Very apt lesson about the true meaning of Pesach, and I would add that we must also open our doors to strangers. As Jews around the world celebrate Passover, opening our homes and Seders to strangers is customary. I remember my grandfather, Rabbi Isserman, opening his home one year to a group of nuns. What better way to learn about others than inviting them in for a meal.
Stephen Miller would have been a capo in a concentration camp. If he thinks he'll be spared, as collaborators with Nazis thought, he'll have a nasty surprise, and for my part the sooner the better.
I've often wondered how they dealt with those words during their own seders. I guess they do the same thing the Christians do regarding Jesus's messages: they think it doesn't pertain to them .
Not a happy holiday. We eat bitter herbs to remind us we were slaves in Egypt. We sing "Go Down ,Moses" and remember that we are not the only despised minority group in the US.
To Cody Balmer, Harrisburg, Pa, it was an opporunity to fire bomb the Jewish governor's seder.
Please remember the 11 dead at Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh, 2018.
They are remembered, as is the pestilence of hatred --- still alive, still active, still feeding off the demonizations of petulant dictators seeing victims and giving permission to their deranged cults to engage in it.
We fail to remember the pestilence of hatred just as we fail to remember the many sins of our race (human) against the millions of other species we share our bountiful planet with. We doom ourselves.
Happy Passover to you! And with Easter coming up I’ll remind Christians that we have the same obligations to welcome the stranger and love our neighbors. Of all the horrible things he’s done I think this one upsets me the most. To sentence someone to life in prison without due process is heinous. To know someone was sent there by mistake and refuse to get him back. To ignore SCOTUS’s decision…how the hell are we going to get through 3+ more years of this?
I was raised in a strict, Catholic family, who taught all of us to treat others the way you would want to be treated and to never be racist in any way. I am now 80 years old and I have spent my entire life following those sentiments. I cannot fathom how any human being, especially a citizen of the USA, can treat any other human being with such disregard, disrespect, and disdain! How dare our new "administration" think he is allowed to do whatever the Hell he wants to do!! And how dare other human beings follow his directives without any blowback!!! If he is allowed to continue, all of us will be seeking somewhere else to live. He does not have a caring bone in his body. He needs to be impeached big time and shown the road!!
Uh, I think the word you were looking for regarding impeachment is "BIGLY", plus I think he should be shown the road to prison, preferably some place like Rikers, or that prison in El Salvador. I would also add, from experience, that the people this "administration" disrespects, are people we could learn empathy from…
Oh, they are aware, all right. But they rationalize and bargain with twisted "principles" in order to justify their hatreds, their ambitions, their heinous, violent, bigoted and inhumane behavior and call it consistent with their claims of faith. Deep hypocrisy, rotting the fabric of civilization.
A beautiful message but why not also mention to have empathy and kindness for the Palestinians, who are treated like animals and strangers in their own land
I also believe she was saying to show empathy and kindness to all human beings always. She was speaking as a Jewish woman about her faith. I could speak the same message as a Christian woman about my faith. My faith doesn’t distinguish between different groups of people, it includes all people as does the Jewish faith.
Active Empathy Is Life-Changing was a beautiful and much needed reminder.
Talking about empathy, Jen posted a lovely personal article about her Seder. She is very brave, and hard working, and she spends all of her waking hours dealing with news, writing essays, interviewing people, being interviewed, speaking with a broad range of people about many difficult topics. Do you think that perhaps, on this religious holiday, she shouldn't be judged for what she wrote about, and what she didn't?
The admonition to treat the stranger well is one of the most repeated admonitions in the entire Hebrew Bible. It's also in the Christian Bible, especially in the Book of Matthew.
That's why I refer to many of the Evangelicals, especially the Trumpets among them as "alleged Christians"
Tia, this is what is so distressing to many of us. Maybe my own experience growing up can shed a little light. I also want to speak to your phrase "the genocide of the Gaza people by the Israeli people":
Because of the Jews’ centuries-long history of being oppressed, when I was a child my otherwise liberal community knew of Jews as always and only victims—after all, our people so often _were_ victims. In my parents', grandparents', and great grandparents' lifetimes, Jews in Eastern Europe (including some of our own relatives) suffered pogroms and the Holocaust, while those in the U.S. experienced antisemitism. Israel was supposed to be the safe haven, and because (in their thinking) Jews by definition are always victims, anything Israel did was considered defensive, and therefore justifiable.
These are the lesson I grew up absorbing. When I was old enough to think for myself I started questioning it; if I heard, for example, that the Israeli army had razed the home of a suspected terrorist, I thought, one person has (or may have) committed a crime, and the whole family is made homeless? That didn't sound right to me. If the way the state of Israel was created was a problem (and it certainly was), the response was, "but after the Holocaust Jews needed a place to go." They were so understandably traumatized that many were not able to consider what should have come after that statement: "But that doesn't justify displacing others." (I admit this is an oversimplification of the history; I'm no expert on everything that happened at that time.) And even as I questioned the beliefs I'd absorbed, and argued with my parents, I've had to work hard to eradicate the last vestiges of that thinking, to separate out what is and isn't true, because what we absorb as children is hard to let go of, especially when reality is so awful.
