Secular is where I choose to live. Beyond edicts, away from doctrine, wrapped in the freedom of making up my mind based on evidence. Yes, I have belonged to synagogues, attended years of Hebrew school, and even kept kosher for decades but observance morphed into shackles long ago as more important issues came to my attention. I decided it was all a distraction from what we were doing to the planet and decided to devote my life to protecting our biosphere and wildlife from the real beast of burden, the growing human enterprise consisting of overpopulation and overconsumption.
I care deeply about what our carbon emissions are doing to the coral reefs, how our ever-growing population is expanding our endangered species list. I have been painfully aware for decades that we are heading for the cliff of environmental collapse because of our takeover of the planet. That is why I don’t regret any of my decisions. I have chosen not to reproduce and not to get distracted by things that take me away from shining a light on the plight of our planet. But I do feel I must now weigh in on the current war between Israel and Hamas because propaganda is fogging history, hate is flying everywhere and it’s just too important to ignore.
Even though I would prefer to live in a world that was secular and much less tribal with everyone treating women well and living within the parameters of mother nature, clearly that is getting further and further out of reach. If that can’t be than I would love to live in a world where antisemitism disappears into history once and for all. I would also like it if insensitivity to all victims of war ceases to exist.
Admittedly this is personal. If I were to take an ancestry test my DNA would be undoubtedly come out as 100% Ashkenazi Jew. That means that my very existence stands on the shoulders of those who suffered and survived antisemitisms’ wrath over millennia. My great uncle emigrated to Israel from war-torn Europe and he and his descendants became a part of the kibbutz movement. Beyond that Israel stands for something deeply significant. It stands for more democratic freedoms than exist anywhere else in the Mid-East. It stands for the re-creation of a homeland for those deeply scarred by a world intolerant of their presence in it. It stands for a country which has demonstrated its integrity with giving back to the world for its privilege to live and thrive even with insecure borders.
Citizens of Israel have recently demonstrated their demands for leaders who are far less corrupt. To be sure, all is not perfect in the Jewish homeland. I have often thought that citizens of Israel would be better off in a more secular country with less power offered to the very religious. Israel’s many enemies demand a strong army so everyone must do mandatory service, male and female alike unless of course you pray all day. If you are religious, you are exempt for fighting to defend your country. Why does that still exist especially now when all able bodied are needed to fight this war?
At least when it comes to the Jewish mission to conquer and convert others, well it’s not allowed. Traditionally in Judaism, if one wishes to become Jewish, a non-Jew must be turned down three times. Hamas on the other hand has not only rejected the idea of a two-state solution, they plainly have an ideology of genocide as stated right in their very own covenant. These are not two equal sides, and olive branches will only be met with violence.
Being secular offers no protection from these Jihadists. Hamas and groups like them will still see all Jews as infidels. Hamas didn’t care if the people they came to slaughter on October 7th even owned a tallit (prayer shawl) or had ever been in a synagogue, they only wanted to kill Jews. You can do nothing to appease them, for you are only good Jew in their eyes when you reside inside a coffin. They take their genocidal stance right out of the Nazi playbook. Nazis didn’t care if you were religious when they made you wear yellow stars and sent you off to death camps. They even went as deep as rounding up people whose only connection to Judaism was a grandparent. To Nazis and Jihadists, the secular life is no shield against the deep seeded hatred of genocidal antisemitism.
As an overpopulation activist I used to think that war was mostly inspired by a lack of resources because too many people were demanding limited resources, but no more.
-When Rome destroyed of the Jewish Temples of Israel, (No, Jews did not colonize the land, it was their land) and sent Jews into the diaspora in 70 CE the World Population was between 200- 300 million ( much less than the US population is now).
-During the 200-year Spanish Inquisition when over 300,000 Jews were tortured and forced to convert to Catholicism or be expelled The world population less than ½ billion.
-When my direct ancestors were forced to experience the horrors of the Russian pogroms of the 1700’s, having their small villages burned down randomly because their lives had so little value, the world population numbered approximately 700,000,000.
-By the time the infamous Nazi Holocaust sent 6 million Jews to the gas chambers the world’s population had climbed to 2 billion.
The only way population plays into this lopsided story is that 24 % of the world is Muslim and 0.2% is Jewish which translates to 1.8 Billion Muslims compared to 16.1 million Jews world wide. There are 22 Arab nations and one Jewish nation. It is also must be repeated that there are 2 million Arabs living as Israelis and Jews have been kicked out of the Arab world. Over the years 100 Arabs have been members of the Knesset verse zero in the Arab world, just saying, these are not equal parties.
And here we are again. Now that the world is over 8 billion and growing by nearly 80 million per year, unarmed Jews were brutally attacked by Hamas who celebrated all the way. Jewish enemies find ways to hate and kill Jews no matter how many people are in the world. Not that overpopulation doesn’t create suffering, misery and early death it does, but the killing of Jews for just being Jews, has been around since our world population was less than that of the US now.
