The lion keeps showing up in my sphere. By the 3rd time I am interrupted by an image, numerical sequence or theme, it’s best that I pay attention.
The lion is part of my tribal ancestral heritage from the land of Judea.
The lion of Judah has long been a symbol of bravery, nobility, and strength. This symbolism is used in the bible over 150 times but is most commonly equated with the House of Judah and the descendants of the House of Judah, including Judah himself, King David, King Solomon, and Jesus.
I recently attended a talk given by author (Jewish Pride and Reclaiming our Story) and historian, Ben Freeman in Los Angeles. The talk wasn’t publicly advertised as safety can become problematic in Jewish spaces. Having to be buzzed into the synagogue, bag-checked for weapons into a harmless gathering and conversation should never feel normal.
In the likelihood that you will never read Ben’s book or perhaps you don’t know the specifics of this truth no matter which “side” you reside. I hope this is a helpful account of historical facts as a path to understanding on a deeper level to what is happening in our world. I sit in a strange yet privileged place, where it feels the world has gone mad with hate of a minority group and also with immense responsibility to comprehend the make up of the diversity of humans in a region on the other side of the world.
There should be no sides of humanity and the power of one people’s right to exist over another. I want peace and equality to reign.
Here are the highlights of Ben’s talks over the course of a Friday night and Saturday morning. This covers some of Jewish history which is absent in much reporting and protesting today.
What is Jewish Pride? (The name of one of Ben’s books.)
A movement of empowerment education of inspiration for Jewish people. This assists us in the rejection Jew hatred, to define our own identities and to reject non-Jewish identification of Jewish identities. Thus, we begin the exploration of what it means to be Jewish but through our lens, our perspective while NOT looking to the wider world.
Why do people hate Jews?
It’s a long history that can to be broken down into two tracks.
In the West, the roots of Jew hatred go back to Christianity and it goes back to the roots of relationship with Muslims in the region.
We know Jesus was a Jew who lived in Judea which was the colonized name of Judah, the land of Israel. As Paul broke away from his Jewish roots to continue to incorporate the Torah, Old Testament, or renamed Bible into their beliefs and values there had to be a way to differentiate and define themselves why they were different. A couple of examples: Jews circumcise so they decided not to, Jews keep kosher so they decided not. This helped the group to distance themselves from their roots and to become their own “brand” so to speak.
It wasn’t nefarious, it was simply a way to define themselves.
And as this distance widened, they began to identify Jews in the role they thought we should play as a means to define themselves; “scatter them but slay them not.” quoting a Psalm from the King James Bible which basically says, don’t kill them but be mean to them. And so Jews became blamed for the path of Jesus and had to exist to be a reminder to what would happen if you strayed from the path.
Thus beyond being an ancient civilization and an ancient people became a purpose over 3,000 years ago.
Modern Purpose
The world tells us that Jews are the canary in the coal mine with a purpose to serve and reward the wider world. This is simply not true. Christian ideology in Europe even after the Enlightenment and secularization didn’t go away. Marxist behavior tells us that “when you become a capitalist you become a Jew” and thus use their concepts to define who Jews are.
Ben described how he had been a Harry Potter fan from the beginning, coming up in the age of its popularity. Interestingly, a character in the 3rd book called the boggart takes the shape of whatever fears a person the most.
… Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling, perfectly sums up a role that Jews play to the non-Jewish world:
Jews take the form of whatever frightens them most.
This theory is crucial when considering defining features of anti-Jewish hate:
1) anti-Jewish racism shape shifts
2) it often contains contradictory elements
3) it always fits the Zeitgeist.
- Ben Freeman
This is the role the Jew plays in the wider world. It’s why the contradictory elements existed in the Nazi world. How can Jews be the rich and the poor, the intelligent and the ignorant, it didn’t matter.
Antisemitism is allowed to contain these contradictory elements because it’s not based on reality.
Origins of civilization originated in a Christian society and the identity was created to fight against Jewish people. It makes it difficult to deal with despite good intentions. Even after the Holocaust they didn’t understand how deep it went, still does, and how it contributed to Western civilization. It does contribute today, since 10/7 - it didn’t happen in a vacuum despite the 1000 years of persecution. It is not just Ashkenazi (European Jews) persecution, it’s also about other Jews in the Diaspora. Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews were also historically persecuted in Muslim lands. Pogroms, blood libel, segregation, taxes, status as a second class citizen were mirrored in the regions of the Middle East and Northern Africa. It is a global phenomenon just a modern iteration of it today and it didn’t happen in a vacuum.