Regarding your comment about the Israeli people: please understand that many, many Israelis (and many Jews in and beyond Israel) do not support what the government is doing at all, and by and large it is not the people, but their government, led by the horrible Netanyahu, that is driving this horror. (And it's not as simple as saying, "but the people elected him" because their system of electing and forming a government is extraordinarily complicated, and Netanyahu in fact did not win, yet remains in power.) There are some hardliner Israeli communities that agree with what Netanyahu is doing, whose members participate in violence and violations; they tend to be religious extremists, much like religious extremists here in the U.S., and are not the majority.
And the trauma of October 7th shouldn't be ignored—it was a pogrom, like those that happened in Jewish communities earlier in the 20th century. But none of that justifies what Israel is doing, and I do know some American and Israeli Jews who cling to their concern for the safety of Jews (which does remain a concern), and so find ways to deny or justify what is going on. But the majority of my Jewish and Israeli friends are outraged and horrified, just as we are outraged by Trump et al, and some are leaders in the opposition to what Israel is doing.
Despite, or in addition to, everything I wrote above, concern, compassion, and empathy for all people was also very much part of my Jewish upbringing. I credit that upbringing for leading me to human rights activism decades ago. I realize it may sound contradictory, but I guess that's what it is to be human.
This is of course just my experience and my thinking, but I hope you find it helpful.
"Netanyahu, that is driving this horror. (And it's not as simple as saying, "but the people elected him" because their system of electing and forming a government is extraordinarily complicated, and Netanyahu in fact did not win, yet remains in power.)"
I agree with this completely. Think about all of us here on this forum - do we think *we* should be judged as being the same as the group of Americans who elected Trump? This situation here is exactly parallel.
In my opinion, judging all Israelis by the actions of the Israeli government is as ignorant as saying all Mexicans are thieves, murderers, and drug dealers.
Lumping people together that way is a very lazy way of thinking.
You're right, of course. But to be fair to Tia, there isn't much in the press about opposition to Netanhayu. Most of the reporting about citizens is either about the crazy hardliners, or about people welcoming home hostages. Someone who doesn't have a direct line (friends, relatives, or just a specific interest) might not realize that most of the people don't support Netanyahu.
I am not in touch with anyone in Israel, or anyone who has close ties to Israel, and I do not read the Israeli press, but I have known for many many years that the split in Israel is just like the split here. I have also long been aware of how the government is formed in Israel; that has been adequately covered in American newspapers, at least the NYT.
Andrea... thank you for you considered thoughts on this, especially your longer post above.
I agree that very little has been said in the press beyond what you mention. Especially damning is the miniscule coverage given to Netanyahu's outrageous invocation of the biblical Sons of Amalek story about the need to utterly destroy and eradicate all Palestinians - "men, women, children and animals." It was the same kind of hardline baiting that Trump does with the MAGA crowd, only much worse... justification of murder on a mass scale.... a response to Oct 7 that was completely out of proportion, by several orders of magnitude. It was as if Netanyahu and the extremists finally had the excuse they needed to take off any semblance of "justice" and just go for broke, to activate their long-held desire to exterminate Palestinians and expropriate their land. (The countervailing argument to the term "their" land is that it was Jewish land two millennia ago, but whose land was it before that? And after many historical eras? It is a religious question, not one of practical ownership of land.)
Many media outlets, New York Times and Wash Post included, carried op-eds that supported Israel unequivocally, and refused to examine or literally dismissed the notion of any genocide occurring. It is a HUGE failure of empathy that, in decades, so little has been done by the U.S. in terms of carrot-and-stick diplomacy to stop Israeli oppression. Yes, Israel has a right to live and to exist, but their chicken-and-egg argument about "terrorists" completely misses the obvious... that severe oppression, in all its forms in that conflict, bred the resentment that has led to Palestinian extremism (and, just like here in the U.S. the extremists don't represent the entire population). (For the record, I'm a white, middle-class American retiree, neither Jewish nor of Muslim faith.)
Into this breach comes MAGAworld and Christian nationalists bending American politicians (who are not already nationalists themselves) into forbidding and indeed seeking to punish people here, college students in particular, for attending pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide rallies. All of this is a DEEP failure of empathy and, instead, an expression of unrepentant tribalism and hatred of "The Other".
Hi, Michael. To clarify, what I was referring to as not being covered in the press is resistance, among Israeli citizens and Jews in general, to the government and the genocide. Of course, what one does or doesn't see in the news has everything to do with where they're seeing the news; maybe that is being covered and I'm just not seeing it.
I completely agree with your comments on "justification of murder on a mass scale.... a response to Oct 7 that was completely out of proportion, by several orders of magnitude." In fact, I agree with pretty much everything you wrote. I'm just not clear why you wrote it, but that's okay.
Tia asked how people who have been so oppressed themselves can oppress others. Of course, we see this throughout human history, so it's a question for the ages. But, while I don't claim to speak for anyone but myself, my experience is not unique, and I thought it might shed some bit of light on the question.
I happen to think that what's really going on is a land grab, packaged and sold as "keeping us safe" and "ensuring our right to exist." And when you're selling that to people who have experienced brutality directly or who've "merely" inherited generational trauma, it's not a huge stretch to think that _some_ of those people will believe the lies, and see their government not as oppressor but as protector. Fortunately, many Jews and Israelis aren't buying it.
