By Amy Zewe–
Over the past several weeks we have provided reports on Ukraine issues including Aliyah efforts and relief for Jews who remain in Ukraine, specifically in Dnipro. Please refer to our website for more information on this continued need and avenue by which we are supporting and aiding the Jewish people. We also reported on the Iran Nuclear deal—a deal that existentially threatens Israel (and its neighbors). I ask you to continue to follow that story and voice your opposition to your members of Congress.
While these headline-grabbing issues have taken our attention, and indeed they deserve our continued attention, I would like to redirect you this week to the more subtle dangers to Israel and the Jewish community that are taking place via our educational and political entities. Rather than outright violence or threat of violence against Israel and Jews, political bodies and educational institutions continue to undermine what Jewishness is and the very right for the state of Israel to even exist and defend itself.
Universities continue to foster hostile atmospheres on campuses via their curriculums, radical professors, and activist student groups. Critical Race Theory’s (CRT) attempt to re-define Jewish people as white privilege and among an oppressing class (a category that in and of itself demands rebuttal) it seeks to diminish all jews to “white” and “privilege” because of a stereo-typical stance that all Jews are financially successful, pass as white, and as such, are part of the oppressing group. Moreover, the centuries of antisemitism Jewish people experienced, particularly that of the first half of the 20th Century, is reduce to a mere footnote or sentence within a brief paragraph about the casualties of WWII and Jews are listed in, and not first, with others who perished (Gypsies, political dissidents, the handicapped and infirmed, the elderly—whose deaths are just as unjustified) but this list removes the gravity as well as the overall lessons and mindsets of antisemitism from the discussion of WWII as Jews are but a list of folks that Hitler targeted for his own power cravings and desire for a master race.
The United Nations (UN) is also pre-occupied with targeting the State of Israel with false labels of apartheid and human rights abuses when 1. The assertions of the UN are either completely false, lack context, or simply lies. And 2. Actual human rights atrocities happening in North Korea, China and even Israel’s neighbors are ignored and chalked up to “cultural differences.” The pre-occupation that some UN members have with condemning and passing resolutions against Israel boarders on mentally unbalanced and certainly agenda-driven motives (including antisemitism)—and the world often sits back and shrugs its shoulders as the ONLY democracy in the Middle East continues, to this day, to provide aid to Ukraine, offer security efforts in the Middle East to all it inhabitants, foster a culture where non-Jews have the same rights and place in the Israeli society as non-Jews and other groups such as women, LGBTQ and more find freedom and upward mobility where in all neighboring nations to Israel, these same groups are oppressed at the very least, and often jailed or killed at worst.
My plea to you today is to keep the myriad of issues facing Israel and Jews on your prayer lists as you daily take action to combat sinister efforts. Continue to contact your elected officials to voice opinions that demonstrate policies and platforms that support Israel, freedom, democracy worldwide.
Take action in your community to educate friends, neighbors, family and your religious organizations about what is going on in Israel and the world when it comes to Jews so that people can see that our faith demands we support Israel and stand beside Jews everywhere and our American values also demand we stand in solidarity with Israel and Jews.
Pay attention to what is going on in your local schools, your public universities—each of which your tax dollars go to—and be mindful of institutions such as your own alma mater, or schools your family and friends or neighbors have or do attend. Expose curriculum that targets and even lies or omits the experiences of Jews (and Christians) around the world.
You do hold power: power in your prayers, your voice, your actions within your field of influence. Continue to also pray for our first in-person events happening in April in South Carolina—Violins of Hope. Join us at either the Myrtle Beach or Charleston events. If you cannot attend, consider a small donation (within our Holocaust Education Project) to help offset the operational costs of this educational and cultural event designed to touch the entirety of the communities of South Carolina—all age groups, all backgrounds.
Shavua Tov
Have a great week.