Where does all of the hatred towards Jews come from? Because of the myth that Jews killed their god? Because Jews didn’t want to accept their messiah? Because people just always need some to blame for their problems? Because it’s easier to raise your children to hate than teaching them to love? Because of the myth that Jews stole the land partitioned to Israel from Arabs? It is probably a combination of all of the above.
Jews represent .2% of the world’s population and yet have won over 20% of the Nobel prizes ever given out, But no matter how many Nobel prizes Jews win, no matter how many scientists, actors, writers, doctors and even comedians can claim Jewish ancestry, no matter how many agricultural advances Israelis have invented, there remains growing antisemitism in the world which becomes the permission slip to authorize genocidal acts against Jews the scapegoat with the most longevity in the world.
There are those in America who took sides against Israel before the Jewish bodies were even laid to rest, especially on college campuses. These students were making their anti-Israel signs before all the bodies were counted and seem to understand nothing of Middle East history or the history of the Jewish people. Perhaps it is because of their own unexamined antisemitism. Maybe it has more to do with the sickness of identity politics where the title of oppressor is given out without much research and uninformed individuals fall all over themselves to identify the victim du jour. Perhaps it is because of Palestinians on campus who organize and point out the bombing of Gaza without mentioning the horror which provoked the attacks.
What is deeply disturbing is that there is zero understanding that these groups are cheering for those who do not share their ideas of equality. Why are LBGT and others lining up to side with Hamas? Allowed to make their own rules for years now in Gaza, Hamas hangs it hat on some pretty draconian rules that many Americans on college campuses are now supporting with their protests. Women and girls there still face early and forced marriage, dating is frowned upon, polygynous marriages are legal and gender-based violence is a huge issue. Homosexuality remains a taboo in Palestinian territories never mind legal same-sex marriage. Who are they cheering? Do they know that over the years of trying to make peace a two-state solution has been offered to the Palestinians and rejected five times? Do they even care?
I am lucky. As a Jew I was raised not to hate my enemy. During Passover we are not allowed to say the name of our oppressor for fear that hatred will rule our world. That is why I do feel deeply sorry for those who are suffering within Gaza who don’t support its harsh regime, the Palestinian people deserve better and deserve to be governed by real leaders interested in helping them. Some Palestinians have been outspoken about how Israel has been a better friend to them than other Arab states now shutting them out once again when they need to be sheltered. But Israel is now at war with their barbaric leadership because of what they did to its people. Jews were one questioned about not fighting back much when Hitler came to power and now are being questioned about fighting back. Hamas put their own people in harm’s way the minute they assaulted so many victims and took hostages. They increased the strength of their propaganda by not letting them leave areas that were targeted by bombs. When you poke the bear and don’t be surprised when the bear counter attacks. Hamas knew Israel would retaliate and that is what they want; misery and instability for their hated neighbor even if it means hurting their own people. Still there is room in my heart for those who are caught in this mess, who knew this was a bad move and had no power to stop it.
The other reason Israel matters is that it also ties together the things that matter most to me and should matter to the rest of us. Nature is the collateral damage of the armaments of war. If we can find a real way toward peace, by being unafraid to look at the real stories behind war, we can help the planet heal too. Military operations are not only deadly, they come at a huge carbon cost. The US army alone purchases over 269,000 barrels of oil a day while we pretend we are helping by driving electric cars.
To counter all of this we must read real books, study real history and examine our own hearts to eradicate the prejudices that infest us and damage the world. We must pause before joining protests and learn about what is really going on. Hatred is one of the biggest most unrecognized environmental threats to our existence. We need to come to grips with the cancer of antisemitism, and all the other ‘isms’ under which group hatred thrives.
What would it look like if we didn’t hate those perceived as the other? What if Hamas stopped promoting hatred of Israel and the Jewish state in its schools? We wouldn’t have to use up resources to poison the world and kill off each other with our weapons.
Since their first temples were destroyed Jews of Israel have been trying to find a way to live surrounded by those who don’t believe they should exist. As an Israeli friend said recently to a Rabbi, “Rabbi we keep praying and they keep killing us.” Answers begin in the acknowledgement that all this human suffering of attacks and retaliation are 100% human created, supernatural forces are not involved and in my book, prayer cannot continue to be our default button. We must roll up our sleeves and destroy the stories that breed hatred within the context of the stench of anti-semitism.
We, the non-zealots of the world must understand that it is a complicated conflict with even more complex solutions.
Those solutions must also include the deep understanding of the pain being experienced by the other side. Imagine if your children were kidnapped, imagine if your children were bombed. Now go forward and work to stop the additional pain which begins by insisting on the releasing all of the hostages, ceasing the bombing and letting people safely bury and mourn their dead and then go about the challenging task of getting rid of those on either side who would plan and allow such an attack to happen. Hatred only comes in the flavor of pain. We just might want to do what John Lennon demanded, we must give peace a chance.
Perhaps none of this will matter as our planet is passing so many climate tipping points for Mother Nature will have the last word and show us soon enough that she has had enough of us.