I completely agree with you about the Israeli people as opposed to the government. It's the same thing with Americans and Trump. If we were judged by everything he has said, and done, we would be universally despised.
In terms of my background, I am an American Jew. When I was growing up, my parents were very involved with Civil Rights, and my mother was a member of the social action committee at our synagogue, and she did wonderful things for so many diverse people and causes. We always had as many Christians as Jews at our Passover Seders. In 1972, I took six months off from college and worked on a Kibbutz in Israel. It was an extraordinary experience, although I never returned. I am now 75, and feel far less strong and brave than I have for my entire life. And, I worry about the rise of antisemitism.
Yes, I have been appalled by what has happened in Gaza. I also was appalled when Hamas slaughtered 100 people in the kibbutz on Oct 7, 2023, and then 1100 more, in towns and homes when they left. And, how they treated Jewish hostages. (I don't believe anyone mentioned them.) I have hated Netanyahu, for as long as I have known about him. And, so have many Israelis. I included some links in another comment below.
Between Trump, Biden, and Netanyahu, our policies toward Israel and Gaza have been deplorable. And, now that Trump is back and "using Jewish students' safety as an excuse for going after Palestinian students on college campuses, antisemitism will rise. Of course, it's just another lie. "He's weaponizing antisemitism for political gain." But, that's another topic.
Thank you so much for your comments and the links, SB. In the weeks following Oct. 7th it was a challenge for me to see so many friends be so vocal about the genocide, without even a mention October 7th. It was hurtful. They are of course absolutely right to oppose Israel and our government's support—as Michael wrote above, Israel's response was "completely out of proportion, by several orders of magnitude"—but it just would have been nice if they'd also expressed *something* about October 7th. I'm convinced that many knew little or nothing of the history. Again, nothing excuses what Israel is doing, but sympathy for the victims of Oct. 7th is not the same as support for the government.
And, yes, now we are the "beneficiaries" of our own monstrous administrations' phony, manipulative concern. With friends like Trump et al, who needs enemies?
Thank you as well. On 10/7/2023, I was very ill, and stopped reading about what happened after I read that Hamas slaughtered babies, raped children and women, burned whole families alive, and took 240 civilians hostage.
I can’t remember when I decided Netanyahu was involved, if only because “his divisive right-wing government’s policy toward Palestinians,” for which he took no responsibility.
Nine months later, in July, 2024, he still wasn’t taking responsibility when he met with the parents of the 15 female observation soldiers who were killed on Oct. 7 at the IFD's Nahal Oz base at the Gaza border (in addition to 66 other soldiers), and pretended he was unaware that their daughters didn't even have guns to protect themselves, nor that they had warned their superiors for a month about the invasion before it happened. There had been multiple reports on this in Israeli media, and in the U.S. as well.
What the families wanted was a state inquiry into what happened, and Netanyanu said no, because they were still involved in a war.
I am sharing this, because the atrocities in Gaza have been widely covered, but this hasn't. Netanyahu was/is to blame that he did nothing to stop this attack before it happened. He clearly knew he needed a war to save himself from going to jail, and will remain at war until he is stopped or Israel is destroyed. Why Biden supported the genocide, will have to be determined by others, but, if it’s possible, Trump will make things worse.
Andrea, even though I have Jewish heritage (with the loss of many family members in the holocaust), and my father's cousin was part of the start of Israel, I find myself having concern for the safety of Israelis, but also a great concern for the Palestinians. From my personal experience, it is not contradictory to feel that way, because all humans need a safe place to live. The situation is terribly complex, but I think it could be helped if Israel had a decent government. Any country is in trouble when they give in to the extremists.
Andrea, going back over what you wrote, I don't think you suggested anything different. I was apparently reacting to something, at this point I don't know what, other than that I seem to be very reactive late.y. I'm glad we feel the same.
It is not the Israeli people. It is the government. I personally am not willing to be judged by what Trump has said, and done. His cruelty towards immigrants has always been so extreme that I thought he and Steven Miller should have been tried at the Hague for Crimes Against Humanity. If you live in the United States, I'm sure you wouldn't want to be judged by what he has done as well!
Reading this piece and thinking of the utter greed of Leon and his ilk sickens me. There's not an ounce of empathy in the lot of them. If I had Leon's dough, St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis would be bankrolled for life, no one would be without a roof over their head unless they wanted to be, and I'd pour a ton into helping people whose lives depend on the weather—climate research to help us turn back the tide of global warming before it's too late.
I agree. If I had that much money and didn't give it away, I'd be throwing up every day. But he has been taught differently, and empathy at this stage of his life, is not going to happen, IMO as a person with no particular expertise in anything.
Ellie, one can gain empathy at an older age. I was raised without empathy (by abusive parents), and spent what now totals half my life in therapy trying to get beyond my childhood issues. I think I finally started to gain empathy in my 60s, and it has gotten much stronger since.
I am happy for you, and would not deny anything you say. But it sounds like you actively pursued something to help you through life - therapy. I do not believe the vulgarian ever did, or ever will. I would be perfectly happy to be proven wrong on this, regarding him. In fact, I'd like it to happen today, because then he would have time to undo at least some of the wrong or evil, depending on one's pov, he has done.
