G-D IS NIGH

 Is that so? Is that a fact? Is that a universal statement, or is that related only to specific areas?  Which areas, if you hold with that opinion? There has never been such a concept more debated, more assumed, more abused, than that idea of G-d favoring a group over another. Personally, I have my own opinion on this issue so read on.

One of the most touching rituals in sleepover camp was the singing of the words to Taps.

"Day is done.  Gone the sun.  From the hills, from the lakes, from the sky.  All is well, safely rest. G-d is nigh."

Those were the words we sang every day as we lowered the flag of this country. It was reassuring,  comforting, to an eight year old child, knowing that G-d was nigh, G-d was near. He cared, He knew where I was, and the ritual remained with me even after my camper years were over. The memory and the comfort remained. The flag ceremony - no - but the patriotism - yes.

Today, we have a perversion of G-d. He has become a useful term, a tool, of bigots and haters, of traitors and fanatics, of people with ugly plans to turn this country into a "totally White Christian nation". To the exclusion of all others unless they fit or fill some need of these elitist White Christians, and of course, remember their place. Inferior, not really of the same quality, hence never ever deserving of rights at the same level.

The people who support this view, who just KNOW that G-d is on their side, are the very same people who dragged officers into the crowds, who stomped on them, who were prepared to kill for Trump, to hang officials, going so far as to erect a gallows. These are the same people who engaged in  treason by attempting a coup, a violent, bloody coup, just like all those Third World countries, the same countries whose populations these fanatics demean and degrade. You know, the countries where obviously, according to these know it all White Christians, G-d is not nigh.

Please do not misread my words. I have nothing against White Christians, any Christians. I have nothing against a Sikh or a Hindu or a Moslem or an atheist. Each and every person must be allowed to worship in a religion of choice, respected in their beliefs, as long as they practice and preach peace and comity. But when the ranting emerges, when the demands are to 'return' to a time when this country was presumed to be, according to their thinking, as a White Christian preserve, well, then my hackles are raised, my Jewish race and religion generational warnings go nuclear.

Every damned time a country has gone over to a 'must' religion, a national first class religion, or acceptance of placement as a second class citizen, it has not turned out well for the Jews. Oh, so you Jew haters out there bring up Israel, a land, a state of Jews. Well, here are the facts. ALL religions are welcomed and protected in Israel. The shrines of ALL religions are respected and cared for. The Christians in Bethlehem have been chased out by  Moslems, not Jews. The violence? That comes from those who do not accept Israel as a state, wish to make it disappear, destroy the haven for Jews from an eternal Jew hatred. And, by the way, this writer does not believe that Israel should be a religiously ruled country, as we have our own fanatics as well. They tick me off too. Nor do they like me.

So, back to the raised hackles. This situation is called a "stained glass divide". Against all are those elitists who believe that White Christians, of any denomination, are the only ones qualified to rule this country, to set its practices and laws. They will even accept Brown Christians, but of course, they are not quite, quite, you know.

I guess that by now you might have guessed that extreme religion bothers the heck out of me. Any extreme practitioner of any religion frightens me. There is no give, no reasoning, often no respect for the laws of the land, for they are G-d guided, of course, hence they know best.

For those of you who are not White Christians, be aware that even as you stand there alongside them in a gathering, you are not respected. you will hear the chants against you and others who do not fit their parameters. If you are of the feminine gender, or oriented differently than the presumed mainstream, be aware, be wary, for you are not, most definitely, NOT, fully accepted and must know your place, accept 'conversion' to the norm or else. 

Weirdly enough, many White Christians are just like you and me, do not like the path some extreme pastors have taken. However, where are their voices? Where is the vocal and very much needed to be seen antipathy towards the takeover and perversion of their faith. Not enough, not nearly enough.

As a Jew, a person, well versed in history, of course I am particularly sensitive to Jew hatred. Yes, ugly, isn't it when not called by gentler names such as anti- Semitism, a passing fad, a victim of the times, an unexplained blip in mankind. It is Jew hatred. Plain and simple. Unvarnished truth. Ugly is as ugly does. Jew hatred actions have doubled and tripled. TikTok, evidently the measure of our society, has a 912%  increase in words of Jew hatred. But of course, we all know that the Jews bring it on themselves, right? So wrong, so stinking of Jew hatred and excuses, so ignorant, so great a feeder into the final end of mass murder and horror.

The following excerpt from an essay by a journalist, says it all.

"... has called Jew-hatred “an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive. It is a disease to which both human individuals and entire human societies are prone.”

This disease transcends the boundaries of space and time. ...  “Anti-Semitism is very ancient, has never been associated with frontiers, and, although it has had its ups and downs, seems impervious to change.”

"... calls antisemitism “the most plastic hatred—ever-malleable, endurable, artificial, and toxic.” It can go left, it can go right, it can go wherever it needs to go. In recent years, it has gone especially hard against the Jewish State of Israel, which is routinely demonized and singled out for condemnation unlike any other nation."

Ugly words describing an ugly belief, ugly actions, and ugly souls. 

There are times, many times of late, that I yearn for those days of camp when we sang, assured and safe, knew with every fiber of our body and soul, that we were safe, watched over, in a country we loved, free to be Jews without fear, and knew, just knew, that G-d was nigh.

Today, as usual throughout history, yet another sign that mankind still has much to learn, G-d has been usurped, without so much as a by your leave, or proof that truly, these fanatics have communed with G-d, are the sole recipients of His wisdom and guidance. And isn't it amazing how much hatred and bigotry G-d seems to have - against His Chosen People, yet - and how it meshes so well with the haters' personal philosophy!!!

Jew hatred, any hatred, can be amped up, laden with false statements, derived from and built to, cater to the  worst impulses of mankind. There are others not exempt from hating or being hated, but as a Jew, I feel obligated to speak out particularly against Jew hatred, though I despise all hatred. There must be another way, another path, else we are lost.

G-d is nigh. Wish He moved a bit closer. We need to feel His true presence, the Truth as it truly is.

More flag ceremonies, anyone?