this language.

As a Jew, I have been more than shocked to hear comments about Africans and Arabs and other hateful speech from the mouths of other Jews. What doesn't make sense (and still, not surprising) is that self-proclaimed “religious” people are the only people I’ve heard making comments about Jews, Muslims, and blacks, whether in Texas or in New York. Instead of sanctifying their speech, the “religious” Jew, Christian, or Muslim quarrels among his brethren regarding issues such as abortion, kashrut, Shabbat, homosexuals, wrapping tefillin, prohibiting women in almost every capacity.

Wasn't it my people who founded the NAACP? Wasn't it the Jews who fought for liberal values after WWII? Wasn't it our parents who rallied against the evils of war and who labored for the rights of workers, blacks, women, single parents, and homosexuals?

Although many might consider me “religious” because I observe the Sabbath and kashrut traditionally, the Judaism that I remember witnessing as a child was one of repairing the world with acts of loving-kindness and mercy. Judaism was courageous leadership. The focus was not whether I refrained from touching the opposite sex, but whether I understood that all people, women and men, Jews and Gentiles, gays and straights were entitled to equal rights and equal access.

While I support the Jewish State of Israel, I am aware that Israel is not alone among the nations on this planet. I could not act as if I believed otherwise. I support Israel’s right to defend herself; I feel similarly about the United States. War is unfortunate, and I am slow to approve. Slandering Arabs, even if most might hate the West, and Jews in specific, is not the way to defend Israel or the Jewish people. Having read the New Testament in three languages, I’m sure that Jesus, too, would hang his head in shame to hear the mouths of Christians and other Jews speaking ill of other races.

The crux: racism is sooo nineteenth century! As much as the Conservatives might resist, they must move into this century or move out; I won’t shut up until they do. I would sooner use electricity on Shabbat or abandon my kosher regimen and cease covering my head before I forget the following values:

I am a Jew because, born of Israel and having lost her, I have felt her live again in me, more living than myself.

I am a Jew because in every place where suffering weeps, the Jew weeps.

I am a Jew because at every time when despair cries out, the Jew hopes.

I am a Jew because, for Israel, the world is not yet completed; [we] are completing it.