Yes I did pursue therapy because something was very wrong with my life and I wanted to fix it. I spent most of 40 years in therapy. trump I'm sure has never had any therapy, and it would not benefit him because he has no desire to change. He thinks he is fine as he is and that there is nothing to undo. The other thing I've seen is that some people will start therapy, but are not really willing to do the work required, and so it also doesn't work for them. It's not an easy process, but if you can find a good trauma therapist and are willing to put in the time and effort, it can make a huge difference in your life.
I'm very glad you found the right therapist for you. And of course, you're right about the vulgarian.
I have a friend who needs therapy, but she is not willing to put in the work, as you say, and it never works for her. I worry about her, because she is a hoarder. Not TV material yet, but it's worrisome.
Again, I am happy for you. It's hard to overcome the wrongness, and it sounds like you did it!
Thank you, Ellie. Someone who is a hoarder, IMO has a problem. You know, it took a long time to be able to hear the truth about what I went through, and then it took a lot of years of work to get (mostly) past it. Unfortunately, some things stick around for life. And facing the truth was not easy. But my goal was to be loved for the first time in my life, and I achieved that. I met my now husband at the age of 63 and we've had 16-½ years of wonderful marriage, something I would never have been able to achieve without good therapy. So all's well that ends well.
Very true and I apologize if the context made my comment feel disrespectful. I posted Gov Shapiro’s statement elsewhere this morning and asked for prayers. Praying for peace and safety.
Respectfully Daniel, what would be a proper way to wish others well during Passover? I ask in sincerity since I do not wish to offend. Thank you in advance.
Not being Jewish I don't know the Passover traditions, but your exhortation reminds me of the words of Jesus from Matthew 25:40-45 that culminates "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." I believe this to be the same principle.
The current regime claims to be Christian based, but I cannot see how they can claim such a lie.
religion, no matter, has the root of evil imbedded -- it seems to be able to justify any action no matter how inhumane and cruel...it's not the believing that's the problem it's the permission structure given in the name of religion I object to. Everything is forgiven -- it's like "immunity" --
Gerri, I agree with you, but I also believe that the problem, at least with so-called Christians in the US, is that some preachers come up with very distorted interpretations of the Bible (which is not necessarily an accurate translation from the original language), and then they gather people around them who like that interpretation and don't bother to think for themselves. The people who come up with those distorted interpretations know that people will like them, follow that preacher, and in so doing, make the preacher rich. In my opinion, Christ has been removed from a lot of the Christianity in our country.
Thank you for these important words. It is so painful to learn how many people in this country are capable of de-humanizing others. Trump’s ascendency has revealed an ugly truth.
Of all the outrages perpetuated by this Administration, it is the disregard for human rights and due process of law that most horrifies me. Economic policies and government regulations are difficult terrain but nothing is as terrifying as becoming a police state, full of vengeance, retribution and total disregard for both law and decency.
The short-fingered vulgarian was taught from the cradle, that the only thing that makes one worthy in life, is money and power. He took all the lessons old Fred gave to heart, and that's what makes him what he is. And he must be cruet to be powerful (because Daddy was), and if he stopped for a moment to let a smidge of kindness, mercy, or compassion through, he would have to admit he's a weak loser. Therefore, it will not happen.
"The Trump administration said Sunday that it is not required to engage El Salvador’s government in efforts to facilitate the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison there, striking a defiant tone in responding to a federal judge’s order that plans be made to bring him back to the United States."
This is not empathy. This is a regime that admits it made a mistake but will do everything in its power to NOT rectify their mistake. A truly amoral regime.
Denial of existence is the antithesis of empathy. The ability to add the names of the living to the Social Security Administration's book of the dead not only lacks empathy but erases people from existence while still alive. Muck visited a WW-II concentration camp and showed zero emotional response. Is that where he got the idea to create a holocaust without bodies?
Jen, may you and all of your family, enjoy your celebration of Passover. Your words resonate loudly and confirm the work that all of us “resisting” and reaching out to strangers are doing the right thing!
Very apt lesson about the true meaning of Pesach, and I would add that we must also open our doors to strangers. As Jews around the world celebrate Passover, opening our homes and Seders to strangers is customary. I remember my grandfather, Rabbi Isserman, opening his home one year to a group of nuns. What better way to learn about others than inviting them in for a meal.
I think the introduction to the Seder says something about "let all who are hungry come here and eat"
I suspect that Steven Miller, Don the Con's brains on deportation, skipped religious school the day they taught that.
I’m sure he skipped more than that day. He attended Evil 101, 201, 301 and graduate classes.
That's exactly where my mind went.
Stephen Miller would have been a capo in a concentration camp. If he thinks he'll be spared, as collaborators with Nazis thought, he'll have a nasty surprise, and for my part the sooner the better.
I hardly think this Nazi ever attended any religious school. That is why the felon keeps him close.
I've often wondered how they dealt with those words during their own seders. I guess they do the same thing the Christians do regarding Jesus's messages: they think it doesn't pertain to them .
Not a happy holiday. We eat bitter herbs to remind us we were slaves in Egypt. We sing "Go Down ,Moses" and remember that we are not the only despised minority group in the US.
To Cody Balmer, Harrisburg, Pa, it was an opporunity to fire bomb the Jewish governor's seder.
