Note: This weekend, the twice-impeached disgraced former President Donald Trump put a target on the backs of American Jews. Twitter lit up with condemnation of Trump and his blatant antisemitic dog whistling. In response to Trump’s post, Senior Contributing Editor of The Forward, Rob Eshman, wrote yesterday (October 16, 2022) the following:

“Posting that Jews need to ‘get their act together’ paints a target on our backs

In two separate recent incidents, audience members have tried to shout down Jewish comedians mid-act.

In Omaha, a heckler yelled “Free Palestine!” during stand-up comedian Sam Morril’s set.

And in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, comedian Ariel Elias faced a pro-Trump heckler who demanded to know who she voted for.

And then this morning, former President Donald Trump heckled all American Jews.

Jews in the United States must “get their act together,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, “before it’s too late!” He wrote that Evangelical Christians are “far more appreciative” of Israel and what Trump “has done for Israel” than “people of the Jewish faith.”

There are two problems with what Trump posted. One, it’s false. And two, it poses a threat to Jewish lives.

American Jews are overwhelmingly supportive of Israel. Eight in 10 American Jews say Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey. Just under half of American Jews have visited Israel, too. American Jews may oppose specific Israeli government policies, but only 15% say Israel is not important to their Jewish identity.

In his post, Trump wrote, “no president has done more for Israel” than he has. While the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and brokered the Abraham Accords among Israel and several Arab countries (with which it already had economic and other ties), historians have pointed out that other presidents have done more: President Harry Truman first recognized the Jewish state. President Jimmy Carter brokered a lasting peace between Israel and Egypt, at the time Israel’s biggest enemy. And President Barack Obama gave more money and arms to Israel than any president ever had.

Trump’s post ignored these facts and instead singled out American Jews as ingrates. He added a veiled threat, too, proclaiming that American Jews need to change “before it’s too late!”

Trump’s Jewish supporters tend to either agree with his messages or dismiss them as a harmless example of Trump being Trump — the guy in the back of the comedy club with the loudest mouth.

“I can just tell by your jokes you voted for Biden,” the heckler in New Jersey shouted at Elias. She wryly responded, “I can tell by the fact that you’re still talking when nobody wants you to that you voted for Trump.”

When a former president with millions of followers heckles American Jews, it’s not even remotely funny. A 2020 study of online antisemitism found that instances of hate spiked after the 2016 presidential election, when the Trump campaign pushed similar slurs against American Jewish loyalties, and after the “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville.

“We find the frequency of antisemitic content greatly increases (in some cases more than doubling) after major political events,” the researchers wrote.

In other words, Trump speaks, the memes follow, and antisemitic acts increase.

Whether Trump himself is antisemitic or not is beside the point. One thing we know about antisemitism is it increases during times of economic downtown and political uncertainty, which pretty much sums up the last few years.

“When the society suffers, it needs someone to blame, someone upon whom to avenge itself for its disappointments; and those persons whom opinion already disfavors are naturally singled out for this role,” write the authors of a 2020 study on conspiracy theories and Jew-hatred.

By singling out American Jews because they don’t support him or a particular Israeli government, Trump painted a crude target on our backs.

“Culpability is a tricky thing,” wrote the journalist Julia Ioffe following the 2018 antisemitic massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, “and politicians, especially of the demagogic variety, know this very well. Unless they go as far as organized, documented, state-implemented slaughter, they don’t give specific directions. They don’t have to. They simply set the tone.”

The tone is increasingly nasty — just check out the hecklers attacking Jewish comics. If only they would all just sit down and be quiet.”

Each year, for more years than I can recall, I offered a blessing to our oldest congregant at Temple Israel of Hollywood, Pearl Berg. Pearl is the oldest human being I have ever known. I met her 34 years ago when she was a spry 79 years old.

There are perhaps 1000 people in the world who reach 110 years of age.

