wHO WE ARE AND WHY

Jews have a myriad of ways to find out just who is also a Jew. One is to ask “MOT?” as in “Member of the Tribe?” Other means of recognition are typically Jewish names beginning with K or C, as in  Kahn or Cohen, indicating that the person is a kohane, a member of the priestly caste. The Napoleonic rule that everyone had to have a surname gave Austrians an excuse to give the Jews insulting names, like Tannenbaum (Christmas Tree), and names related to the Jewelry business like Diamond, or Glass are also clues. And of course, dropping a Yiddishism can be a clue, though lots of Yiddish words have come into the mainstream of American English. Klutz, kibbitz, and so on.

All those help us identify with our tribal group. Though many Jews are assimilated, may not be religious, or are Jewish only through the choice of ethnic foods, we are all members of a tribe. This is a powerful identification.

Though a secular Jew myself, I was brought back into the fold, so to speak, on a visit to Leningrad’s synagogue. There, though I knew no Russian and little Hebrew, I felt a deep kinship with my co-religionists, my fellow tribal members. The Leningrad Jews lived under the scrutiny of the Secret Police. Here in free America we still have hate groups that wish us all dead. In spite of our differences, there is a deep cultural connection.

Whether we were at a death camp or not, we are all Holocaust survivors. Most of us had relatives who were murdered in the Shoah. We remember the Crusades, the expulsions, the pogroms, and the 500 year Inquisition.  We have a strong group identity as an oppressed people.

At times the hatred directed at us is bewildering. We do not force our religion or culture on anyone else. We are not missionaries. We mind our own business. As members of the tribe, we need to realize that the problem lies not within us, but in the minds of the oppressors. Why else would it take until this year for the Pope to declare that the Jews did not kill Jesus? No wonder we have to stick together.

We Jews are all survivors of a great calamity, bound not only by our religion but by our shared history. It is a long one, a great culture, a powerful religion. Awesome.