For Jews, it Feels Like Winter is Coming
It has become increasingly difficult to ignore the chill in the air.
In IDF special forces training, the hardest period was a 3-month navigation course. Each day we camped in the field and memorized topographic maps. Each night, we geared up and trudged all night.
The course started at the end of summer. Each night as I hiked under the stars, the warm summer turned to fall. Then, winter. I knew it would happen, but it happened so subtly, I barely noticed, until I did.
I remember that evening I set out for a navigation and felt a breeze. It was so slight, but made me stop walking. It blew from a different direction and it had a tiny chill to it. It was not uncomfortable, but it made my hair stand up.
My body knew what the chill meant. It knew winter was coming.
As a Jew, in 2023 we felt that breeze. In the days after October 7, 2023, that breeze picked up into a winter wind.
The breeze carried certain words that told Jews winter is coming. It was the marches calling for the death of Jews that got reactions of shoulder shrugs, at best, and “they deserve it”, at worst. The graffiti on synagogues. The college campus presidents allowing open attacks on Jews. The 73% of Jewish students experiencing or witnessing Jew hatred on campus. The leaked emails from top law firm partners saying they would not hire Jews.
It was the voices on the Left calling Jews occupiers who deserve to be brutalized. It is the Right who say Jews have dual loyalty, aid to Israel is hurting the U.S. economy, and Jews are replacing them. It is the Left calling Jews privileged and the Right calling Jews too ethnic.
It was the voices of Cornel West, Farrakhan, AOC, Rashida Talib, Candace Owens, and most recently, Tucker Carlson. It seems the only thing the far Right and far Left agree on is their distaste for Jews.
When Jews get scapegoated for problems on the Right and Left, we know winter is coming.
I vividly remember those desert nights. Each night got colder until it was below zero, the ground crunched under my boots, and the outdoors became cold and biting. I remember stopping and thinking, how did this world change so quickly from the warm summer nights just two months ago?
A cold wind is blowing for Jews and many of us feel winter is coming.
Shabbat Shalom.
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Eli, this winter can quickly turn tragic and I feel helpless. I am not Jewish but I put out a Menorah, I post messages of support. I contact my lawmakers. I even volunteered to be on the security team for the local synagogue. Still I feel there must be more that can be done. What is it?