Pearl is still sharp, though “slowing down a bit,” according to her son Bob Berg of Washington, D.C.. Either Bob (age 82) or his older brother, Dr. Allan Berg of Philadelphia (age 85), come to visit their mother regularly.

Pearl is a marvel not only because of her age, but because she remains a positive clear-thinking kind woman whose wit and sense of humor is a constant, who welcomes graciously all visitors, who reads every day,  and plays gin rummy remembering the cards her opponent picks up – most of the time.

My connection with Pearl and her family precedes my own birth. Pearl’s husband Mark (z’l) employed my mother in the early 1940s as an office worker in his Los Angeles scrap metal business when she was 25 years old. When Mark died 33 years ago and I prepared my eulogy, my mother told me that Mark was the kindest of bosses. When she departed from his business to volunteer at an army base in San Luis Obispo during World War II, Mark gave her a going-away office party. She never forgot it. My mother died 7 years ago at age of 98, and I thought that she was old – a youngster compared with Pearl.

Happy Birthday Pearl! We look forward to celebrating your 114^th birthday next October 1.

See article published in the LA Jewish Journal, “113 year-old Pearl Berg may be the oldest Jew in the world” – https://jewishjournal.com/cover_story/352205/cover-story-113-year-old-pearl-berg-may-be-the-oldest-jew-in-the-world/

Pearl is listed below as the 12th oldest American, but adjusted to her real birthday of October 1, 1909 (according to birth records), she is the 8th oldest person in the United States and the 2nd oldest in California. Pearl is likely the oldest Jewish person in the United States and possibly the world!

https://gerontology.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_oldest_living_people_in_the_United_States

The oldest Israeli on record was Yisrael Krystal, who died on August 11, 2017 at the age of 113 years, 330 days. Pearl is second only to Mr. Krystal (z’l).

The following statement articulates the raison d’etre of a courageous group of Israeli veteran soldiers who are part of a growing movement in Israel called “Breaking the Silence.” Few in American Jewish life know about them. I have hesitated to write about them until now because I fear that anti-Israel voices outside the Jewish state will use what I say to vilify Israel. That is not my intent. I love Israel. However, love ought not to blind us to the truth of what is happening in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip under the Israeli military administration.

“Soldiers who serve in the territories witness and participate in military actions that change them immensely. Cases of abuse toward Palestinians, looting and destruction of property have been the norm for years, but these incidents are still described officially as ‘extreme’ and ‘unique’ cases. Our testimonies portray a different – and much grimmer – picture, in which the deterioration of moral standards finds expression in the character of the military orders and rules of engagement that the state considers justified in the name of Israel’s security. While this reality is well-known to Israeli soldiers and commanders, Israeli society in general continues to turn a blind eye and deny what is being done in its name. Discharged soldiers returning to civilian life discover the gap between the reality they encountered in the territories, and the silence about this reality they find at home. In order to resume civilian life, soldiers have to ignore what they have seen and done. We strive to make heard the voices of these soldiers, pushing Israeli society to face the reality it has created.”

“Breaking the Silence” claims as members more than 1300 former Israeli soldiers who represent all strata of Israeli society and cover nearly all units that have operated in the occupied Palestinian territories. These soldiers confess now that they were participants in committing unnecessary violence against Palestinian civilians and humiliating Palestinians during their terms of service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“Breaking the Silence” was created in 2004 at the tail end of the Second Intifada (2000-2005) in order to give serving and discharged Israeli personnel and reservists a means to confidentially recount their experiences. For more details, see the movement’s website at https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/ . There it is written:

“All the testimonies we publish are meticulously researched, and all facts are cross-checked with additional eyewitnesses and/or the archives of other human rights organizations that are active in the field. Every soldier who gives a testimony to Breaking the Silence is well-aware of the aims of the organization and the interview. Most soldiers choose to remain anonymous, due to various pressures from military officials and society at large. Our first priority is to safeguard the soldiers who choose to testify to the public about their military service.”

