Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

by Emmanuel Acho

In an attempt to pull themselves back together, the Germans form their very first democracy, called the Weimar Republic.

Allies force Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles, a punitive, humiliating agreement that, among other things, requires Germans to pay reparations to the Allied Powers—a

Politics swing to the right.

The Jews are to blame.

So military leaders start shifting the blame to the Weimar Republic and the Jews, socialists, and Communists.I

Making Germany great again.

1933–1938: The Water’s Getting Warmer: Insurrection, Dismantled Democracy, and Stripped Civil Rights

Adolf Hitler and the Nazis get a foot in the door. In 1933,

And then they get a lot of power.

The first victims of systematic Nazi persecution were Hitler’s political opponents, whom he sent to Dachau, the first-ever concentration camp, just outside Munich. The next target was the Jews.

Jewish dehumanization begins.

If you’re wondering Why didn’t they just leave?, that is a great question. Remember, German Jews thought of themselves as fully assimilated into the most advanced and enlightened society in the world. For many, it was as though they were Germans first and Jews second. They assumed this madness would soon pass, plus they had friends, neighbors, and communities—allies whom they thought would protect them. Eventually, as things progressively worsened, some Jews did make the decision to go, though with great sacrifice. My great-grandfather Paul Schorr was one of them. He sensed the impending danger and first moved his family from the German town of Cologne to Prague in Czechoslovakia, never imagining that Hitler would make it that far in his quest to take over Europe. When it was clear that the Nazis were going to do just that, he was able to secure extremely difficult-to-get visas to join a small Zionist community in what would become Israel.

After one of the men in charge commented on the beauty of Paul’s seventeen-year-old daughter, my grandmother Hilda, he understood the steep price of the survival of his family. He brought Hilda back for a closed-door meeting. They came home with the visas.

Words turn to violence.

The event became known as Kristallnacht, “Night of Broken Glass.”

1939–1945: The Final Solution to the Jewish Question

That is the answer to how the Holocaust was possible. Years of calculated fake news with the Nazis feeding the public a steady diet of propaganda and the polished vision of the perfect nationalistic German dream was how the Nazis were able to go from merely expelling Jews from Germany and other parts of Europe to killing them methodically and entirely: “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question,” as they called it.

experiments, could go about their everyday lives. It’s how companies like Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, and Bayer turned a blind eye to Jewish enslavement,

And every year, teachers hear from parents that they want their children excused from Holocaust instruction because it isn’t their “belief” that the Holocaust happened.

epigenetic trauma.

The Black community experiences the same exact thing, what researchers call “racial battle fatigue.” It’s basically the result of always feeling like you’re in danger or that you have to be on high alert, so you start suffering from anxiety, headaches, and high blood pressure. One in five Black Americans will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their life, and as many as 14 percent have PTSD.

It was the exact same story that horrified me as a child, and it was now being told to me, once again, as an adult. This horror happened to us again. So, you see, when we hear the stories from eighty years ago, they are not theoretical to us because we are those stories.

There’s another very important reason we’ve been able to thrive in modern times, which is because of the safety and security that is afforded us by the existence of Israel, which officially became a country after the Holocaust. Israel

But What If We’re Wrong?, which basically says that to believe everything is right about history is asinine.

I have always been outspoken when it comes to being both pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, and anti-Hamas.

popular idea that a lot of people have right now—that there’s no such thing as right and wrong anymore, that “everybody has a valid perspective,” “you do you,” and “this is my truth.” The “whataboutisms” and justifications.

However, when it comes to the Hamas massacre of innocent Israeli civilians, when it comes to the jihadi culture of Hamas (and ISIS and Hezbollah and Al Qaeda), there is only wrong.

Just like there was no other reason behind Hamas’s brutality other than the intention to slaughter Jews and destroy Israel.

“This woman is spreading blood libel!” On the exact same post. NOA: By the way, that accusation itself is antisemitic; it’s a term pulled directly from the early Christians. Remember? That centuries-old slur that refers to Jews using the blood of non-Jewish, usually Christian, children for our rituals? The very same one that European imperialists brought to Muslim countries in the 1800s?

