I am tired of talking about anti-Semitism. Fed up. Exhausted.
Why do I have to explain anti-Semitism?
Why do I have to find a way to eradicate it?
Why? Because I am Jewish?
Why do Jews assume the task of inventing pedagogical modules, managing the miracle of prejudice dissolution, clarifying, informing, explaining? Why us? I am tired of carrying that burden.
When Jack Fuchs, a survivor, was asked about the Holocaust, he said, "Why ask me? Ask the Nazis...!"
Why do Jews have to explain anti-Semitism? We did not create it; we were - are - its victims. We can give entire seminars on the various ways we have been attacked throughout the centuries, but does that give us the authority to explain it? Is a battered woman asked to explain the personality of her abuser? Is a rape victim asked to explain the pathology of the perpetrator? Is a victim of any crime asked to explain the criminality of the offender?
Why must Jews develop theories and create mechanisms to eradicate anti-Semitism? Perhaps because others do not. I am tired of doing the work that others should do. In truth, not everything we did, although much, was enough. Anti-Semitism is in excellent health.
Maybe we should not be the ones to assume that responsibility. Despite what anti-Semites believe, we do not have the power to influence anyone's opinion, let alone change prejudices.
Furthermore, we are directly affected, and who pays attention to the victim's arguments? It is ridiculous to expect the victim to modify the perpetrator. The perpetrator and their associates have that power. Christianity generated it, fascism spread it, and today radical Islamism and well-intentioned leftists revive it. Since Nostra Aetate in 1965, the Church has undertaken a task to reverse the scourge of anti-Semitism, and some, few at the moment, have realized that it is an issue that concerns the civilized world, far beyond the Jewish realm. Because anti-Semitism is not a Jewish issue. Since Hajj Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem, supported Nazism and met with Hitler in 1941, the Arab rejection of the land partition and their exodus, Israel's military triumphs in each attack it faced, have made anti-Semitism a banner of radical Islamism. The successful campaign they conducted in the media and on social networks has contaminated the consciences of a left that was seduced by the narrative of Palestinian victims in the hands of the supposed Israeli occupier, "vile, cruel, diabolical" (any resemblance to medieval accusations against Jews is not a coincidence).
I am tired of showing my wounds, tired of searching for whys, tired of fighting against ignorance and prejudice. I am tired of having to justify myself and give reasons to have the same rights as everyone else. I am tired of saying over and over again that "Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die?” (thanks, Shakespeare).
Tired of explaining to the right that I have no horns, that I am not a communist. Tired of explaining to the left that I am neither powerful nor exploitative. Tired of showing feminists their double standard when choosing which women to defend. Tired of UNESCO, the UN, and rhetorical defenders of human rights who only crow good intentions on paper. Tired of that sinister and blinded left, where, surprisingly, there are some Jews who attack themselves.
Tired with an animal, visceral, total weariness. And I say enough! Enough of defending myself for nothing. I did nothing. If I can avoid it, I won't let myself be hit anymore, and if my words, because I am Jewish, are disqualified, it is time to silence what has been said so many times and so little listened to.
The Jewish voice obviously does not have the capacity to dissolve anti-Semitism. Other voices should be screaming for it. The Christian voice, the Muslim voice, the voice of social justice advocates. It seems they do not realize how anti-Semitism corrodes and perverts society and how much it damages the fabric of coexistence. Just as cancer is not an exclusive issue of the affected organ because the whole body is sick, contaminated, and in danger, anti-Semitism is not a Jewish issue. A society that legitimizes and accepts that a small part of its members does not have the same rights legitimizes and accepts the idea that any group can be equally threatened. It is not a safe or reliable society for anyone. Accepting that people can be exterminated just for being born, or that a country can be destroyed because its neighbors are affected by its government's decisions, sets the precedent that this is something that can be done. Today it's "not for me, -the nonJew-," but tomorrow "when they come for me, there will be no one left to speak out" (thanks, Niemöller).
Anti-Semitism, which cuts across social classes and political partisanship, corrupts the basic social morality that supports possible coexistence. Stopping its growth is in everyone's interest. Can't they see it? No, sadly, I think they do not see it, and, what is worse: they do not see that they do not see it!
Christian brothers, Muslim brothers, right-wing and left-wing brothers, we pass the baton to you! You know perfectly well the resources for the spread and dissemination of ideas and narratives; use them today to combat the anti-Semitism that corrodes humanity's core. Several threats loom over our world. Anti-Semitism is one of them. "Aux armes citoyennes! formez vos bataillons!" reclaim the right to exist for every human being, regardless of their beliefs, appearance, or chosen way of life. The task is monumental because it will have to include all fronts: the military and the media, every church, every mosque, and every school, universities and corporations, the family table and social networks.
With the same conviction with which some of you installed it, face the fight against anti-Semitism. We have not been able to, and I, considering my resounding failure, surrender. Now, it is in your hands because anti-Semitism is not a Jewish issue.