These soldiers decided to speak out with the hope that their voices will describe the harsh facts of the occupation and thereby help to bring an end to 55+-years of Israeli military control over Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

I have known about “Breaking the Silence” for years. I feel compelled to write about this honest morally-based movement of courageous Israelis for the first time because West Bank violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has grown more frequent, destructive, and deadly, because the harsh character of the occupation is increasingly more systemic and entrenched, and because territory that would become part of a future Palestinian state is being aggressively taken and settled by right-wing Jewish settlers with the support of the Israeli government and military administration thereby making a two states for two peoples resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more difficult to achieve.

These veteran soldiers in “Breaking the Silence” tell of the daily humiliation of Palestinians at the hands young 18, 19, and 20 year-old Israeli soldiers who do not speak Arabic well, cannot communicate easily with Palestinians or understand their needs, and whose military orders to control the Palestinian population are often arbitrary and not always based upon Israeli security concerns. As soldiers, they describe themselves as having been cogs in the complex administrative and military wheel of subjugation of the Palestinian people.

It all began after the 1967 Israel-Arab War when a victorious Israel fought against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in their deliberate attempt to destroy the Jewish state. Israel won that war in a lightning victory that stunned the Jewish world and dramatically expanded its borders after six days of fighting taking East Jerusalem and the Old City, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and a portion of Southern Lebanon, and absorbed under Israeli control millions of Palestinian Arabs. Time passed. Egypt made peace with Israel and Israel returned the Sinai. The Oslo Peace Process began in 1993 bringing Israel and the Palestinians to the peace table. Jordan followed with a peace agreement with Israel in 1994. Israel withdrew its citizens and security forces from Gaza in 2004, but maintained control of 3 borders (Egypt controlled the southern-most border).

The Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority (PA) and divided the West Bank into three areas: A, B, and C. Area A is controlled by the PA’s security and Civil Administration. Area B is controlled by the PA’s Civil Administration but security is maintained by the Israeli military and police. Area C is controlled wholly by Israel’s military administration. “Breaking the Silence” notes that:

“The Civil Administration is a military body tasked with managing the civilian aspects of ruling the occupied West Bank. Together with the Gaza district Coordination and Liaison office (DCL), it is subordinate to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). These governing bodies are responsible, among other things, for granting or denying permits to Palestinians to enter Israel for work, medical care, or travel abroad; controlling the import and export of goods, including food; allocating natural resources and planning and building civilian infrastructure. In other words, COGAT, the Civil Administration and the Gaza DCL shape and impact countless aspects of Palestinians’ daily lives. It is impossible to understand the Israeli occupation without putting these units under the spotlight, and yet, they receive very little public attention both within and outside of Israel, and their work has rarely been the subject of in-depth research and investigation.

As demonstrated in the testimonies given by soldiers and officers who served in COGAT, the Gaza DCL, and particularly the Civil Administration, the unit’s work operates on two axes that exemplify Israeli occupation policies as a whole: preserving and perfecting control and monitoring of the Palestinian people, on the one hand, and entrenching and expanding Israel’s hold on Palestinian territory, on the other.” (Breaking the Silence, Military Rule – Testimonies of Soldiers from the Civil Administration, Gaza DCL and COGAT, 2011-2021)

Through an elaborate administrative system that controls the movement and rights of the Palestinian population, Israel set up many check-points, conducts regular unannounced night-time searches of Palestinian homes, demolishes unapproved and un-licensed Palestinian home construction, and builds by-pass roads permitted only to Jewish settler travel. In recent years there has been a marked increase in settler violence with impunity against Palestinian farmers and their cash crops (some violence also is committed by Palestinians against Jewish settlers and IDF soldiers). Water rights are denied to Palestinians (especially in Area C).

One set of laws applies to Israeli Jewish settlers (the same laws that apply for all Israeli citizens inside Israel itself) and another set of laws applies to Palestinian Arabs living in the territories controlled by the Israeli military administration.

