I am a recent convert to Judaism, having been married for nearly 27 years to a Jewish woman and, for much of that time, having been a fundamentalist Christian and then, for a time (and the subject of another post, soon), not much of anything, religiously speaking. I came to Judaism not because of the influence of my wife and stepchildren (and their families), but because it seemed, over time, the best and most enlightened way of having a relationship with G-d. In particular, the influence of Jews in this country in culture and liberal politics has always given me a favorable view of both Jews and Judaism generally.
So I am proud to say that I am Jewish, to identify with the Jewish community, and to offer unqualified support to the current and continued existence of Israel as a Jewish state and a homeland for Jewish people from all over the world. And, as a consequence, I treat any statement that impinges on those interests in any way, shape, or form with the strongest possible opposition, consistent with my values as a Jew.
And, I am sorry to say, recent remarks by Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota fall directly into that category. I contributed to her campaign, and see then (and now) the value of having not only Muslims in Congress, but Muslims having a greater role in American life in general, not just because it's consistent with our values as a nation, but because it also offers a chance to formulate policy based upon a rational understanding of Muslims, and not an "understanding" largely shaped by Fox News. I repudiate her statements without reservation or exception.
But calling Representative Omar's comments out as "anti-Semitic," as some conservative Jewish commentators such as John Podhoretz have done, is a very different story. And I'm writing this now, in part, to explain why that is true.
Despite the ancient nature of Judaism, the term "anti-Semite" (and variations thereof) as a term for hatred of Jews and Judaism is relatively recent. In fact, it has a very specific geographic origin: Germany, where Adolf Hitler used it in his book "Mein Kampf" to explain in part the basis for his perverted view of the world and his people's place in it. Given that fact, as well as the subsequent historical record of Nazism in the Third Reich and the post-World War II world, and the Holocaust above all, it is not surprising that the terms "Semite" and "Jew" have become interchangeable in contemporary culture. And that is not entirely due to Hitler; the origins of the link predate him by a considerable margin.
Take a look at this Wikipedia article, which discusses in detail the biblical origins of the terms "Semite" and "Semitism." Originally, the term covered a wide number of racial and religious cultures in the Middle East, including Arabs. That ended beginning in the nineteenth century in Germany, when it became fashionable in Germany, Hitler's adopted country, to use the term as a form of shorthand for spreading hatred of Jews. This became the cultural and political topsoil in which the seeds of Nazism were to sprout in the following century.
So, when conservative commentators use the words "anti-Semite" or "anti-Semitism" as a vehicle to attack the remarks of Representative Omar, and similar remarks made by Arabs or Muslims, or people otherwise linked to Semitic peoples or cultures, I am sorry to have to point out that they are (hopefully without meaning to do so) ratifying a use of language that has the most unsavory origins possible.
And that should trouble Podhoretz at least a little bit, not only because he is Jewish, and a staunch defender of Israel's existence and identity as a Jewish nation, but also because he was an advocate of spending trillions of dollars, at an additional and more horrific cost of thousands of lives--Jewish, Christian, and Muslim lives--on a war of choice that has destabilized the entire Middle East, and offered an invitation to Vladimir Putin to expand the influence of Russia in the region. Russia, a nation with its own notorious history of persecuting Jews.
It should trouble Podhoretz, and others on his side of the political fence, that their indiscriminate use of these words may have played a role in the worldwide spread of violence against Muslims, including the recent tragedy in New Zealand. Go ahead and say that I'm stretching a point; I don't think I am. To borrow a quote from this article, "it's like a virus." Go ahead and point out that the speaker was talking about white supremacy; try and tell me where white supremacy begins and hatred of the Jewish people begins. I have followed bigotry as a Christian and a Jew, and I have always found white "pride" and hatred of Jews to be joined at the proverbial hip.
It should trouble Podhoretz that his words indirectly ratify the "soft bigotry" of evangelical Christians toward Jews, the kind that professes undying love for Israel while cloaking its desire to convert every single Jew on the planet, in and outside of Israel, under the pretext of "completing" their Judaism. Yes, "completing" it. Again, I lived in the belly of this particular beast for more than 12 years of my life, so I can assure you from personal experience that I know what I'm talking about. Would it help if you had an example of what I'm talking about?
