Thursday, November 23, 2017

Thanksgiving, America, and the Jewish People

President Trump Pardoning a Turkey (NBC)
We’re still here. It’s been a year. Predictions about our demise as a nation since President Trump was elected were a bit pre-mature. We have survived and God willing we will continue to survive. And continue to do great things.

The fact is that America is much greater than any one individual. We survive as a people not  because of who is President. We survive as a people because of who we are as a nation. A nation of immigrants founded on principles of religious tolerance.

This is why the Pilgrims first came here. They were escaping religious persecution in their homeland, England. While this is a bit of an over-simplification, I believe that the principle of religious tolerance is what best defines who we are as Americans. Equality of mankind is our credo. It is written in stone into our declaration of independence – signed by America’s founding fathers. ‘All men are created equal.’

This does not mean that there haven’t been episodes of antisemitism or racism in our country, There has been plenty of both. And some of it still exists albeit mostly on the fringes of society. The vast majority of the American people live by that credo and will give a fellow American the shirt off of their backs if they thought it was needed. Regardless of race, creed, or religion. America is a nation of Chesed. This has been demonstrated time and again when tragedy strikes.

As it pertains to the Jewish people this has never been more true than now. The following is a demonstration of that from a website called Religious Tolerance
The Schnitzers are a Jewish family in Billings (population 83,000 at the time)… (T)hey had stenciled a Jewish menorah on the window of their son Isaac, aged 5. (One source said it was an electric menorah.) On 1993-DEC-02, someone threw a piece of a cinder block through the window. It and broken glass fell on Isaac's bed, but fortunately caused no injury. The Schnitzers called the police. The investigating officer suggested that they remove the symbol. This caused a crisis in the home: how could they remove a symbol of Jewish religious freedom in response to fear of further religious harassment. 
Margaret McDonald, executive director of the Montana Association of Churches, read of the incident in the local newspaper. She imagined what it would be like to have to tell her own children that they could not have a Christmas tree or a Christmas wreath because it might cause an attack on their home. She recalled an event in Denmark during World War II when the Nazis ordered all of the Jews in the country to wear a yellow Star of David so that they could be easily identified. The King of Denmark and many of its non-Jewish citizens took the initiative of wearing a yellow star themselves. The Nazis were unable to easily identify the Jews. 
McDonald took action. She phoned her minister, the Rev. Kieth Torney at the First Congregational United Church of Christ -- a liberal Christian denomination. She suggested that their Sunday school students fabricate paper menorahs for their windows at home as a sign of solidarity with the Schnitzers. He contacted other clergy across Billings. During the following week, hundreds of menorahs appeared in the windows of local homes as Christian families publicized their solidarity against religious bigotry. The police chief, Wayne Inman, was asked whether this might cause further criminal acts. He responded "There's greater risk in not doing it." 
An editorial in the Billings Gazette on 1993-DEC-08 stated: 
"On December 2, 1993, someone twisted by hate threw a brick through the window of the home of one of our neighbors: a Jewish family who chose to celebrate the holiday season by displaying a symbol of faith—a menorah—for all to see. Today, members of religious faiths throughout Billings are joining together to ask residents to display the menorah as a symbol of something else: our determination to live together in harmony, and our dedication to the principle of religious liberty embodied in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
We urge all citizens to share in this message by displaying this menorah on a door or a window from now until Christmas. Let all the world know that the national hatred of a few cannot destroy what all of us in Billings, and in America, have worked together so long to build."  
The Billings Gazette published a full-page image of a menorah in their newspaper. By the end of the week six to ten thousand homes became decorated with menorahs. 
Now that’s America.  It is in our DNA. As an Orthodox Jew I think of stories like this on Thanksgiving. I could not be more grateful to God and country for allowing me the privilege of living here in peace and freedom. With an unprecedented ability to practice my religion in unfettered ways.

How wonderful it is to know that despite so much bad publicity involving Jews in recent years. Publicity that was often about religious Jews involved in one scandal after the next.  From Sexual abuse to defrauding the government. Nonetheless JTA reported back in February of this year that according to Pew Jews are best-liked religious group in America!

How can this be? How can we be so well liked when there is so much terrible news like that? John McCain was asked that question in 2006 after an Orthodox Jew named Jack Abramoff  pled guilty in the native American lobbying scandal.

McCain’s answer was what one might expect it to be from a man serving a nation founded on principles of tolerance. The American people are smart enough to know the difference between one individual and the people he comes from. They realize the actions of one Jewish criminal are not representative of the entirety of the Jewish people. His actions are his and his alone. Just as would be the case of any criminal regardless of their ethnicity or religion; race, creed or color.

For all this I am grateful. God Bless America. And happy Thanksgiving unto all.