Please remember the 11 dead at Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh, 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_synagogue_shooting
They are remembered, as is the pestilence of hatred --- still alive, still active, still feeding off the demonizations of petulant dictators seeing victims and giving permission to their deranged cults to engage in it.
We fail to remember the pestilence of hatred just as we fail to remember the many sins of our race (human) against the millions of other species we share our bountiful planet with. We doom ourselves.
Happy to be in the throes of Freedom and Peace.
Happy Passover to you! And with Easter coming up I’ll remind Christians that we have the same obligations to welcome the stranger and love our neighbors. Of all the horrible things he’s done I think this one upsets me the most. To sentence someone to life in prison without due process is heinous. To know someone was sent there by mistake and refuse to get him back. To ignore SCOTUS’s decision…how the hell are we going to get through 3+ more years of this?
We do have the same obligations. Unfortunately, many Christians are unaware of those, esp. those of the extreme right wing.
I was raised in a strict, Catholic family, who taught all of us to treat others the way you would want to be treated and to never be racist in any way. I am now 80 years old and I have spent my entire life following those sentiments. I cannot fathom how any human being, especially a citizen of the USA, can treat any other human being with such disregard, disrespect, and disdain! How dare our new "administration" think he is allowed to do whatever the Hell he wants to do!! And how dare other human beings follow his directives without any blowback!!! If he is allowed to continue, all of us will be seeking somewhere else to live. He does not have a caring bone in his body. He needs to be impeached big time and shown the road!!
Amen, sister!
Uh, I think the word you were looking for regarding impeachment is "BIGLY", plus I think he should be shown the road to prison, preferably some place like Rikers, or that prison in El Salvador. I would also add, from experience, that the people this "administration" disrespects, are people we could learn empathy from…
Enjoy the sentiment but treating others as you would like to be treated is possibly not having empathy for the others reality
I guess I should have written out the entire house rule: "Treat others the way you would want to be treated if you were they".
Empathy can be considered a universal aspiration by all religions.
Robert there is no righteous solace in the genocidal manner Netanyahu is treating the innocent Palestinians
None whatsoever.
Oh, they are aware, all right. But they rationalize and bargain with twisted "principles" in order to justify their hatreds, their ambitions, their heinous, violent, bigoted and inhumane behavior and call it consistent with their claims of faith. Deep hypocrisy, rotting the fabric of civilization.
Preach it, sister!
A beautiful message but why not also mention to have empathy and kindness for the Palestinians, who are treated like animals and strangers in their own land
Yes my sentiments exactly a beautiful essay but a glaring omission…
I believe she is saying to have empathy and kindness to all fellow men and women.
Thank you, well said.
I also believe she was saying to show empathy and kindness to all human beings always. She was speaking as a Jewish woman about her faith. I could speak the same message as a Christian woman about my faith. My faith doesn’t distinguish between different groups of people, it includes all people as does the Jewish faith.
Active Empathy Is Life-Changing was a beautiful and much needed reminder.
Talking about empathy, Jen posted a lovely personal article about her Seder. She is very brave, and hard working, and she spends all of her waking hours dealing with news, writing essays, interviewing people, being interviewed, speaking with a broad range of people about many difficult topics. Do you think that perhaps, on this religious holiday, she shouldn't be judged for what she wrote about, and what she didn't?
The admonition to treat the stranger well is one of the most repeated admonitions in the entire Hebrew Bible. It's also in the Christian Bible, especially in the Book of Matthew.
That's why I refer to many of the Evangelicals, especially the Trumpets among them as "alleged Christians"
Or CINOs, Christians in name only.
Is Netanyahu a JINO?
no, he's a war criminal
YES!
The parable of the good Samaritan.
Exactly!
What or where can we protest to show our out range of deporting immigrants inhumanely?
Also, I struggle with the genocide of the Gaza people by the Israeli people.
How can they have no empathy for the people of Gaza being that they were so oppressed!!
Tia, this is what is so distressing to many of us. Maybe my own experience growing up can shed a little light. I also want to speak to your phrase "the genocide of the Gaza people by the Israeli people":
Because of the Jews’ centuries-long history of being oppressed, when I was a child my otherwise liberal community knew of Jews as always and only victims—after all, our people so often _were_ victims. In my parents', grandparents', and great grandparents' lifetimes, Jews in Eastern Europe (including some of our own relatives) suffered pogroms and the Holocaust, while those in the U.S. experienced antisemitism. Israel was supposed to be the safe haven, and because (in their thinking) Jews by definition are always victims, anything Israel did was considered defensive, and therefore justifiable.
These are the lesson I grew up absorbing. When I was old enough to think for myself I started questioning it; if I heard, for example, that the Israeli army had razed the home of a suspected terrorist, I thought, one person has (or may have) committed a crime, and the whole family is made homeless? That didn't sound right to me. If the way the state of Israel was created was a problem (and it certainly was), the response was, "but after the Holocaust Jews needed a place to go." They were so understandably traumatized that many were not able to consider what should have come after that statement: "But that doesn't justify displacing others." (I admit this is an oversimplification of the history; I'm no expert on everything that happened at that time.) And even as I questioned the beliefs I'd absorbed, and argued with my parents, I've had to work hard to eradicate the last vestiges of that thinking, to separate out what is and isn't true, because what we absorb as children is hard to let go of, especially when reality is so awful.
