WE REMEMBER
On Wednesday January 27th, we will memorialize the 6,000,000 Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the end of which is signified annually on this date, the date of the liberation of Auschwitz Death Camp. The words that have rung in our ears since 1945 are “Never Again!” but it is now increasingly “Ever Again,” as rising antisemitism proliferates around the world.
The message of Jew hatred is the same, only the delivery mechanism is different-- Jews are the problem for every human and natural tragedy and the solution???
If Holocaust Education is deficient in ending Jew hatred, is the solution more classroom time on this historical atrocity? Is more education going to make for more acceptance? Is the story of the Jews that is being taught, merely the story of the hell that was rained down for almost a decade in Germany and other European countries, and will this nullify any and all ignorance and hatred?
Yes, we must forever remember those who perished; being Jewish is a lot about remembering, learning from personal and collective memories, creating and cherishing new memories, healing from the memories. But remembrance isn’t enough when the New Jew is Israel!
No longer weak, poor, and differently dressed, nor seeking acceptance and assimilation, nor choosing to survive by staying different and apart, Israel has given Jews pride of place, of achievement, of identity in language, culture, areas of academics, sport, arts, politics, and other spheres, and shown the world a new face for Jews—we don’t have to emulate, assimilate nor differentiate. We can and will be whatever we wish to be, as Jews.
The world must stand with us and honour Holocaust Remembrance, but then it musttake serious steps to End Jew Hatred today!
The Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation is taking a lead role in launching End Jew Hatred Canada and we invite everyone to join us. Read our short Vision Statement
See messages of End Jew Hatred from across the US and note EJH Canada will hold a small vigil on January 27th at the Holocaust Memorial at Earl Bales Park in Toronto. Due to the pandemic lockdown, this is a pre-registered event that will be followed by End Jew Hatred taking a message downtown to the headquarters of Twitter Canada: Deny Holocaust Deniers access to Twitter!
LA: https://www.facebook.com/events/2761193344098869 Berlin: https://www.facebook.com/events/4155421744470418 NYC: https://www.facebook.com/events/417693439562720 D.C.: https://www.facebook.com/events/3926205230765677
Recognizing Antisemites from Within the Family
Two articles appear below, one was published in the Jewish News Syndicateabout the left wing objection to adopting the best tool we have now for both defining antisemitism and holding antisemites accountable, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition. The second is a personal reflection from a CAEF board member who listened to two very different perspectives in recent webinars, both challenged Jewish rights and one promoted falsehoods about Israel.
Read, this article from the Jewish News Syndicate of January 13, 2021, Left Wing Jewish Israel Groups Issue Statement Against Adopting the Universal Definition of Antisemitism, and then ask yourself this:
So we might ask, wasn't "Palestine" an Ottoman Colony prior to WWI? Wasn't the Mandatory System invoked to end colonialism in the region by transitioning all Mandates to countries independent of the European power responsible for advancing the Mandatory Territory to a point where it stood a reasonable chance of becoming a successful independent nation? Weren't the other Mandatory Territories such as Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq transformed from Mandates to "Islamic Republics" with full and undisputed recognition and acceptance from the U.N. and the world body of nations? Where are these duplicitous "Jewish Voices" protesting the legitimacy of the Arab countries formed in an entirely parallel and anti-Colonialist procedure under International Law as Israel was?
Conclusion: These "Jewish Voices" are either ignorant of the political-historical realities, or they are antisemitic in their intent. They illustrate why the IHRA definition is valid and necessary.
A Reflection on Webinars presented by The Forward and Independent Jewish Voices
By Judith Weinroth
Recently The Forward newspaper sponsored a panel entitled “From civil rights to anti-racism”with Professor Anthea Butler, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania; Professor Marc Dollinger, Jewish Studies Department, San Francisco State University, author of “Black Power, Jewish Politics”; Ginna Green, a Jew of colour, Fellow of the Kogod Research Center, Shalom Hartman Institute of North America; and Professor Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College. If these are examples of those who teach Jewish studies to our young people, we are really in trouble.
All the panelists discussed anti-Black racism and stated that the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement was good. BDS is not a concern for them. Professor Butler, a black woman, the only non-Jew on the panel, was the one who included Antisemitism as an issue in the USA, part of the “existential crisis” of systemic racism, but she didn’t want to talk about Israel.
Professor Heschel (daughter of the late scholar and civil rights activist Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel) felt that leaders in the Jewish community today don’t recognize the need to discuss racism. In fact she said many Jews use the State of Israel and leaders such as Farrakhan as a way to avoid talking about racism. She asked ‘where are the Jewish prophets today while Black people are being murdered with impunity’?
A Voice for the Truth about Zionism
This is the best short answer to the question about Zionism, which has been part of Jewish identity for millennia. This young woman’s message should be shared wildly, virally, hugely.
A Voice for The Truth about Zionism by Jennifer Karlan