Zionism is the Jewish people’s right to have self-determination and self-governance on parts of their ancestral land. That’s it. It’s Israel’s right to exist.

So “Zionism” in this context is the desire to return to Jerusalem, our ancestral land.

Herzl wrote about a new utopian state built on liberal values, including full, equal rights for men and women from all races, religions, and ethnicities. He described a socialist economic system that included a dash of capitalism to ensure its self-reliance. He championed free education, separation of church and state, maternity pay, overtime pay, and making stewardship of the environment a priority. His slogan? “You are my brother.” Keep in mind, Emmanuel, this book was written in 1902, more than sixty years before American counterculture spread from the corner of Haight and Ashbury.

Black community between what they believe Jewish people did historically to the Palestinians and what white Americans did to the Native Americans. What do you think about that? NOA: You’re bringing up a lot of important points, and I want to give them all the time and space they need. So let me begin with your point about comparing the creation of Israel to what Americans did to the Native Americans, because that’s the narrative that’s been purposefully programmed into society over the last thirty years or so. But it is not analogous. That narrative does a few things really well: It erases the hard evidence that supports the archaeologically and historically well-attested fact that the Land of Israel dates back to biblical times, that the Jewish people are indigenous to that land, and that they have had a continued presence there. It also erases the accuracy of what historically happened in that region before and around the establishment of Israel. And it certainly erases the fact that Israel was there as an independent nation before anything else.

Let the record show that I am taking a very deep breath. The answer is unequivocally No. Jesus was not born in Palestine. Before there was Palestine, there was Israel. Which is where Jesus was born.

Antiochus’s son, on the other hand, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (aka “the Madman”), wanted everyone to worship Zeus and overtook the Temple. The Jews said, “Hard pass,” retook the Temple in rebellion, and were miraculously able to keep the temple flames burning for eight nights. (Happy Hanukah, everyone!)

Romans hated the Jews so much—to the extent that scholars generally recognize this as fact—that after the Jews (unsuccessfully) revolted and prompted the third and final Jewish–Roman war between 132 and 136 CE, the Romans wanted to punish them beyond laying waste to Judea (which they also did). So they changed the administrative name of Judea to “Palaestina” in order to sever the Jews in name from their historical homeland—possibly history’s first case of Jewish gaslighting!

Why the Philistines of all people? Because they were the Israelites’ greatest enemies in the Bible.

Israel means: “One who wrestles with God and prevails.”

Zionism is the Jewish people’s right to have self-determination and a state to govern, and anti-Zionism is denying that right.

People are not always their government, and a government is not always its people.

Although the UN voted to create Israel, it has historically dropped the ball when it comes to shutting down antisemitismIV and has consistently held Israel to a double standard.

BDS is the acronym for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, meaning the campaign supports all of the above against Israel—divesting investments away from Israel, boycotting Israeli products and academia, not doing business with Israeli companies, and placing economic sanctions on Israel.

Despite what many on the left will claim, we are not dealing with freedom fighters.

Judaism, in and of itself, is an indigenous religion. Our holidays are synced to the moon cycle in Israel. The four species—lulav, hadass, arava, etrog—used to bless our sukkahs during Sukkot are native to Israel. The candles we light on Hanukah celebrate the oil that burned in the Second Temple in Israel. These rituals are inseparable from that land. Yes, it’s a time-tested tradition for us Jews to doubt and question, but doubting the worthiness of Israel is a guilt we are not meant to carry.

I believe racism requires three things: power, privilege, and prejudice,

is an indictment of all Jews, capitalizes on stereotyping tropes, or lays blame for an entire issue solely on Israel.

3D Test: Demonization, Double Standards, Delegitimization.

where there is lack of information, there is disinformation.

But here you had what seemed, to me, like Jewish people looking for pain where it didn’t exist.

Because you know what the old patriarchy would love for us to do? To be alienated from each other, so they can continue to divide and conquer. Who wins when people hate the Jews? Or Black people? Or Asian people? Or queer people? Short answer: the people who promote fascism. Extremism. Hate.