Simone-
Normally, I wouldn't care to write this. I would ignore you like I do the other members of the small, but rabid and vicious, young, self-hating, American Jewish community who pop up here and there to scream and yell and wear keffiyehs and write patronizing and ignorant articles and tweet nonsense that no one notices, but you are different. You have been thrust onto the national stage as a "director of Jewish outreach" for the Bernie Sanders campaign, and for anyone who knows what you stand for, that should read like a The Onion headline. Normally, I try and keep infighting in the Jewish community to a minimum, L-rd knows we see a lot of it. But you are a rotten apple, with the ability to ruin the whole bushel, and you must be called out. You will be known to large swaths of the American population as a "Jewish representative," and that fact makes my stomach turn. What you are saying is not new, not innovative, nor progressive or cool. You are not a great Jew because you call other Jews "yids" or have bagel and schmears on Sundays. You are not open-minded because you went to Berkeley, a bastion of anti-Semitic hatred in the bleak and anti- Semitic UC system. You are somewhat more notable because of the extents to which you have gone to try and destroy Israel, I will give you that. You joined (and led!) blatantly anti-Israel groups, you wrote anti-Israel articles, heck! You even opposed university legislation trying to curb campus anti-Semitism! So when I say you are similar to other self-hating, liberal Americans of Jewish lineage, I don't mean to demean your efforts- you are certainly at the forefront of this vile movement. You must be, or I don't believe Mr. Sanders would have chosen you for your current position.
But this letter is going to focus on the Facebook message that is now making the rounds (I've inserted it below for whomever reads this and is unfamiliar) on the Internet- and I've included the un-censored version you posted first, not the sanitized version you edited once you realized that the original version might come across as, well, insane. Kudos, by the way, for not letting your political aspirations keep you from voicing your truth. Before you changed your truth to suit your political aspirations.
We can start with your beautiful summary of my several-times democratically elected Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Aside from being a war hero, a scholar, a head of state and someone you've never met in your life, you use the most nasty language to discuss the leader of an ally of the United States. The biggest ally in the Middle East, incidentally. It may have missed my attention, but would you please direct me to any similar posts calling out Bashar Assad, who is implementing genocide on the Syrian people? Did you write a similar rant about Khaled Mashaal, Mahmoud Abbas, Hassan Nasrallah, Ahmedenijad, Khameini- you know, leaders who are promising the death and destruction of your fellow Jews, both in Israel and abroad? I would love to see the tweets and Facebook posts you wrote railing against the incitement of Palestinian leadership that has caused innocents to be stabbed and run over and shot with abandon here in Israel these past 5 months. Oh, you haven't? Only Bibi is singled out and told "f--- you"? Nice.
You talk of Bibi's fear mongering. Fair play, coming from some American Jew ensconced in Berkeley or NYC (where I'm from, actually!) Tell me, would you have the gall to say that to my face as I sat in my building's bomb shelter, praying for my life, 4 days after I moved to Israel and made it my home. Would you say Bibi is a fear-monger to the thousands of children from Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod who live with PTSD at age 5 because they have lived under the wail of a siren from incoming rockets their whole lives? You know, ever since Israel gave away Gaza in hopes of peace, only to watch their greenhouses turned into rocket launchpads and tunnel-building sites for Hamas? Would you like to go to Sderot and tell those people that Bibi is an ultra-nationalist, blood-lusting, fear-monger who only wants war? I dare you.
Let's move on to him "sanctioning the murder of over 2,000 people" in a "brutal military occupation." I'm going to go out on a limb and say you probably are not a big fan of the IDF. You probably love "Breaking the Silence" and whatever anti-Israel former soldiers who decide to put the love of leftist American Jews, before loyalty to their families and country. I am nothing like you. I love the IDF, the most moral army in the world. Aside from the fact that many past and present members are family and friends of mine, I know who and what they are and I am so proud to have them to defend me. Let me tell you who they are. They are generally 18-21 years old men and women, who have been drafted and asked to give up a chunk of their young lives to protect their family and friends. They are essentially kids who realize that to live in a Jewish homeland, one needs to make sacrifices. Some of them will die. That is a tragedy. I mourn for each life lost like I would my own family member. And I know that if there was no Arab threat to Israel, none of them would ever be killed. They exist because we are under constant threat in Israel and have been since before 1967, before 1948 and before 1929. Either you are entirely ignorant of history, or you are willfully ignoring it. This isn't about Gaza, or 2-states, or even our one state. It's about our existence, in Israel, in America, on this earth. Yours and mine, actually, as we are both (inexplicably) part of the same Jewish people. I'm just not naive enough to think hugs, kisses and capitulation will change reality.
