Primrose Road

Where is Jewish intellectualism now? Why can't we ask questions about the Israeli military's "eye for an eye" policy, about the insistence that one must believe in God to be a Jew, about the idea that Jews should only marry each other even if more and more genetic illnesses arise, about why New Yorkers complain about the occasionally anti-Semitic graffiti tag while there are still genocides going on elsewhere in the world, without being accused of being self-hating anti-Semites ourselves? I'm not answering these questions. I'm just wondering why we can't be open to more debates about a variety of issues -- lively, informed debate -- instead of screaming anti-Semitism. Where's the thinking? Why have young Jewish people forgotten that many of their grandparents and great-grandparents' generation were atheist socialists? Why are young people emerging after four years of college, something that many of their grandparents didn't have, unable to ask questions? Why can't we scratch our heads when the Haggadah says we should recline like masters now because we were once slaves in Egypt, as though those are the only two options? Why can't we talk about the chill that runs through our spines when the Haggadah tells us to thank God for taking the Egyptians' property and giving it to the Jews, and then to thank him again for killing our enemies' firstborn (even if they were infants!) sons? Why can't we point out what's off about these mythology-based political statements? Israel is a beautiful country. I understand why Israel had to happen; I understand why Jews in the 1940s needed to know that they had a homeland to turn to. I can't wait until the next time I get to eat falafel and read a book on the beach in Tel Aviv and admire some ancient ruins while finding discarded plastic spoons in them. But as American Jews, we need to be able to feel free to ask questions and to openly discuss some of the reasons why we might not be able to idealize Israel and its every political and military move. And we don't. I know that were I to make these statements in a less-anonymous forum, I'd be shouted at rather than argued with, accused of siding with the enemy. Jewish intellectuals of a previous generation knew that fascism wasn't just about oppressive governments suddenly rising to power; it was about people carefully 'forgetting' the personhood of those who frighten them. So why not ask a question or a hundred about prayer, God, politics, personhood, history? May critique and debate spring eternal ...