Taking all accumulated evidence together, the leadership of “Breaking the Silence” concluded:

“As the soldier’s testimonies show, the result on the ground is a clear, strategic joint effort by the Civil Administration, the settlement enterprise and successive Israeli governments, designed to push out Palestinians and limit their presence in Area C while simultaneously promoting Israeli construction and expansion in the area, thus pushing the possibility of Palestinian statehood ever further into the distance, while paving the way for future annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Israel, founded as a Jewish and democratic state, is the pride of the Jewish people world-wide. It is without question the greatest achievement of the Jewish people in the past 2000 years. Though forced to fight many wars of self-defense and against terrorism, Israel’s democratic, Jewish, and moral foundation (still alive and well within Israel itself) is compromised every day by its harsh occupation of another people.

Only in a two-state resolution of the conflict can justice be achieved for the Palestinian people, can Israel’s democracy and Jewish character be preserved, and can Israel’s young soldiers and future leaders be made whole.

We in Israel and the Diaspora ought to support fully “Breaking the Silence” and those courageous Israelis who are speaking the painful truth about their IDF service as a necessary part of bringing peace to our two peoples and resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in two states for two peoples living securely and peacefully side-by-side.

This blog also appears at the Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/breaking-the-silence-courageous-israelis-speak-out/

Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy is Letty Cottin Pogrebin’s twelfth book, and perhaps her most personal and intimate. It is not only reflective of her eight decades of life experience and that of her generation, but of all first, second, and third generation American Jews who struggle with secrets and shame, and are deathly afraid of public exposure and embarrassment.

The cover description of the book describes what Letty does in this very satisfying memoir:

“The word Shanda is defined as shame or disgrace in Yiddish. The book, Shanda, tells the story of three generations of complicated, intense 20^th century Jews for whom the desire to fit in and the fear of public humiliation either drove their aspirations or crushed their spirit.”

A disclaimer – Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a friend, so the memoir was of particular interest to me. However, it is worth reading for anyone who struggles with the fear of shame and public exposure in any of their manifestations in contemporary American, Jewish, and other-ethnic lives. It is of particular interest to anyone interested in how we American Jews identify with the Jewish religion, tradition, culture, people, and State of Israel.

Letty does not hold back about her own most intimate and, perhaps, most embarrassing experiences. As I was reading, I asked myself where the line is between full-disclosure and remaining private. As a public figure myself, this is an issue with which I struggled throughout my professional life as a congregational rabbi. What was appropriate to share and what wasn’t? I was therefore stunned by many of Letty’s self-disclosures. By the end of the book, however, I understand well why Letty shared so much – she simply had to do so based upon her experiences from childhood on into adulthood.

Letty’s writing is crisp and insightful, as are all of her books and many articles in leading American newspapers and journals. This book is filled with Jewish traditional and cultural references that played themselves out in her life, for better and ill. She presents Judaism with expertise and accuracy, and while she is respectful and learned, her critical voice (especially of the traditional role of women in Judaism) is ever-present.

Letty is a first generation American Jew, a Litvak, meaning that she values the life of the mind. Her greatest fear has always been “losing my mind.”

I will leave it to the reader to discover the secrets with which Letty’s parents lived and the very disturbing truths they denied her as a child that led her eventually to write this memoir that one of her twin daughters encouraged her to write. Those secrets, once revealed, led Letty to often mistrust what others say, to question everything, to probe ideas and assumptions, and to take a public stand on behalf of honesty, truth, justice, and basic human decency.

She is of the founding generation of American feminist thinkers and writers, a founding editor of Ms. Magazine, a strong and articulate liberal activist in American politics and American-Israeli politics, a born and bred New Yorker, and a voice always worth hearing.

I could not put down this 5½” by 8¼” 416-page volume that includes many photographs of Letty as a child through adulthood. I mention the size of the pages because they add to the intimate feel of the book.