About the Iran deal. How dare you gamble with my country, my people and my life because you think Obama knows better than Bibi about what's best for Israel. Let's say you're right (you're not). Why is Bibi wrong for taking Iran at their word that they want to destroy Israel. It's a matter of public record, in video and print. They want Israel off the map, they will have the tools to do it, an infusion of US cash and they are run by radical mullahs. Why shouldn't Bibi do everything possible to protect his country? Why should you, some know-nothing leftist, sitting safely in hipster Brooklyn think you know anything more that a certifiable genius with mounds of intelligence in front of him? Who ARE You?
I will end with how you signed off. Unfortunately, you are a leftist American Jew who cares more about literally everything than Israel and your people. It is evident from everything I've read about you (considered me obsessed with you, but not in a good way). You speak for a loud, arrogant, willfully ignorant group of disillusioned young Jews who are regrettably growing in ranks. You are so dangerous to American and world Jewry, you can't even imagine. I do hope you see the error of your ways, as you call yourself "a thinking person "although I know you won't. I see you rising in the self- hating ranks in your future career- I'm relatively certain there's a lot of money and prestige in selling out Israel at every turn.
But please know that as loud and vocal as you will be in your life, calling for boycotts, giving anti-Semites ammunition against American Jews and shaming our nation; I will be here on the other side, defending Israel, our people and our right to exist, just as strongly and with the might of right on my side.
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| Hey girl hey! |
Wishing you a complete change of heart,
Jordana Brown
Jerusalem, Israel
All we can think about these days is the terror.The terror we thought had abated, but in reality, took a nap and then hit us in a truly intense and personal way. A beautiful boy, Ezra Schwartz, just 18 and spending his "year in Israel" as me and all my friends had done, was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist with an Uzi, while on his way back from giving food to lone soldiers. You really couldn't have scripted a more tragic end to such a special life. Even in a country and a time where these attacks have become somewhat expected and eerily commonplace, this loss hit me hard. I couldn't sleep or eat, and I found myself voraciously looking for information and photos and video of this kid I never knew, but felt like I personally lost. And I think we all did here in Israel, most especially the American-olim community. I thought of how I myself was "an American tourist in Israel" maybe 50 times on various Birthright and vacation trips. I spent the year here in seminary. When I was that age, I had no doubt whatsoever that once my year was up, I'd move back to New York and live a safe and happy Jewish life in America. Things change and I thank G-d I was bitten by the aliyah bug eventually, but my life mirrored Ezra's really closely at that point in my life. I was exactly what he was- an "American Jewish tourist in Israel." I thought of his friends and the other kids in his gap year, who must all be understandably afraid. About his parents and family, who did the most normal thing Orthodox American parents can do- send their kid to Israel for the year. I thought about his community, who could never fathom that tragedy would hit them from so far away.
In the flood of articles to come out in the aftermath, one stood out to me as a new immigrant. It's common knowledge that this murder has been widely publicized in Israeli and Jewish media, but almost not at all in European and American media. As with many Jewish murders by terrorism in Israel, the world yawns. But the author of this article was truly disheartened by the fact that this American Jew, without the stain of Israeli citizenship, much less a (cringe) "settler" was being ignored by most of the American media and the president of the United States. She didn't understand how American citizens killed in recent terror attacks in France and Mali received so much more media attention. She lamented the idea that, G-d forbid, if it was her or her family member who suffered the same fate, she would be equally abandoned by the country she loved and lived in for so many years. She rightly understood that as an American Jew who left to live in Israel, any tragedy that befell her here in Israel would be even less worthy of mention in the country where she is still a citizen.
To say nothing of my disdain for the current American president (and trust me, after over 7 years, I have what to say), it struck me how my personal viewpoint differed so greatly from the writer of this article. First, the lack of media attention didn't surprise me, nor did the near-radio silence and lack of condemnation from the State Department. I have come to expect exactly this from the world we live in, and much more tragically, from the country where I grew up and still appreciate tremendously. I chose to focus on the local papers in Boston who wrote beautiful tributes, and the senators and representatives on both sides of the aisle who remembered Ezra publicly. I had gratitude to the select (and to be fair, mostly conservative) national media who did mention Ezra's loss and the Jewish community's outpouring of support. But call me jaded, I'm just not surprised anymore, nor am I particularly upset.
When articles about murdered Jews come with rationalizations and equivocations, it's a real blow. When the State Department or president mentions a Jewish death in Israel and follows it with calls for "restraint on all sides," it negates all that came before it. When anti-Semites on social media use your tragedy as fodder for their own agenda, you can't help but wish they didn't know about it at all. And when you have to doubt the country that you pledged allegiance to for twelve years, doubt their allegiance to you, it's really an awful feeling.