Regarding your comment about the Israeli people: please understand that many, many Israelis (and many Jews in and beyond Israel) do not support what the government is doing at all, and by and large it is not the people, but their government, led by the horrible Netanyahu, that is driving this horror. (And it's not as simple as saying, "but the people elected him" because their system of electing and forming a government is extraordinarily complicated, and Netanyahu in fact did not win, yet remains in power.) There are some hardliner Israeli communities that agree with what Netanyahu is doing, whose members participate in violence and violations; they tend to be religious extremists, much like religious extremists here in the U.S., and are not the majority.
And the trauma of October 7th shouldn't be ignored—it was a pogrom, like those that happened in Jewish communities earlier in the 20th century. But none of that justifies what Israel is doing, and I do know some American and Israeli Jews who cling to their concern for the safety of Jews (which does remain a concern), and so find ways to deny or justify what is going on. But the majority of my Jewish and Israeli friends are outraged and horrified, just as we are outraged by Trump et al, and some are leaders in the opposition to what Israel is doing.
Despite, or in addition to, everything I wrote above, concern, compassion, and empathy for all people was also very much part of my Jewish upbringing. I credit that upbringing for leading me to human rights activism decades ago. I realize it may sound contradictory, but I guess that's what it is to be human.
This is of course just my experience and my thinking, but I hope you find it helpful.
"Netanyahu, that is driving this horror. (And it's not as simple as saying, "but the people elected him" because their system of electing and forming a government is extraordinarily complicated, and Netanyahu in fact did not win, yet remains in power.)"
I agree with this completely. Think about all of us here on this forum - do we think *we* should be judged as being the same as the group of Americans who elected Trump? This situation here is exactly parallel.
In my opinion, judging all Israelis by the actions of the Israeli government is as ignorant as saying all Mexicans are thieves, murderers, and drug dealers.
Lumping people together that way is a very lazy way of thinking.
You're right, of course. But to be fair to Tia, there isn't much in the press about opposition to Netanhayu. Most of the reporting about citizens is either about the crazy hardliners, or about people welcoming home hostages. Someone who doesn't have a direct line (friends, relatives, or just a specific interest) might not realize that most of the people don't support Netanyahu.
I am not in touch with anyone in Israel, or anyone who has close ties to Israel, and I do not read the Israeli press, but I have known for many many years that the split in Israel is just like the split here. I have also long been aware of how the government is formed in Israel; that has been adequately covered in American newspapers, at least the NYT.
Andrea... thank you for you considered thoughts on this, especially your longer post above.
I agree that very little has been said in the press beyond what you mention. Especially damning is the miniscule coverage given to Netanyahu's outrageous invocation of the biblical Sons of Amalek story about the need to utterly destroy and eradicate all Palestinians - "men, women, children and animals." It was the same kind of hardline baiting that Trump does with the MAGA crowd, only much worse... justification of murder on a mass scale.... a response to Oct 7 that was completely out of proportion, by several orders of magnitude. It was as if Netanyahu and the extremists finally had the excuse they needed to take off any semblance of "justice" and just go for broke, to activate their long-held desire to exterminate Palestinians and expropriate their land. (The countervailing argument to the term "their" land is that it was Jewish land two millennia ago, but whose land was it before that? And after many historical eras? It is a religious question, not one of practical ownership of land.)
Many media outlets, New York Times and Wash Post included, carried op-eds that supported Israel unequivocally, and refused to examine or literally dismissed the notion of any genocide occurring. It is a HUGE failure of empathy that, in decades, so little has been done by the U.S. in terms of carrot-and-stick diplomacy to stop Israeli oppression. Yes, Israel has a right to live and to exist, but their chicken-and-egg argument about "terrorists" completely misses the obvious... that severe oppression, in all its forms in that conflict, bred the resentment that has led to Palestinian extremism (and, just like here in the U.S. the extremists don't represent the entire population). (For the record, I'm a white, middle-class American retiree, neither Jewish nor of Muslim faith.)
Into this breach comes MAGAworld and Christian nationalists bending American politicians (who are not already nationalists themselves) into forbidding and indeed seeking to punish people here, college students in particular, for attending pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide rallies. All of this is a DEEP failure of empathy and, instead, an expression of unrepentant tribalism and hatred of "The Other".
Hi, Michael. To clarify, what I was referring to as not being covered in the press is resistance, among Israeli citizens and Jews in general, to the government and the genocide. Of course, what one does or doesn't see in the news has everything to do with where they're seeing the news; maybe that is being covered and I'm just not seeing it.
I completely agree with your comments on "justification of murder on a mass scale.... a response to Oct 7 that was completely out of proportion, by several orders of magnitude." In fact, I agree with pretty much everything you wrote. I'm just not clear why you wrote it, but that's okay.
Tia asked how people who have been so oppressed themselves can oppress others. Of course, we see this throughout human history, so it's a question for the ages. But, while I don't claim to speak for anyone but myself, my experience is not unique, and I thought it might shed some bit of light on the question.
I happen to think that what's really going on is a land grab, packaged and sold as "keeping us safe" and "ensuring our right to exist." And when you're selling that to people who have experienced brutality directly or who've "merely" inherited generational trauma, it's not a huge stretch to think that _some_ of those people will believe the lies, and see their government not as oppressor but as protector. Fortunately, many Jews and Israelis aren't buying it.
