When I was a young man, I once asked my mother out of
curiosity a question, “Would you rather I marry a Jewish girl who is Black or a
White girl who is not Jewish.” Her reply was that she would prefer a Jewish
Girl who is Black. She also gave a reason which had nothing to do with religion
but rather “because she would be one of us.” The problem with the Alt-right or
White Supremacists or Neo-Nazis or Nativists or whatever you want to call them
in America is that they have a narrow view of who should be included in the
word Americans. These people believe that Americans are White people who follow
the Christian religion, speak English, vote Republican, and do not belong to
certain minorities (most importantly Hispanic). They consider “Us” as only limited
to that subset of “real American” Whites. They fear that the other “not real” Americans are becoming or have become the
majority in our country. Unfortunately we now have a president (Trump) who
panders to a subset of Americans who hold that point of view. Mr. Putin (the Russian
dictator) through hacking and posting fake news on social media managed to
hijack the most recent US presidential election to squeak Trump over the line
in crucial swing states winning the election for him (despite his loss of the
popular vote). Putin considers it in Russia’s interest to weaken America and
other Western Democracies by promoting divisiveness here and in our allies.
As a Jew, I also am concerned about the State of Israel which
is home to about 40% of my co-religionists in the world today. Theodore Herzl,
the founder of modern Zionism, promoted a Jewish state as a haven where Jews
might escape anti-semitism. As things have progressed, Eretz Yisrael (Israel/Palestine)
has evolved into a land of Jews and Arabs (mostly Moslem) to a varying degree
controlled by Israel. The State of Israel is 75% Jews, 20% Israeli Arabs, 5% not
Jewish or Arab. Gaza is Arab. The West Bank is mostly Arab with a large
minority of Jewish settlers. There is guilt and suffering on all sides. This
blog entry is too short to go into all the details of a complex problem, but I
believe the only solution is to re-wire the idea of “Us” whether that rewiring
evolves into 2 states, 3 states, a confederation, or one state. The
goal of any solution should be peace, prosperity, and dignity for all the
inhabitants. I do not believe this solution will be imposed by government negotiations
alone or primarily, but rather by changing the mindsets of the ordinary people
on the ground, in other words by changing the ideas of who are “us.” When local
Jews, Arabs, and anyone else living there perceive their combined “us” supersedes
their separate “us,” the peacemaking tasks of the government or governments
will become much easier. Then the lives of the local people will be greatly
enhanced, and the benefit might be an example for the surrounding region. The
evolution will not be fast, but if it never starts it will never happen.
There is an organization called Hand in Hand that creates
combined Jewish and Arab schools in Israel for children. This is a ray of light
and a place to start. It is opposed by extremists on both sides. It is
supported by Reuven Rivlin, the president of Israel. However, if I google Hand
in Hand together with Netanyahu or Mahmoud Abbass, nothing pops up. Unfortunately
the presidency in Israel is largely ceremonial. Let us hope that the Hand in Hand
movement will grow enough to force the leaders with power on both sides to wake
up.
