VERGANGENHEITSEWALTIGUNG

  Nope, not to worry. This is not alphabet salad. While I admit I can neither read it nor speak it aloud, its definition has a great deal of relevance and importance to our troubled times. Based on a long-recognized theory of George Santanya, it is a strong proponent of the belief that not to study history is to remain ignorant of history and the lessons it imparts. It is an open invitation to Trouble, to allow free entry into the doors of our homes and nations, to take up 'squatter's rights' and resist all efforts to expel it. 

This incredibly long term carries with it a long tail of information critical to us.  It is defined in a German lexicon as part of a struggle of overcoming the past and to work with coping with the past, especially public debate within a country on a problematic period of recent history. For example, in particular, the Nazi Era of Germany. This entire school of thinking led to the term of the title. which basically has governed much of Germany's attitude and relationship with Israel.

Germany, rightly so, has a 'special' relationship with Israel. It is explained, as if necessary to do so to anyone with an inkling of history and its imperatives as such:  "We are in Germany, the country that practically annihilated Judaism in Europe," Karin Prien, a politician from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told The Guardian. "Eighty years on from the liberation of Auschwitz, we still bear a special responsibility to stand up against antisemitism."

Ironically enough, at a time of grave existential peril to Jews round the world, Germany, the perpetrator of the Holocaust and its goal, is now the safest place for a Jew to live - in Europe, in the rest of the nations of the world, and we can just about add in the USA to that rather ugly consortium of prejudiced backward thinking nations.

The world is now in a stage of purposeful ignorance and disregard of history, buying whole hog into its ugliness, into its refurbished toxic version of Antisemitism, already morphed into vitriolic JewHatred. Jewish university students no longer feel safe on campus. The purpose of higher education. is trumped upon by those who insist on buying into ancient hateful tropes which only lead to bloodshed. 

However, this is seen as OK by many because the virus of Antisemitism has never disappeared. To some, it imparts the feel of a favorite chair, or a cuddly old sweater.   Yes, it has gone underground sometimes, even for many a year. But it always has been there. Always has sent a shadow, sometimes peeking up from under the ground where it molders. Is it safe to come out? Is there a hospitable environment now available for its strengthening and growth? That dark shadow has now decided this is a good old time to come up and join in the fun. And so, it has.

However, however, even in the darkest moments. there is usually a light to be seen if one looks deep enough with an intensity that cannot be denied. In the storm of condemnation that Israel receives for having the sin of being available for slaughter of its civilians, for daring to try to remain in existence, to free those remaining in captivity, in brutal captivity of bestial behavior. 

To be intensely, noisily antisemitic, to shout out against Jews, is now chill, a highly acceptable societal trait, and comes along with that marvelous fashion accessory, the black and white kufiyah, signaling to one and all your   participation in one of the oldest, ugliest, bloodiest, trope of humankind. More relevant to the beast within than the outer human disguise. 

There is a light though. There are supporters of Israel, who trust in its need and responsibilities as a nation, the necessity to rescue its hostages and return them haoma, dead or alive. They remind the world who instigated this war, who were the beasts ravishing the humans within.  Israel simply took upon itself the responsibility of a nation that which it owes to its citizens to keep them safe, and to redeem them from  situations of danger. It has been thus from the beginning of time and has continued into the present time.

The attitude towards one Jew in one country is the attitude of all people to all Jews and all other countries This is a family which does not disband, argue though it might amongst itself. This is a family which knows and renders unto the family that which belongs to the family. We know unfortunately, through many, many times of history, that what happens to one Jew happens to all Jews. The ugly. current of JewHatred manages to swim, fly, crawl everywhere, taking strength from each new revival, taking courage from the intensification of that hate. It sits back in glee as it watches the verbal outrages morph into physical outrages, even unto the point of death.

 The world never learns its lesson The Crusaders carved their bloody way through the communities of Jews within Europe, practicing upon them the swordsmanship they would use against Saladin, The same Europe where country after country expelled their Jewish residents, enmeshed them in falsehoods, accusations, as scapegoats for their own inadequacies and sins. Mankind at its worst - yet always trying to outdo itself in that sphere. 

A simple look around. The rot within society which favors hate and negativity. It is the rot that allows for people slaughter babies, to kidnap, to brutalize, to disregard the protocols of society and the progress civilization has supposedly made over the millennia. So many wars, big and small, so many  'humanitarian' crises. We lose count, lose any kind of sensibility and sensitivity to them. All so that we can pick and choose, and Israel makes a lovely target. Within that directed hate we find excuses of 'anti Zionism' - that which determined that Jews That Jews have. no right to their homeland, no right to be a state. Period. Criticism of a country or the government of that country. should not mean destruction of that country. And yet in today's world, that is exactly what it means. Deny it, though they might. The truth always outs.

Right wing dictators. Inadequate ignorant Judges.  Crooked politicians loyal to themselves.  Treasonous officials at the highest level of government. Distortion of the wonderful world of Education. The obsolescence of ideals and idealism. The sly use of democracy using it to obtain power and then canceling democracy. A threat from a candidate for President of the United States to have mass deportations and jailings of opponents and all he deems unfit.  Hitler et al redux. Rule after limiting, oppressive rule until the inevitable slaughter begins.   

Is this the future we choose? Is this what we wish to leave for our children? Is this the legacy we wish to leave for the future? That this country becomes the topic of study, 'The Rise and Fall of  the American Democracy"? We need to stop and think. We need to exercise the meaning of that long title word. It is upon us. No one else. There is nobody else. If we continue to choose to neither see nor hear, wallow in our ignorance, we will reap what we sowed. 

What can we do about this? Is there any hope, any chance to turn it back? To insert many fingers into the many holes and leaks of the 'dikes' protecting the remnants of democracy within America. Is there any hope that people in other nations of the world will see that America is finally trying to stop its demise and act accordingly? I do not know. I simply do not know. I have no definitive answer at this point. Nothing of which I can state with certainty that it will happen, that it will take place, that will have a beneficial effect upon us. 

Too many of us have dropped out for one reason or another. All are simultaneously valid and not. We cannot simply drop out, opt for ignorance. and noninvolvement for we are involved up to our threatened neck. The world of today is too small for pieces of it to break off. We need to reunite, to reeducate ourselves and highlight our commonalities rather than our differences. Only thus can we succeed and be able to eliminate that ugly hate, that anger, that bloodlust that consumes us all. Are there enough of those willing to try?  Are there enough people willing to hear truths, like them or not?   Refer to the title. We need to take a lesson from Germany. We need to go back to the history books. Before they were tampered with. Before political opinions were ensconced within their pages. So that we might learn the truth of history, the applicability of its lessons to us and use these lessons to better our world. We need to plug up the dysfunctional sewers of the world and the corrupt workers and denizens of that world. Now. Courageously.

As an aside, opening May2 thru June16, a play entitled October 7, at the Actors Temple Theater, 349 West 47thth Street in Manhattan will be presented, and pro the truth! I have already bought my tickets. ________________________________

Yitzy, my boy, I wish I had better news to relate to you. Know that we are remembering you always, think of you always, and miss you so terribly.

Always and forever. Always and forever.