JUST A FEW LINKS ABOUT NETANYAHU OPPOSITION.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-opposition-netanyahu-finds-voice-war-returns-gaza-2025-03-19/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/protest-groups-plan-huge-wednesday-rally-in-jerusalem-against-firing-of-shin-bet-chief/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6wobHGvr64
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/20/thousands-protest-in-israel-over-attack-on-democracy-by-netanyahu
I completely agree with you about the Israeli people as opposed to the government. It's the same thing with Americans and Trump. If we were judged by everything he has said, and done, we would be universally despised.
In terms of my background, I am an American Jew. When I was growing up, my parents were very involved with Civil Rights, and my mother was a member of the social action committee at our synagogue, and she did wonderful things for so many diverse people and causes. We always had as many Christians as Jews at our Passover Seders. In 1972, I took six months off from college and worked on a Kibbutz in Israel. It was an extraordinary experience, although I never returned. I am now 75, and feel far less strong and brave than I have for my entire life. And, I worry about the rise of antisemitism.
Yes, I have been appalled by what has happened in Gaza. I also was appalled when Hamas slaughtered 100 people in the kibbutz on Oct 7, 2023, and then 1100 more, in towns and homes when they left. And, how they treated Jewish hostages. (I don't believe anyone mentioned them.) I have hated Netanyahu, for as long as I have known about him. And, so have many Israelis. I included some links in another comment below.
Between Trump, Biden, and Netanyahu, our policies toward Israel and Gaza have been deplorable. And, now that Trump is back and "using Jewish students' safety as an excuse for going after Palestinian students on college campuses, antisemitism will rise. Of course, it's just another lie. "He's weaponizing antisemitism for political gain." But, that's another topic.
Thank you so much for your comments and the links, SB. In the weeks following Oct. 7th it was a challenge for me to see so many friends be so vocal about the genocide, without even a mention October 7th. It was hurtful. They are of course absolutely right to oppose Israel and our government's support—as Michael wrote above, Israel's response was "completely out of proportion, by several orders of magnitude"—but it just would have been nice if they'd also expressed *something* about October 7th. I'm convinced that many knew little or nothing of the history. Again, nothing excuses what Israel is doing, but sympathy for the victims of Oct. 7th is not the same as support for the government.
And, yes, now we are the "beneficiaries" of our own monstrous administrations' phony, manipulative concern. With friends like Trump et al, who needs enemies?
Thank you as well. On 10/7/2023, I was very ill, and stopped reading about what happened after I read that Hamas slaughtered babies, raped children and women, burned whole families alive, and took 240 civilians hostage.
I can’t remember when I decided Netanyahu was involved, if only because “his divisive right-wing government’s policy toward Palestinians,” for which he took no responsibility.
Nine months later, in July, 2024, he still wasn’t taking responsibility when he met with the parents of the 15 female observation soldiers who were killed on Oct. 7 at the IFD's Nahal Oz base at the Gaza border (in addition to 66 other soldiers), and pretended he was unaware that their daughters didn't even have guns to protect themselves, nor that they had warned their superiors for a month about the invasion before it happened. There had been multiple reports on this in Israeli media, and in the U.S. as well.
What the families wanted was a state inquiry into what happened, and Netanyanu said no, because they were still involved in a war.
I am sharing this, because the atrocities in Gaza have been widely covered, but this hasn't. Netanyahu was/is to blame that he did nothing to stop this attack before it happened. He clearly knew he needed a war to save himself from going to jail, and will remain at war until he is stopped or Israel is destroyed. Why Biden supported the genocide, will have to be determined by others, but, if it’s possible, Trump will make things worse.
Andrea, even though I have Jewish heritage (with the loss of many family members in the holocaust), and my father's cousin was part of the start of Israel, I find myself having concern for the safety of Israelis, but also a great concern for the Palestinians. From my personal experience, it is not contradictory to feel that way, because all humans need a safe place to live. The situation is terribly complex, but I think it could be helped if Israel had a decent government. Any country is in trouble when they give in to the extremists.
Absolutely. This reflects my own feelings very well. (I hope nothing I wrote suggested anything different.)
Andrea, going back over what you wrote, I don't think you suggested anything different. I was apparently reacting to something, at this point I don't know what, other than that I seem to be very reactive late.y. I'm glad we feel the same.
I so appreciate your response. I think we're all reactive these days, with very good reason.
Thank you, Andrea.
Tia, it is hard to understand why the israleis are doing stupid shit but...hurt people hurt people
It is not the Israeli people. It is the government. I personally am not willing to be judged by what Trump has said, and done. His cruelty towards immigrants has always been so extreme that I thought he and Steven Miller should have been tried at the Hague for Crimes Against Humanity. If you live in the United States, I'm sure you wouldn't want to be judged by what he has done as well!
Reading this piece and thinking of the utter greed of Leon and his ilk sickens me. There's not an ounce of empathy in the lot of them. If I had Leon's dough, St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis would be bankrolled for life, no one would be without a roof over their head unless they wanted to be, and I'd pour a ton into helping people whose lives depend on the weather—climate research to help us turn back the tide of global warming before it's too late.