Letty includes a list of discussion questions for book groups and a glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew terms.

I read the book quickly, in three sittings, and regretted when I came to the conclusion. I found myself wanting more. But, alas, Letty needs to write, and likely there will be another work to come down the road.

I loved this book and highly recommend it.

As we approach the American mid-term election, what most concerns so many of us are the ongoing threats to American democracy that the Trump-Republican Party poses and the lies and deception that Trump, Trump-Republicans, and the right-wing media bubble shamelessly promote. The virtue of “truth” is on the ballot on November 9.

Speaking the truth is a big deal in Judaism. In the Midrashic literature, truth is regarded as divinely inspired and a foundational value: “The seal of God is Truth –  חתמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא אמת – Chotmo shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu Emet” (Shir Hashirim Rabba 1:9 – 650 to 900 CE).

The following Midrash describes an imaginary conversation between God and the ministering angels. The angel of Truth advised God not to include truth when creating the human being because humankind is incapable of truth-telling:

“When the time came for the Holy Blessed One to make the first human being, the ministering angels made themselves into competing counsels. Some of them said: ‘Don’t create humans,’ and the others said: ‘Create them.’ The angel of kindness said: ‘Create them, for they will do acts of loving kindness.’ Then the angel of Truth said: ‘Do not create them, for they will be full of lies.’ The angel of righteousness said: ‘Create them, for they will establish justice.’ The angel of peace said: ‘Do not create them, for they will be in constant strife!’ What did the Holy Blessed One do, but grab up Truth and hurl it to the earth. Whereupon the ministering angels said before the Holy Blessed One, ‘Ruler of all worlds, what have You done? Why have You so chastised the chief of your court? Let truth arise again from the earth.’” (Bereishit Rabba, 8:8 – 400-600 CE)

“Let truth arise again from the earth.” What does this mean?

The mystic Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572) offered an explanation:

“…the throwing of the truth [to earth] and its arising from the earth that pure truth is, in fact, contradictory to human nature. But when truth is thrown to the ground, it splits up into many shards which are dispersed throughout the world. These are ‘sparks’ of truth, embedded in each and every human being. [Our] role is to collect these sparks of truth and connect them, until the entire truth arises from the earth.” (Cited by Shmuel Rabinowitz, Jerusalem Post, January 10, 2020)

Truth-telling is a so important in Judaism that it is a pre-condition for the processes we are called to engage during this High Holiday season of תשובה – Teshuvah (repentance), סליחה – Selichah (forgiveness), אחריות – Achrayut (taking responsibility), and התחדשות – Hit’chad’shut (renewal).

In light of our tradition’s emphasis on truth-telling, how are Jews and Americans supposed to cope with the massive corruption of truth by the former president, by so many Members of Congress, and by candidates for election in the Trump-Republican Party? According to The Washington Post Fact Checker, Trump lied to and/or mislead the country 30,573 times in his four years as President, and when we add the number of lies and misleading statements spoken by Trump-Republican members of Congress, Trump-endorsed candidates for election, and the right-wing media bubble, the depth and breadth of the lies is overwhelming.  

Though it seems that Trump has Teflon skin protecting him from legal consequences for his lies and criminality, Congress and the justice system in DC, NY, Georgia, and Florida are doing their work to bring him to justice. Their task is not a simple one. They have their mandate, and so do we American citizens – to vote and to get everyone we know – Democrats, Independents, traditional Republicans, and those who have never voted before – to support candidates up and down the ballot in every jurisdiction, local, state, and federal in the nation against Trump-Republicans and for their Democratic challengers. This election is not about Democrats vs Republicans. It’s about democrats vs autocrats. It is for and against democracy itself.

I have faith that our legal authorities and we American voters will each fulfill our respective mandates and that in the end justice will be served, American democracy will be restored, and “truth will arise again from the earth.”

This blog is also posted at The Times of Israel – see
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/let-truth-arise-again-from-the-earth/