By Jimmy Benhaim
This “stream of consciousness” was written by my (slightly) younger brother at what has been an especially turbulent time among a Jewish people that have had more than their share of turbulent times. it may represent what many of us feel, but have trouble expressing in a world that vilifies morality and glorifies villains. I share it with you now.
I can no longer see us continue to explain to an obstinate public why they are wrong.
A wise old proverb states that “The Definition of Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” It is perfectly clear that one story never changes: They hate Jews. They lie about us, round us up, and they kill us.
Today, the narrative has a chance to be different. Today, we have Eretz Israel. We are no longer the poor Jews of Persia during the times of Haman. Today, we are not the jews who rely on German, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, or Romanian armies to protect us. Today, we are not the world’s easy victims. Thanks to Israel, we will not be driven into “showers” to be exterminated like vermin. Today we are not the weak Jew, portrayed in anti-semitic Nazi propaganda that somehow remains in circulation. We are no longer the Jews of Auschwitz, Birkenau, Majdanek, and other death factories built simply for our destruction. Today, we are, for once, considered the “big bad wolf” of the world. So I ask you this:
Why do we continue explaining to those who witness us being butchered and killed over and over, as they deny the truth before their very eyes, that we are not that “Big Bad Wolf”? Why not finally let them view Am Israel, with Hashem Elokeinu by our side, AS the BIG BAD WOLVES?? Why not let them believe that we can be the destroyers of anyone that rises up against us? They already consider us the spawn of Satan. They paint us as killers and child murderers despite our every effort NOT to gratuitously kill, mutilate, and murder innocent people, as THEY do. Clearly, we WILL NOT change the minds of those hellbent on believing that we are. So, perhaps the safer thing to do is to stop being terrified, and to start being terrifying!
I am sure that if we turn to our Torah, the ancient scriptures provide validation of this very theory. We keep saying “Never forget”, but maybe it’s time to say “Enough is enough”!
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