I agree. If I had that much money and didn't give it away, I'd be throwing up every day. But he has been taught differently, and empathy at this stage of his life, is not going to happen, IMO as a person with no particular expertise in anything.
Ellie, one can gain empathy at an older age. I was raised without empathy (by abusive parents), and spent what now totals half my life in therapy trying to get beyond my childhood issues. I think I finally started to gain empathy in my 60s, and it has gotten much stronger since.
I am happy for you, and would not deny anything you say. But it sounds like you actively pursued something to help you through life - therapy. I do not believe the vulgarian ever did, or ever will. I would be perfectly happy to be proven wrong on this, regarding him. In fact, I'd like it to happen today, because then he would have time to undo at least some of the wrong or evil, depending on one's pov, he has done.
Yes I did pursue therapy because something was very wrong with my life and I wanted to fix it. I spent most of 40 years in therapy. trump I'm sure has never had any therapy, and it would not benefit him because he has no desire to change. He thinks he is fine as he is and that there is nothing to undo. The other thing I've seen is that some people will start therapy, but are not really willing to do the work required, and so it also doesn't work for them. It's not an easy process, but if you can find a good trauma therapist and are willing to put in the time and effort, it can make a huge difference in your life.
I'm very glad you found the right therapist for you. And of course, you're right about the vulgarian.
I have a friend who needs therapy, but she is not willing to put in the work, as you say, and it never works for her. I worry about her, because she is a hoarder. Not TV material yet, but it's worrisome.
Again, I am happy for you. It's hard to overcome the wrongness, and it sounds like you did it!
Thank you, Ellie. Someone who is a hoarder, IMO has a problem. You know, it took a long time to be able to hear the truth about what I went through, and then it took a lot of years of work to get (mostly) past it. Unfortunately, some things stick around for life. And facing the truth was not easy. But my goal was to be loved for the first time in my life, and I achieved that. I met my now husband at the age of 63 and we've had 16-½ years of wonderful marriage, something I would never have been able to achieve without good therapy. So all's well that ends well.
Happy Passover to all. Thank you for these inspiring words.
Not happy. See above.
Very true and I apologize if the context made my comment feel disrespectful. I posted Gov Shapiro’s statement elsewhere this morning and asked for prayers. Praying for peace and safety.
Respectfully Daniel, what would be a proper way to wish others well during Passover? I ask in sincerity since I do not wish to offend. Thank you in advance.
Not being Jewish I don't know the Passover traditions, but your exhortation reminds me of the words of Jesus from Matthew 25:40-45 that culminates "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." I believe this to be the same principle.
The current regime claims to be Christian based, but I cannot see how they can claim such a lie.
all religions are basically the same: treat each other well and don't do stupid shit
religion, no matter, has the root of evil imbedded -- it seems to be able to justify any action no matter how inhumane and cruel...it's not the believing that's the problem it's the permission structure given in the name of religion I object to. Everything is forgiven -- it's like "immunity" --
Gerri, I agree with you, but I also believe that the problem, at least with so-called Christians in the US, is that some preachers come up with very distorted interpretations of the Bible (which is not necessarily an accurate translation from the original language), and then they gather people around them who like that interpretation and don't bother to think for themselves. The people who come up with those distorted interpretations know that people will like them, follow that preacher, and in so doing, make the preacher rich. In my opinion, Christ has been removed from a lot of the Christianity in our country.
Thank you for these important words. It is so painful to learn how many people in this country are capable of de-humanizing others. Trump’s ascendency has revealed an ugly truth.
I certainly have a new view of "america's heartland"
and the unbeliveable stupidity of the american people
I really do believe a great number of us should be tested for lead poisoning...won't happen now though
Of all the outrages perpetuated by this Administration, it is the disregard for human rights and due process of law that most horrifies me. Economic policies and government regulations are difficult terrain but nothing is as terrifying as becoming a police state, full of vengeance, retribution and total disregard for both law and decency.
The short-fingered vulgarian was taught from the cradle, that the only thing that makes one worthy in life, is money and power. He took all the lessons old Fred gave to heart, and that's what makes him what he is. And he must be cruet to be powerful (because Daddy was), and if he stopped for a moment to let a smidge of kindness, mercy, or compassion through, he would have to admit he's a weak loser. Therefore, it will not happen.
Beautiful essay. May you enjoy many gifts during this holiday season.
Now, this from The Washington Post this morning:
"The Trump administration said Sunday that it is not required to engage El Salvador’s government in efforts to facilitate the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison there, striking a defiant tone in responding to a federal judge’s order that plans be made to bring him back to the United States."
This is not empathy. This is a regime that admits it made a mistake but will do everything in its power to NOT rectify their mistake. A truly amoral regime.
Denial of existence is the antithesis of empathy. The ability to add the names of the living to the Social Security Administration's book of the dead not only lacks empathy but erases people from existence while still alive. Muck visited a WW-II concentration camp and showed zero emotional response. Is that where he got the idea to create a holocaust without bodies?
Thank you for this, Jennifer. An important reminder. Happy Passover!
Beautiful message. It's very painful to have empathy these days; more than I can ever recall in my 71 years. God bless.
Jen, may you and all of your family, enjoy your celebration of Passover. Your words resonate loudly and confirm the work that all of us “resisting” and reaching out to strangers are doing the right thing!