“I would love to live to see the moment. in which the great treasures will be dug up and shrieked to the world, proclaiming the truth. But no, we shall certainly never live to see it. And therefore, do I write my last will. May the treasure fall into good hands. May it last into better times. May it alarm and alert the world to what happened and was played out in the 20th century. We may now die in peace. We fulfilled our mission. May history attest for us.”
So spoke Dawid Graber in the based-on fact novel, "We Must Not Think of Ourselves". Asked to participate in the Ringelbaum successful attempt to leave behind the story of Ghetto Warsaw, all that led up to it, and all that followed. The truth of the horror. The actuality of it. More condemning and anguished, the fact of its open presentation to the world. A world which blindfolded its eyes, gagged its mouth, or cheered, or participated. The treasure trove of these writings, buried deep for safety, some still undiscovered, these summations of the hellish world that was the Warsaw Ghetto and the prior events that led to the Warsaw Ghetto have done their job. They have fulfilled the hopes of Ringelbaum and his co-writers.
However, the question arises as to whether or not they have actually done their job. Dawid, asked by Ringelbaum if he is a religious Jew, responded that "Before all this, I had barely remembered I was a Jew". In response, Ringelbaum remarked, "Well, they won't let you forget now."
In the universe of JewHatred there is no denying one's 'Jewishness', whatever that means. Try though they might, the world always reminds us, a fact irreversible and apparently a fact which needs 'trimming' every so often. No 'escape' allowed, not even conversion. for in the world's eye a Jew is a Jew. Actually, to be a Jew is to have a proud heritage, a contributive present and a wonderful future ahead. If. If the world truly internalizes morality and truth. The lackings of one are not the fault of others, certainly not as a group. A truly civilized society understands the commonality of humanity and lives true to that belief. It does not declare one group to be the convenient scapegoat for all the woes of the world.
JewHatred, actually all prejudice arises from the illogical. There is no 'explaining ' it. Nor any reason to try to do so for in such futile efforts, it merely legitimizes its ugliness and those who subscribe to that prejudice. Be the times good or bad there is always a reason found to cut the Jews out, deny just rewards for their efforts, their contributions for the world, to the world. Remind them they are 'different' somehow; hence deserving of the blame when things are not so good.
Next up - the Big Lie, the more outrageous, the more believable, for who could make up such a story. These big lies come at us from all sides - right, left, middle with no discernible difference. For over 5 months we have been hearing, warned, of 'imminent' starvation in Gaza. Still waiting, the longest 2-day warnings ever!
Next up: The cynical use of children as tools of war, as propaganda. "Children" who are dolls, even boards, wrapped up in blankets. Or the recycled children presented as babies (overgrown) on one day, and older the next. Wounded and dead are interchangeable. Absolutely amazing. Quite like the reappearance of the same rescuers from one side of Gaza to the other. Must run fast. Real fast.
Of course, we must not leave out the numbers. Those false numbers we are fed every day by each and every form of media possible. These numbers are derived from numbers generated by Hamas reports given to the Dept. of Health - run by Hamas. No bias, no lies, right? Wrong, so wrong. We are not told that over half of the wounded or killed are Hamas terrorists. We are not reminded of the impossibility of such an imbalance among the dead and wounded, statistically, experts say, when there is an even ratio of men and women and similarly an impossibility of the numbers of children claimed as casualties. Yes. many civilians been affected, but remember who began the war, who embedded themselves among civilians, in their infrastructure? Not Israel, but one must fight where one must fight, not elsewhere. Aggressors are not to be rewarded for butchery and massacre, ongoing with the hostages, merging with the attacks by Hezbollah, the forced evacuation of South and North Israel for the safety of the residents. And please, do not disremember the ongoing vicious attacks by crazed deluded individuals taught only to kill Israeli civilians, the more the better.
We need to remember that what happens to Israel happens to world Jewry, barely any perceptible difference or space between. This is the reality. This is what the world believes and practices. You must remember that. We must remember that for when only "defensive" weapons are proposed it means we are being written off. Defense is generally the losing end of the baton of war. Are we expected to acquiesce to our own slaughter? To welcome our murderers? As the world cheers? NO!
Is that where we are? Is here where we are? Yes, here we are. If we do not like the 'here' then we must band together and fight against it. We can change the here, find another there. Where we can be free from fear, from uncertainty, from existential angst. Possible only with concerted effort and acknowledgement that Jews are one, our fates are tied together. Those who fight against, deny, that truth are fighting a losing battle.
Am Yisrael Chai.
The nation of Israel lives.
Despite the eddies round the world of hate and violence.
Despite the calls for extermination. Again.
We Will Live Forever.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yitzy, I wonder if you are understanding of the crisis down here or are you still uncertain not understanding the hate, the ugliness pervading almost all down here. There are good things, though, bright things, and we must strengthen them. We must give them more power, so they exude more warmth, more acceptance of the right versus the wrong. Help us down here to understand all that is happening. We lack the wisdom of the Eternal One, so the challenge is great. But you are close at hand.
Miss you. Love you so, so much.
Always and forever. Always and forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment