Embracing Ourselves
Many of our beloved brothers and sisters, young and old American progressive and open-minded Jews, raised in the spirit of egalitarianism and equality, have for a long time attempted to suppress this historical truth. We have tried hard to convince ourselves and our children that, push come to shove, we were indeed equals with the nations of the earth; that at the end of the day we were seen as part of the collective family of the human race. Anti-Semitism, we told ourselves, was a relic of the past, existing in backward countries not raised in the spirit of liberty.
Yet the virulent anti-Semitism resurrected during the past three years across the world and the absolutely irrational obsession to demonize Israel, is beginning to open many of our eyes. If you open almost any newspaper in the world, or watch any television news station internationally, you can hear the message articulated 3,300 years ago by a sophisticated and spiritual non-Jew:
“It is a people that dwells alone,
And is not reckoned among the nations.?”
This is not a curse. It is reality. If we wish to survive and thrive we must embrace this truth, acknowledged long ago by our fellow non-Jewish inhabitants of this planet. The world will only appreciate Jews when we will possess the courage to appreciate and love ourselves.
The world is embarrassed with an Israel that is embarrassed with its 4,000-year faith and tradition that the Holy Land is G-d’s gift to the Jews. Paradoxically, only when we acknowledge our ‘aloneness’ will we become a true source of blessing to all of humanity.
