Sunday, March 15, 2015

Anti-Semitism

Danforth: Schweich’s greatest concern was ‘whispering campaign’ that he was Jewish - St. Louis Jewish Light: Local News - Danforth: Schweich’s greatest concern was ‘whispering campaign’ that he was Jewish: Local News
      One of the things that really disturbs me about all of the media attention on Ferguson , Missouri is that it is avoiding the greater problem at hand . The good old boy network is alive and well in the Midwest, In other words, anti-semitism and hate of anyone other than the WASP is alive and well. Black people are not the only ones who are discriminated against. Those who discriminate against blacks also discriminate against anyone who they think is not like them. Case in point the sad case of Tom Scweich who actually was not Jewish, but was discriminated against because he had a Jewish grandfather.
      I really did not follow the case of Tom Schweich all that much, which is why I attached the above article. Basically Schweich who was Episcopalian and was running for office in Missouri . There was a whisper campaign out against him by his opponents  saying that he was Jewish and this of course was so all of the good Christians who prefer a pure bred Christian candidate would not like him. They also had a picture of Schweich who looked very Jewish and said they were going to crush him like a bug. The thing that I find especially disturbing is that he was not Jewish. He did acknowledge his Jewish grandfather, but he really was Episcopalian and with the exception of  some reform Jews would not have been considered Jewish by Jews. Of course he would have been considered Jewish by Hitler. Regardless, this whole incident was anti-semitic. Schweich could not handle all of the pressure and committed suicide which makes this all so awful because though this happened there also is no way to know if this brutal campaign could have been stopped and if justice could have prevailed.
       The other thing that I grapple with is the who is or isn't a Jew factor. Would this whole story gone differently had Schweich's grandfather married a Jewish woman and had his father married a Jewish woman? Would he have been able to deal with the anti-semitism easier had he been fully Jewish or was it harder for him to deal with because he was not actually Jewish? I do not really know. I think that it would be hard for him either way. This was a case of anti-semitism as much as the non-Jews who were killed outside of the JCC in Kansas City last year . Probably even more so because Schweich had Jewish ancestry. It just goes to show you that no matter how hard a Jewish person might try to leave Judaism the Jewish part of them prevails. Men  intermarry and perhaps "convert" and think that their kids will have it easier because they won't be Jewish and yet their Jewish side is still there even if they aren't actually Jewish. These descendants inherit the worst of both worlds. They do not get to  enjoy the beauty of the Jewish religion because they aren't actually Jewish but they inherit the anti-semitsm. I would say that is a bum deal. A good advertisement for men  not to intermarry if there ever was one.
      I send condolences to the family of Tom Schweich , to his wife and especially to his children. Unfortunately anti-semitism still exists  in the United States. 

1 comment:

Mr. Cohen said...

www.aish.com/ho/i/Menachem-Begin-on-the-Lessons-of-the-Holocaust.html