This is why the blame jumps to blaming Israel for existing and Jews for reclaiming the land and defending this position. We end up only responding to the story that others are telling us about ourselves.
The Reframe:
Our history usually focuses on Holocaust but there’s more to it. Our history goes back to the Muslim world and Middle East for 1000 years prior. Western world has a particular framing of Muslim hatred post 9/11 but the Muslim world just like the western world was a world of colonizing and conquering. Why does North Africa speak Arabic and practice Islam? Because of colonization. Hence Jews are not colonizers in the Middle East and have been there for over 3000 years. The Muslim empire went into Spain and continues to have far reaching power. The empire had control dominance over a huge world over Jews. North African, Iraqi, Yemenite, Egyptian Jews existed throughout the ME and were conquered by Muslims and Arabs. Jews were given second class citizenry and were called Dhimmi along with their Christian, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs citizens. Restrictions on what they could wear, how tall they could build their buildings, and blood libels. Jews and Christians were required to pay the jizyah while others, depending on the different rulings of the four Madhhabs, might be required to accept Islam, pay the jizya, be exiled, or be killed.
In the West, we focus on Europe and Holocaust but to understand the full experience we cannot compare because each have received hate and persecution. Jews did well operating in a non Jewish world - people say it only has to do with Israel but it’s not true.
Yes we need a resolution to the conflict but cannot rewrite the history. Listening to the voices of Mizrahi and Sephardic jews about their experience under Muslim rule is important as well. These uncomfortable truths of persecution must be understood. This is the root of 10/7 and for all these reasons and more is why there is not peace.
Islamic Antisemitism:
We know there are Muslims who stand with Jews. There are Muslim organizations who are against antisemitism. Prior to London’s bombing by ISIS on 7/7/2005, there was a movement to prevent radicalization of those on this committee. Sadly, since 10/7/24 many have become radicalized.
A person who was once Ben’s ally no longer is connected with him.
The fact remains, there are more of them so their resources are vast and wide supporting more individuals in their plight.
Hatred is a problem residing with the person who hates.
People in the West ignore when minorities speak. Jews are now more aware and believing people who they are when they show a narrative that no longer promotes allyship. Our allies are flipping and it’s hard to ignore.
Conversations need to be had.
Western Media does not know all this history.
Western media is consistently getting it wrong. Many report with blinders and are reframing this whole issue around the stories that Muslims are saying about Jews and Israel. The bias is real. They do not know the history.
Soviets and Arabs have done a remarkable job at rewriting history, marketing and promoting an ideology of the Palestinians. There was no plan to create a Palestinian state prior to 1947. It was to be divided up Egypt the south, Jordan the middle and Syria was taking the north. We don’t have to look very far to see that the wrong historical narrative is being promoted. All we have to do is look at college campuses and what is happening on the streets of London.
It is time to deconstruct the world view because the West has been bought up with good guys and bad guys narrative. UN employees have participated in the 10/7 and the UN are the “good guys?” Much of the media does trend left and these trends regarding oppression and oppressors, freedom fighters definitions have been influencing the reporting. Individuals have been socialized to believe these are ultimate truths. The dense socialization and specific narrative about Jews, Israel and Palestinians and they are either not willing or able to engage in critical thinking.
What can we do? We cannot change history, it has been written, and we cannot change the past to fit the warped narrative today.
I came away with mixed emotions, sadness and pride. This is only a high level of Ben’s talk and I hope it was helpful.
The world cannot continue to tell the Jewish people who to be, what to feel and how to exist in the world.
Thank you for being here dear reader. If you have made it this far, perhaps you will consider these questions to ponder:
What can you do right now to unlearn what no longer serves you?
Can you be an ally?
Was this helpful to understand why this history runs vast and deep?
The journey is not yet over. Israel has not yet found peace. And after four thousand years Jews still find it hard to live their faith without fear. There is only one Jewish state, a country less than one quarter of one percent of the land mass of the Arab world; the only place on earth where Jews from a majority, the only place where they are able to do what almost every other people takes for granted, to construct a society according to their values, and to be able to defend themselves. For every Jew alive today there are 100 Muslims, 183 Christians. Yet still we have to fight for the right to be.
—Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Z”L
References and Resources:
Jewish Education from a Latin Queen
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Very insightful, thanks Shelley