Moses Weeps: American Jews Under Attack
An ongoing editorial blog by author Miranda Armstadt on the shande that is the out-of-control antisemitism sweeping America today.
When Only One of You Can Survive, You Better Pick Yourself
Ever see those Special Ops where the guys are on their way to complete some mission, and there are guards standing in their way from the opposition side, and the SF guys blow them away without a thought because, let's be honest, only one of 'em can survive and these guys have a goal.
Well, that's where Israel is now. The whole country is in Special Forces mode, because the survival of Jews in Israel and around the globe is literally at stake.
So, fuck Rahmoodung, I am glad that Israel is withholding aid to Guaze-ah, because the Ninja Turtles refuse to release all hostages, and enough of this fucking bullshit. If the whole damned country needs to die (they won't, and I've yet to see a single person there without a cell phone, let alone "starving," but anyhoo...) if that's how Ham Ass wants it, here it comes.
Because it's us or them. Yes, it's that simple. And I am voting for my people.
Am Yisrael Chai.
We Can Never Go Back to How We Viewed America Again
I've been thinking as 2024 winds down about how much the past 14 months have impacted Jews everywhere. I've learned so much I wish I didn't know about other Americans' views of Jews generally, and perhaps most sadly, have been left realizing I can never be and will never be considered a plain ol' American again.
I grew up in quite assimilated and sophisticated surroundings, and certainly in a very different time. I remember a man who worked at a chicken barbecue shop in my hood in NYC had a Nazi-etched number on his forearm from the camps. He was maybe in his 30s at that time. The war was only twenty years in the rear view mirror when I was a kid, and Israel had nothing but support, at least from anything I could see.
In the past year+ since Oct. 7, 2023, I've seen so much of what I call "polite antisemitism"--everywhere, all the time. As a blonde chick who could "pass" all her life, I was never this aware of how differently we are regarded by others, or of how absolutely ignorant 99% of the American public is about anything to do with being Jewish: our beliefs, our culture or our vast and lengthy history that stretches back 6,000 years.
Ignorance really was bliss. Now, I can never unsee the reality that we are the "other" to everyone: Christians, Muslims, blacks, yadda yadda. It's beyond depressing. I literally weep writing this.
My own life is closer to its end than its beginning now, and I don't have kids of my own. But I worry for those in their teens and twenties what may lie ahead for them as America increasingly forgets about the Holocaust, and buys into Iran-proffered lies about Israel.
I worry exponentially about our Ivy League schools, and their unbelievable fall from grace or even a modicum of common sense. What happened last year with the daily pro-Ham Ass encampments should go down in history as an absolute shande: a scandalous embarrassment, backed--or at least not protested adequately--by most of the American educational establishment.
That wasn't "free speech." It was Jew-hate, pure and simple. The fact that people don't want to take a side is so fucking disturbing to me, and has shown me how on our own we are when push comes to shove.
Jewish parents need to stop sugarcoating this reality for their kids.
Am Yisrael Chai.