I know the history, but a personal, family saga is always so much more interesting.
I always want to "talk back" when I'm around those who speak of the "Palestinian Nakba" -- What about the "Jewish Nakba" of the Middle East countries where an estimated 750,000 Jews were expelled from places they'd lived in for centuries when Israel survived the war for survival? So many, too many, have no idea.
I almost wish my grandparents- who fled from Russia and Lithuania- had gone to British mandate Palestine instead of to Chicago, where I was born. The Yiddish I heard as a child now gone from my memory, and because I did not have children, I have nieces who have no idea about our history. So much assimilation it breaks my heart. Keep telling your truths. It is deeply appreciated.
And something that your ending alludes to is that, in a world where whiteness has little to do with skin colour and everything to do with classifications of power and privilege, for the most part, Jews, aren't white - regardless of whether they're Ashkenazi or 'whether they grew up in a one-bedroom apartment in Beersheva filled with the sounds and smells of Baghdad...
This is a fantastic story. The pretense that Ashkenazi Jews are part of a white European project is also a massive, boneheaded lie.
Jews from Europe aren't "white"; they were targeted by genocidal religious and racist violence that murdered nearly all of them and emptied Europe of Jews. European Jews had the same uneasy presence in Europe as Mizrahi Jews had in Iraq, and like Baghdad, a third of Warsaw's population was Jewish on the eve of WW2. Antisemitism against Jews in Poland (and Romania, Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc) long preceded the Nazis, triggering both migration to the Americas, Australia, and the creation of political Zionism. My Polish grandfather's dad was thrown from a moving train to his death, as a "hilarious antisemitic prank" by Polish youth. That's why my grandfather was in Israel in the late 20s, starting a Kibbutz. He wasn't a colonist of any European power, he was a refugee from the virulently antisemitic Europe, where Jews were never accepted as citizens, or even human.
The Iraqis, the Egyptians, the Palestinians, were all massive fans of Nazism and Hitler. And still are.
Happy Israeli Independence Day to you and your loved ones. Thank G_d your grandparents made it out of Iraq alive, what a harrowing experience. That Iraqi belly dancer was a true hero. And it sounds to me like those days you spent in Beer Sheva with your grandparents as a kid were the best days of your life.
Your analyses on this issue are the best I have ever read, even though I do not agree with everything that you write in them. But, as King Solomon said in Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Please stay safe.
David, thank you for this. Those days in Beer Sheva were among the best, different from anywhere else, carrying a world I didn't fully understand until later. I really appreciate the honesty; that Proverbs line says it better than I could.
I know the history, but a personal, family saga is always so much more interesting.
I always want to "talk back" when I'm around those who speak of the "Palestinian Nakba" -- What about the "Jewish Nakba" of the Middle East countries where an estimated 750,000 Jews were expelled from places they'd lived in for centuries when Israel survived the war for survival? So many, too many, have no idea.
I almost wish my grandparents- who fled from Russia and Lithuania- had gone to British mandate Palestine instead of to Chicago, where I was born. The Yiddish I heard as a child now gone from my memory, and because I did not have children, I have nieces who have no idea about our history. So much assimilation it breaks my heart. Keep telling your truths. It is deeply appreciated.
Hi Eli, I really loved this story. I have forwarded it to someone else who would appreciate it.
From Haifa,
Barry
Great piece Eli.
And something that your ending alludes to is that, in a world where whiteness has little to do with skin colour and everything to do with classifications of power and privilege, for the most part, Jews, aren't white - regardless of whether they're Ashkenazi or 'whether they grew up in a one-bedroom apartment in Beersheva filled with the sounds and smells of Baghdad...
This is a fantastic story. The pretense that Ashkenazi Jews are part of a white European project is also a massive, boneheaded lie.
Jews from Europe aren't "white"; they were targeted by genocidal religious and racist violence that murdered nearly all of them and emptied Europe of Jews. European Jews had the same uneasy presence in Europe as Mizrahi Jews had in Iraq, and like Baghdad, a third of Warsaw's population was Jewish on the eve of WW2. Antisemitism against Jews in Poland (and Romania, Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc) long preceded the Nazis, triggering both migration to the Americas, Australia, and the creation of political Zionism. My Polish grandfather's dad was thrown from a moving train to his death, as a "hilarious antisemitic prank" by Polish youth. That's why my grandfather was in Israel in the late 20s, starting a Kibbutz. He wasn't a colonist of any European power, he was a refugee from the virulently antisemitic Europe, where Jews were never accepted as citizens, or even human.
The Iraqis, the Egyptians, the Palestinians, were all massive fans of Nazism and Hitler. And still are.
Eli,
Happy Israeli Independence Day to you and your loved ones. Thank G_d your grandparents made it out of Iraq alive, what a harrowing experience. That Iraqi belly dancer was a true hero. And it sounds to me like those days you spent in Beer Sheva with your grandparents as a kid were the best days of your life.
Your analyses on this issue are the best I have ever read, even though I do not agree with everything that you write in them. But, as King Solomon said in Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Please stay safe.
L’Shalom,
David Hurwitz
Chicago, IL
David, thank you for this. Those days in Beer Sheva were among the best, different from anywhere else, carrying a world I didn't fully understand until later. I really appreciate the honesty; that Proverbs line says it better than I could.
L'shalom,
Eli
I look forward to reading more of your stories and opinions.
Very well told Eli! I felt like I was there. Keep telling your stories, the world needs to hear.
Thank you, Thomas. Means a lot.