For Whom The Bell Tolls

Recently, I have been getting calls and inquiries from close and distant friends about how I am feeling. Having had two heart attacks and two unrelated near-death experiences, my first reaction was, “Why? Do I look pale?” Then I realized the question is being asked of a Jew in America in light of the brutal Hamas attack against Israel and the antisemitism it has unleashed in our society, especially on our college campuses.

Jews are a peculiar people. Representing two-tenths of one percent of the world population, they bench 100X their weight when it comes to making money, making scientific discoveries, or earning Nobel Prizes. Their belief as the chosen people tends to induce anger or envy in almost everyone else, for which they ultimately pay a high price. 

Throughout history, the Jews have suffered from terrible PR and have often been slaughtered as a result. And, so, that begs the question, “How is it they have lasted longer than anyone else?” Mark Twain’s 1899 short essay “Concerning the Jews” is an excellent place for a closer glimpse at the question. Steve Smith’s introduction to MM 11/4/19 Anti-Semitism provides some further insight.  

Jews are like the canaries in the mine. When societies allow Jews to live free and prosper, humanity advances. When Jews are threatened and Pogroms act as societal pressure valves, humanity tends to take a giant leap backward.

Once again, Jews are the target of antisemitism and physical violence. What is the rot in our society from which the canaries are dying? Why is our Federal Government subsidizing the education of so-called students who chant “Death to America?” In the 1950s, Joseph McCarthy and his Communist witch hunt took us too far to the Right. Today, Progressives and their intellectual antisemites are taking us too far to the Left.

Why the Jews? Why are students not rioting against blacks, gays, or immigrants? Because the Jews are the people of the book, willing to die for the privilege of being The Chosen Ones.  Here is a quote from Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements.

"...in democracies, people are too soft, too pleasure-loving, and too selfish to die for a nation, a God, or a holy cause. This lack of a readiness to die is indicative of an inner rot—a moral and biological decay.”

After 3500 years, the Jews are still willing to die for what they believe in, and in doing so,  reminding us that the bell tolls for thee. 

— Sina