WHAT ARE WE THINKING?

Recently I received a forwarded email from an acquaintance and good friend of mine. In it was a response to an email he sent to someone we both know, who was telling him about her new home in Florida. She wrote of all the things she was experiencing: things she missed about Long Island, her husband’s health, etc. She ended it with a curious note, stating that the Jewish population was very small, but she didn’t seem to notice any “anti-Semitism”. I was troubled by that statement, and am worried too.

Why am I troubled? This wonderful lady, worked so hard for the betterment of people with mental disabilities. Working long hours, she poured out her professionalism in an untiring way, spending long days into nights working to make my daughter’s life better. Oh, she was paid for it, but she did what she did for a very worthy cause. In her mind, there is no distinguishing Jew from Christian, no qualification other than being a human being. Yet she must worry about someone hating her because she is Jewish!

Why do people still carry hatred over something that happened over two thousand years ago? Something that was part of the times, that colors our thinking today? How much have we lost our way? I often see old photos of the Holocaust. Little children are being led away, old people, young and old women, all to their death! Why? Because they committed a crime, they were born a Jew? Men, fathers and grandfathers, hard working, devote people all, and being slaughtered because they believe in God, but not your God? Who’s God do we invoke when we burn down a synagogue? Who’s God are we asking to strike down the children who are Jewish? Who’s God will bless us when we persecute a Jew?

How many are taught hatred not because they can recall some old history that has not real meaning to today’s world, but because they are taught to hate?

Look around you. What do you see? Do you see the road structures that a Jew built; do you not feel the healing benefits of a Jew from a medical school or hospital? God forbid, if you should be in a horrific accident, would you question the rescuer, is he a Jew, if not then he can help me? No, you thank God for someone.

You are familiar with the play ‘Fiddler On The Roof’ The line goes something like this: “I know Lord, the Jews are the chosen people, but could you choose someone else for a change?”

On the Board where I serve, there are Jews. I’m proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. They care; they speak out for all the people that we are serving. Not one has qualified that his work is for Jewish children only. Not one has condemned the Christian for his ugliness against the Jew, not one has wailed that a Christian must die, or a Muslim should be condemned to hell.

Jews have made this place we call earth a better place than it could be. Medicine, health, education, business, law, the arts, all of humanities endeavors have been benefited by the contributions of the Jews. Let’s grow up in America. Let’s put away, or better yet, let’s kill off the hatred. Let’s embrace one another, and realize, we need each other to live in this world.

I can ask the question: “Why?” but I can’t provide the answer. There is a Hebrew phase: “ani ma’amin” - I believe. I believe that we need to help each other, need to have hope in each other, and preserve the future in our children, to preserve the legacy that is ours.

Please remember MMB (My Man Bill) and my brother-in-law John, and all those that need our hopes and prayers.