Well, here you go. Take a good look at it. It's less than two minutes long, so it shouldn't be inconvenient to do so. And overlook what you will in it. For example, the fact that, for most of this prayer, she neither bows her head nor closes her eyes. This is clearly not aimed at a deity, for whom no physical reverence is being shown; it's aimed for a far less supernatural audience. Or, if you wish, you can overlook the no-fewer-than-13 references to the "name of Jesus"--I'm sorry, the "NAME OF JESUS"--mixed in with the neat little commercial for T**** and his allegedly pro-Israeli policy.
But what you shouldn't overlook is the fact that the leader of this prayer goes out of her way to show blatant and grotesque disrespect for the purpose of the legislative session: the swearing-in of Pennsylvania's first Muslim state legislator. Under the circumstances, there could not have been a worse way to open the session, unless possibly the phrase "Death to Islam" was thrown into the mix.
And sometimes, the bigotry is not always soft. Sometimes, it's much more overt, as in this case. Yes, I am sorry to say, there are still plenty of examples of this type: evangelical ministers who profess to love Jews but make it clear that this "love" gets folded into a decidedly Christian agenda, not one that respect the rights of Jews and Christians to worship G-d in very different ways. And, as Jeanine Pirro demonstrated recently, the hard bigotry has a place in our secular culture, where it extends to Muslims as well as Jews (and kudos to the very neoconservative--and Jewish--Bret Stephens for calling it out).
Above all, what should trouble Podhoretz is the fact that, in Israel, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has now become a persecutor not only of Muslims, but of other Jews. With reference to the former, it has attempted to create security for Israel by turning the West Bank region into a de facto prison for Palestinians, and an opportunity to marginalize the Palestinian presence on the West Bank through additional settlements. It has, in the process, only bought temporary "security" for the Jewish state by continuing war by other means, and created a new generation of terrorists in the process. In Netanyahu's mind, the only road to "peace" in the Middle East is the one that enables one Semitic people to control the fate of another one. (Again, do you think I'm exaggerating? Take a look at this and tell me if you still feel that way).
Perhaps worst of all, it allows Netanyahu to define which Jews get to be protected by him at the expense of the rights of other people, including other Semitic people. Israel was founded on the basic of a distinctly Jewish vision, but emphasized as part of that vision the rights of all people, Jewish or otherwise, to live in secular equality with each other and freely practice their respective faiths. That was the Israel that I grew up supporting, and still support. Netanyahu's Israel--an Israel where one part of the Jewish community can persecute another not merely with impunity, but with the blessing of the government--is not that Israel. Read this very carefully, and see if you still disagree with me.
My point?
Podhoretz, and anyone else wishing to call out persecution of Jews (as should we all) should re-think what it means to reflexively use a phrase that itself was born out of bigotry, and whose continued use without a proper understanding of its place in history runs the risk of fueling bigotry toward the very people it should actually serve to protect. Perhaps our particularly divisive moment in history, nationally and internationally, ironically provides an opportunity to re-think what we mean when we talk about anti-Semitism. Perhaps we can broaden our usage of it in order to condemn not only hatred toward Judaism and Jews--which must and always should be condemned--but to also condemn hatred of the other cultures and peoples who rightly should be considered Semitic as well. Whether Podhoretz likes it or not, Jews and Arabs are both children of Abraham; we might as well build our ability to relate to one another around that fact.
Perhaps doing so will help us to realize that someone from Representative Omar's background, as a refugee and a Muslim, has the capacity to broaden her understanding of human suffering, and call out injustice when she sees an example of it particularly offensive to Jews, as she did in this instance. Where was Podhoretz's response to either her tweet, or to the offensive behavior of the Representative that led to it? To borrow from the linked article itself:
{Crickets}
That's my point. As long as Representative Omar continues in the right direction on her learning curve, I will continue to support her. And as long as Podhoretz continues to use the phrase "anti-Semite" as an epithet of convenience against people to whom he is effectively related but with whom he lacks the ability to reason, I will continue to call him out.
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