I don't know when it happened, and it definitely hasn't always been this way, but I have come to the realization that at the end of the day, the Israeli and world Jewish communities are the only ones who will love, honor and respect me no matter what. As we have seen with Ezra, all victims of Palestinian terror, and Jewish victims of terror around the world, we are our own champions. We are the ones who will remember us, the ones who will memorialize us. We are the ones who will pray for us and the ones who will let the world know what we lost. We are the only ones who will fight for our rights and our homeland. And while I am forever grateful to our allies in the world- the Christians and the Muslims and the atheists and the Buddhists who care about us and our safety- we, the Jewish nation, are our one steadfast support system. Throughout our history, we have had countless enemies, with no one to turn to, no one to defend us. We have had ourselves and only ourselves through the millenia, and now is no different. I know a lot of you will read this and think "What a stupid girl. I am a proud American/Parisian/Brit/Aussie Jew. I have plenty of friends who would stand for me, defend me." And I have no doubt that they would. I, too, have friends who love me, love the Jewish people, even love Israel. But you know what? The only support I need in this world is that of my fellow Jews. I know that if I have that then the fickle affections of Europe or the United States won't affect me. That if, G-d forbid, anything happens to me, or someone I love, I won't have to live with the anguish of feeling deserted by the country where I was born. I know that this country, my country, my government and my people will embrace me, support me and love me like I love them. Because we are one family and that is what family does.
I know I say this a lot, but I always mean it- The Nation of Israel Lives- with each other and for each other. Am Yisrael Chai.
Today I was sent an article posted on an online publication, where the author ostensibly blames Taglit-Birthright for the death of Max Steinberg, an American IDF soldier who died this week during Operation Protective Edge. I will not link the article, nor name the author or publication, because neither deserves recognition of any kind. In her diatribe, she asserted that Birthright is indirectly to blame for Max's death, due to the fact that they brainwash their participants into joining the IDF or making aliyah, and if not for this hideous mind-control, Max would be comfortable and safe in California. Two things struck me immediately. The first is that it takes a special kind of self-hatred and lack of compassion to use the occasion of a soldier's death to strike a blow to Taglit-Birthright. Imagine a person, upon hearing the horrifying news of a Jewish boy dying in battle, thinking to herself "I should write an article blaming a Jewish organization, and indirectly the entire state of Israel, at this exact point in time." Boggles the mind.
The second thought I had, and the reason I am writing this post, is to show solidarity with one of the greatest things to happen to world Jewry in the last 65 years. I am writing in defense and recognition of Taglit- Birthright.
It is no secret that I love Birthright. I have taken this 10-day trip as a staff twelve times. This means I have had the pleasure of sharing the land of Israel with my young American Jewish brothers and sisters to the tune of about 450 participants! Add to that the 100 or so soldiers I've had the pleasure to meet, and the various co-staff, tour guides, medics and bus drivers with whom I've had the pleasure of sharing a cramped bus. I have seen more of Israel than most, and I've loved (almost) every minute of it. But that's just me. One rabidly- Zionist Orthodox girl's experience. Except I am not Birthright's target demo. Most of my participants had never been to Israel. Most are non-practicing Jews. Most are not particularly Zionist. Most have predominantly non-Jewish social circles. For many, without Birthright, these Jewish kids would have zero Jewish experiences and maybe even not know any other Jewish people! (I'm talking to you, Jews in Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, etc). Birthright gives Jewish kids an opportunity not only to connect with Israel, but other Jewish kids! And Israeli Jews! And Orthodox Jews (hiiiii guys!) It is a way to build a community in a world they never even knew they could belong.
And now to the trip. I would love it if I could honestly say that it was some right-wing, ultra Zionist, indoctrination machine. But it is not. It just isn't. I've had tour guides who are right- wing, talking about our biblical ties to Israel, and left- wing, discussing their sadness at the plight of the Palestinians. I've had religious guides, making kiddush Friday night and staunchly atheist guides, wherein I made the kiddush Friday night! I've had soldiers who loved the army or, quite frankly, would have rather been doing anything else. I've had guides who took us to Sderot and the partition wall, to the border of Lebanon and kabbalist artists in Tzfat. I've had spiritual shabbats at the Western Wall, and others where the kids lounge at a pool near Masada. So do kids fall in love with Israel and their soldiers? Yes, quite often. Does it spur some on to serve their homeland in the IDF, or even make aliyah? Blessedly, yes! Does it make kids think more about their place in the Jewish world, and how that might impact their future? YES. But why is any of this a bad thing?!
