J'ACCUSE

     No, I am not comparing myself to Emile Zola. That man had the courage to publicly take on the nation of France and its long engrained ugly thread of anti Semitism within its very heart. Despite Napoleon's gesture of giving rights to the Jews within France, there never seemed to be an end to the anti Semitism and  in Zola's lifetime it culminated in the Dreyfus Affair, a shameful blot on France forever.
     Nor have things changed very much there, especially now, with open beatings, horrendous talk, orally and in print, and the fear is in the air. But do not think, unfortunately, that if one lives in the United States that one is immune to this hatred. Yes, once we could not buy homes in certain areas, were denied jobs and promotions, faced quotas in universities and professional schools, had to go abroad to complete some education. We were cursed and threatened, beaten, chased and called vile names, but, a huge but, things improved, greatly. 
     Till recently, a Jewish person living within the borders of America could almost smugly declare his pride in the different world of America, its lack of open and vile hatred and anti Semitism, but today? Uh uh! In a major way. Bari Weiss wrote a wonderful opinion piece in Sunday's NYTimes and I recommend that all make an effort to find it and read it and read it again. Pass it on. It is that timely and important.
     While I do not agree with every statement of hers, ufortunately, it is time for J'Accuse here in America and its starts with the top and then drips venomously downward, right to the nasty dregs of humanity and society, the people who blame all on everyone else, particularly the Jews. However, do not make the error of thinking that the upper classes of society are free of this taint for that is so not true. They are just more polite about it.
     Before Pittsburgh I never would have thought that we would be attacked in our synagogues. Yes, there had been signs of a growth of this ugliness, with Jewish institutions targeted, but a mass murder and then another one in yet another synagogue in another American city? What was going on?
     What was going on and is still ongoing and growing is the acceptance into mainstream thought and action that it is okay to declare open season on the Jewish people once again. Yes, perhaps we are a tad sensitive to this, but after these thousands of years facing this all over the world, yet surviving and seeing the building and establishment of a country that is a Jewish state once again, well, try to understand why we see the anti Semitism right there under the veneer of anti Zionism, why we sliver our eyes in shock and concern, why we worry for the future.
     So J'Accuse you, Trump, and spineless Republicans who allow this and who have encouraged it by actions and lack of actions, accepting the role and importance of anti Semitic crazed people into your campaigns, into the White House and I am tired of hearing about your Jewish son in law and daughter.There were plenty of mixed couples in Germany and Austria,were there not, and go check what happened there, within their own families.
     J'Accuse to the Democratic Party in its weak response to the spewing of ugly filth from the mouths of Omar, Tlaib, and friends. It does not make a difference that these words of hate came from the mouths of people of color, nor does it excuse it. They are guilty of spreading this anti Semitism and in a violent manner as well. Where was the party of the Jewish people at this time?Being wimpy, that is what they were doing and they did it on the backs of Jews. So what? Sacrifice the Jews for the other 'others'? Jews will survive, they always have, so political expediency is the way to go? NO, most emphatcally NO!!
     J'Accuse all those who go along with this newly open and mainstream anti Semitism,from shootings in synagogues to the ever rising frequency of the beating up of Jewish people in Brooklyn, right here in the city that is more Jewish in its very bones than most any other place in the world. It is the place where so many Jewish ideas, Yiddish and Hebrew terms, became part of the lexicon of NY and then America. So where are the reports of these beatings, the desecrations of property? Beats me, for the press seems to ignore it for the most part. Guess it takes the brutality of  massacres to call attention to it.
     Finally, J'Accuse the Jews. No, we are not at fault; I do not believe in blaming the victim. That is a canard and meme of the haters. But what I do say is that we have forgotten, too many of us, our Jewish connection, no matter how we live, openly as Jews, or not caring if we are of Jewish ancestry, or worse, hiding it, as so many are thinking of and even doing as the level of fear, of a repetition of past and violent times in our history, not so distant at that and even ongoing, as that level rises.
     There is a long time theme in Jewish history. "When it is good for the Jews, it is bad for the Jews; when it is bad for the Jews, it is good for the Jews." The Jews in the second part of those statements are the Jewish people. Sometimes we need to remember who we are, our proud past, our long existence, our survival and thriving wherever we go, our philanthropy, our entry into socially responsible careers, for that is part of being Jewish. Unfortunately, too many of us lose the thread when life appears to be so smooth, no more hatred, no more anti Semitism, no more violence directed against us because of our Jewish blood. But think again, unfortunately, right here in America.
     J'Accuse all those in this, once my beloved country, once where I was able to walk down the street and not worry if others saw a star or my son wore his yarmulke (kippah), or a Hasidic man walked the streets and stood out. And yes, there are murmurs of "them", and "those people" right here in my own Village. J'Accuse allof us, Jews and non Jews who have allowed this awful ugliness to rear its horrendous head and body and arms once again. Has all this hatred not outlived its times? Have we forgotten all too readily that hatred knows no bounds, that it spreads from one group to another, always seeking to stoke its furnaces with the blood and  bodies of victims of hate? J'Accuse all of us for forgetting this.
     So, no elegance of writing as had Zola. No boundless courage and abilityto take on a nation. Only the small voice of one who is worried for the present, and most urgently, for the future. Yes, now is the time I would say that when it is bad for the Jews it is good for the Jews. Many are being forced to remember who they are and their origin, taking pride again in their history, their strength as a nation, their enormous contributions to the world, and the pride and power of being identified with the Jewish people.
     Wish I could erase this blog, this J'Accuse, but I cannot. Not at this time. Perhaps when the haters are defeated and some moral courage returns to our politicians, when the purveyors of hate are pushed back into the muck where they belong, perhaps then. But not now.