Hate that Cuts Like Shards of Glass
Tomorrow, October 27th is the anniversary of the massacre perpetrated at the Tree of Life-Or L’ Simcha synagogue complex in Pittsburgh in which eleven people were murdered and countless more had their lives shattered into pieces. November 9th will be the anniversary of Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass, in which Jewish businesses and places of community were vandalized while many Jews were brutalized, incarcerated or murdered by Nazi paramilitary and other accomplices marking what would be an even greater descent into the mass murder and devastation of Jews and Jewish life in much of Europe and beyond. We enter into a makeshift stretch of two weeks bridging these events vastly different in scope but echoing each other in essence. And top of mind for many Jews is an incident in which no glass was broken let alone blood spilled, yet because of the artificial world of public and social media, the stark ugliness of Kanye West’s slurs about Jews cannot be ignored. So what role should such a pathetic moment play against the backdrop of remembering the most dire consequences of Jew-hatred.
West is hardly the only standard bearer of virulent antisemitism and by no means the most powerful. And the Jewish community has not been quiet. An organization called JewBelong puts up pink billboards like the one in the center of Sandy Springs reminding the world that the Holocaust was only 75 years ago. Organizations, conferences and articles. Security training and lobbying. And yet a hate group mocks and threatens Jews, draping a banner across the freeway in Los Angeles proclaiming a new slogan: Kanye was right.
This seems to be a good time to think through the immediate lessons of this high profile incident:
First and foremost, no incident is isolated. As soon as Kanye West sent out his toxic thoughts, despite their bizarre and even incoherent content, he opened new avenues for those who are already steeped in their hatred of Jews in particular. In addition to the signs on the freeway in Los Angeles, many voices have come forward to hear or bolster Kanye’s attacks in the name of their own ideology or worldview.
A corollary to the first lesson: When it comes to antisemitism there are major differences in the perceived reasons and the lines drawn. This is somewhat different than other forms of bigotry which are divisive but the lines are more evident. While there are plenty of posts proclaiming “I stand with my Jewish friends” it is hard not to be disturbed by how long Adidas in particular took to recognize the need to act and how clearly they made the decision based on financial reasons and not principle.
Israel will always come into the conversation and an act of blatant antisemitism like West’s will bring out both the most antisemitic forms of anti-Zionism Distinguishing between slurring Jews and condemning Israel becomes more fraught when the heat is turned up. The result is that the fight against antisemitism like West’s is muddier and conversation about Israelis and Palestinians becomes even less productive or fair.
While the entire Jewish community condemns West, the political lines already drawn have caused him to be lumped with a wide variety of extremist voices and conversely disassociated from other ones. The conversation quickly shifted to what kind of antisemitism Kanye West represents and empowers. Yet West’s statements do not easily fit into American political categories. They are in part a reminder of what we lose when we exile parts of the Jewish community from our concern. This lesson isn’t simple because politics is not a mere label and the stakes are high no matter where you are standing. Yet, the ones who truly hate, hate every one of us and they will always hear what they want to hear no matter who says it or why. And when glass breaks the shards fly everywhere.
Lord Jonathan Sacks has famously called antisemitism the virus that mutates constantly throughout history. If so then we have no choice but to develop new treatments and vaccines as well. We need to speak out and insist on telling our own stories as part of the bigger web of sharing experiences that deepen our bonds of common cause. Lean into the Zionist dream of an Israel that empowers Jews to defend and define ourselves without getting trapped into someone elses narrative of what Israel is about. Assert the importance of achieving safety, dignity and freedom for Palestinians and Israelis. Use the organizational power we have in this country while recognizing both its limits and privileges. Antisemitism is different in many ways from other forms of prejudice and every form of prejudice is different from each other. We can’t let antisemitism be subject to “all prejudices matter” by making every conversation about Jews also a conversation about other overlapping and intersecting groups even though antisemitism in America also plays a part in a bigger picture.
Antisemitism has the advantage of striking on it’s schedule not ours. Antisemitism, Jew-hatred, Amalek, Pharaoh. The hate has a long tail, but the heritage from Abraham and Sarah's covenant to our peoplehood today cannot be wagged by it. We have to dismantle antisemitism with every tool in the tool box, some blunter than others. We must also remember the kaleidoscopic experiences and encounters with Jews and Jewish life that cannot be contained in any box and even glass that is shattered continues to reflect that light.