Honestly, unless you really dislike Israel or Jews, I don't see the problem. All I see is an organization who saw a need in the world Jewish community and filled it, pouring money and love and dedication into a diaspora Jewish nation who desperately needed something to connect to. I am so grateful for the time I've spent on Birthright- the places I've seen and the people I've met. Quite honestly, some of my closest friends are former participants and staff. So I thank you for reading this and allowing me to share my appreciation with Taglit- Birthright, and I urge you all to do the same if you can.
Life is basically a bunch of experiences, strung together over time. Most of these experiences are mundane- going to school, the bank, lunch with friends. But some change who you are and how you see the world. Last night, I had one of those experiences.
Israel experienced the tragic reality of a ground war yet again, when 13 brave soldiers from the Golani brigade faced a tank explosion in Gaza. Two of these soldiers were chayalim bodedim, or lone soldiers. This means that their families live outside the country, and they are here in the IDF in Israel essentially on their own. One of the soldiers was a young man from Texas named Sean Carmeli. His parents were Israeli and moved to Texas to raise a family. When he was in high school, Sean moved back to Israel without his parents, to finish school and then join the IDF. He was a sergeant in the Golani brigade infantry, and he was just 21 years old.
Whenever there is a chayal boded, there is a fear that his or her funeral will be forgotten, or poorly attended. After all, they are not from here, they grew up in another country and their family and friends generally live abroad. Therefore, social media took over, publicizing Sean's funeral details for anyone who wanted to attend. The Haifa soccer team (Sean was a huge fan) put the details on their Facebook page, the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center publicized the details. I heard about the funeral at 7 PM and made an impulsive decision to take the next bus to Haifa (about 2 hours away) to attend Sean's funeral.
There were a few reasons I made this decision. Most obvious is that I wanted to pay final respect to a soldier that had given his life for his country and his people. But more than that, I felt a pull, a need to represent American olim, those of us who had grown up as American Jews like Sean, spoke English like Sean, loved America like Sean, but decided to move to our Homeland. His story was similar to that of Michael Levin, another lone soldier, killed in the second Lebanon War. An American kid, filled with a tremendous Zionism, I always wished I could have met Michael, or attended his funeral. It was important for me to do whatever I could to represent American olim for Sean Carmeli.
The experience of getting there is a story unto itself. After arriving in Haifa, a city with which I am extremely unfamiliar, I asked everyone on every platform if they were going to the funeral, or if they knew where it was. No one was, and I started to worry. I finally got vague directions and boarded a bus to the cemetery area. As the bus made its stops, it began to fill. And fill. Until at the cemetery stop, the bus was standing room only. Once off the bus, all you could see was people. People on foot, in cars and on buses. People in uniforms and plainclothes. Men and women (and a few children), religious and secular, Hebrew and English-speaking. It was an absolute mass of humanity, all at a cemetery at 11 PM in Haifa to pay their last respects to a soldier they never even met.
People (myself included) hopped over fences and ringed the graves, jostling for a spot to see something, to hear something, to be a part of the community. Haifa weather is most unlike Jerusalem. In the summer, the air is as stifling at night as it is during the day, still and humid. It was not a comfortable feeling, but it felt appropriate for the time- it was not a comfortable situation. Bodies parted as his coffin, draped in the Israeli flag, was carried through the crowd by Sean's comrades, followed by his grieving family. Instructions were given to the crowd in case a siren should sound- get to the ground quickly, cover your head. It was our new grim reality here in the midst of our communal grief.
Prayers for the IDF and the people of Israel were recited. Sean's father recited the most heartbreaking kaddish for the crowd- the cries of "Amen" filled the air. The mayors of Ra'anana and Haifa spoke, as did his high school principal. They talked about how he loved sports and his girlfriend, how he was a good student, and how his family were pillars of the Texas Jewish community where they live. His family recently became more religious, and Sean spent some time before the army learning in yeshiva. How Sean would talk about his family when he was with his unit, and his unit when he was with his family. How Sean was told he didn't have to serve right now, due to a wound on his foot but chose to stay with his unit in their time of need. They mentioned his ever-present smile, and always positive attitude. There was even a speech in English, enabling me to soak up every word I could about this impressive young man, taken way too soon. I was able to get to know this beautiful boy who I would never actually know. The service ended with a gun salute, and the crowd dispersed.
Estimates of attendance were between 12-40,000 people. We did not know Sean. But we all loved him, and wanted to thank him for his sacrifice. It is because of people like Sean that we are able to live in our Homeland. What struck all of us in attendance most was the absolute sense of unity we felt as a Jewish nation. When you are in grief for a fallen soldier, religious differences and cultural differences and political ideologies are forgotten. We all, every one of us, lost our brother Sean Carmeli, and we all came to mourn our fallen hero. May his memory be a blessing to his family and the whole nation of Israel, and may we all know no further sorrow.
