In wake of the massacre | Live freely
What does it mean to be a Jew? Aftermath of attack in Kibbutz Be’eri Chaim Goldberg/Flash90
It’s history — a lot of it. It’s quirky rituals — like the blowing of ram’s horn. It’s skullcaps, and bagels.
It’s a special kind of humour, popularised for a global audience by the likes of Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Adam Sandler, Sara Silver and of course Larry David. It’s having a mother who never fails to say “You know, she’s Jewish” whenever the Nobel Committee announces a a prize winner of Abrahamic extraction.
But it’s sadly also a special kind of anguish that comes from knowing that you’re always targeted. That unlike almost everyone else, we — just because we are Jewish — have to worry about whether our children will be safe at school and whether we will be targeted on our way to our places of prayer and assembly. Even if you live in well-policed, liberal societies like the U.K.
Psychologists talk about ‘generational trauma’, the fact that people inherit the pain of our parents and grandparents. For Jews this is particularly stark given the horrors of the Holocaust. But the events of the October 7th show that we Jews face something far worse: we face not only the pain of our parents and grandparents passed onto us but every generation of Jews faces the exact same threat.
More than eighty years since the Holocaust and 55 years since my parents were expelled from Poland for being a Jewish I now have to explain to my children that there are people with such hatred for us that they will murder us with abandon if they get the chance — whatever our ages, occupations or beliefs.
Because that is what Hamas showed on October 7th. The attack on Israel wasn’t anything to do with policy, territory, or even war. It was a progrom, an attempt at annihilating Jews. There is a straight line from the blood libel in Norfolk, the killings in York, the expulsion of Jews from Spain through the Tsarist progroms and of course the Holocaust to Sderot in Israel. It’s hatred of Jews. It’s our de-humanisation. We aren’t of flesh and blood. To Adolf Hitler we were ‘untermensch’, to Hamas we are the children of Satan, as enumerated across the organisation’s various foundational documents.
How do we Jews deal with that?
What else explains the rape and murder of women and children and the beheading of babies? Those kinds of acts do not serve a strategy. They aren’t a prelude to a negotiation. They don’t even make an argument. They are the latest barbaric act in a thousand year long effort to exterminate the Jews — just because of who we are. If the killers could, they would kill more. If Jews left Israel, we would be shot in our backs. If we surrendered, we will be massacred. If we give up, we will be targeted everywhere.
I’m trying to grapple with that. What I’ve concluded is that we have to continue to heed the lessons of the Holocaust and what led to the establishment of the State of Israel in the first place, which allowed Jews to create a state in our historical homeland:
We have to fight for our survival. We have to hope for the support of others and be grateful when it comes, but also know that in the end, it may just be ourselves fighting for ourselves. That means we have to continue to invest in ourselves. To support Israel. To build our community institutions. To support our places of worship and our historical sites. And to ensure that the faniooty with and pride in being Jewish carries on with new generations.
Daniel Korski, is distinguished Danish-British political adviser and entrepreneur. Born in 1977, Korski moved to the UK in 1997, forging a notable career that included roles as a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and deputy head of the Number 10 Policy Unit. Awarded a CBE for his service, Korski’s writings reflect his rich experience and dedication to public service. In a candid exploration of heritage, humour, and hardship, he grapples with the weighty realities faced by Jewish communities, offering a personal perspective on resilience and continuity in the face of adversity.
It’s hard to think of what good might come from the tragedy of this massive attack. But I hope, just like the threat of a Jeremy Corbyn-led government awoke many British Jews to greater engagement with their Judaism so the threat crystallised by Hamas’ attack on October 7th might ignite a greater communal engagement. Which will help highlight something that is fundamental to being Judaism: to survive, to overcome, to face the worst of enemies but to win out in the end. That is what it truly means to be a Jew.
Read more from Daniel Korski here
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Originally published at http://www.israelnationalnews.com on December 3, 2023.
