Sarai Kerido / Israel Sushi Blog
Opinion / Analysis
(3-4 Minute Read)
Whoopi! [Sarcasm] More antisemitism…
The Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.” If you haven’t seen it yet, the vile and disgusting segment on The View from January 31 is enough to make you lose your lunch. Whoopi Goldberg, makes the statement to a national television audience that the annihilation of more than six million Jews during the Holocaust wasn’t acutally about race. It was just “..two groups of white people. The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley. Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s how people treat each other.” What Whoopi (and the rest of the western world) know and choose to ignore is the fact that the Holocaust was focused solely on race. Hitler was vehement about this in Mein Kampf, saying, “Is not [the Jews’] very existence founded on one great lie, namely, that they are a religious community, whereas in reality they are a race?” To say that the Holocaust wasn’t based on race is like saying that segregation or slavery in America weren’t based on race. It’s flat out untrue, disrespectful, and incredibly dangerous.
Since Whoopi seems to need some further education on Judaism, it is important to point out that Jews are NOT “white people.” This is a dangerous antisemtic trope that has gained traction, even more so in the last year. Within Judaism, there are many varieties of color. There are fairer skinned Ashkenazi Jews, darker skinned Ethiopian Jews, as well as Sephardi, Mizrachi, and other Jews who make up the shades in between. In fact, I myself descend from both Jewish maternal lines as well as having African-American heritage and registered Native American status (but for real, though, unlike Elizabeth Warren…). All Jews are native to the Land of Israel and the majority were forced to migrate to different countries when we were exiled from our indigenous homeland. While a small Jewish presence always remained in the land of Israel (contrary to popular misconception), it took nearly two thousand years for us to be able to return to Israel freely.
Last week we acknowledged International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day chosen by the international community to acknowledge the travesty of the Holocaust. The Jewish community and the modern State of Israel had already established the Hebrew date of the 27th of Nissan (usually falling in the month of April) as the day to remember the victims of the Holocaust. The 27th of Nissan was chosen in remembrance of the date of the Jewish uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto against the Nazis. However, more than fifty years later, the western world decided to select its own date, January 27th, which marks the occasion of the liberation of the concentration camps by western nations. This date wasn’t chosen to commemorate the actual victims of the Holocaust, but instead to honor those who had finally decided to enter the war and liberate the victims. The western world seemingly continues to tell Jews that we can commemorate our travesties… but only as long as it’s done in a way that gives them credit.
This is particularly relevant after what happened on The View yesterday. Whoopi Goldberg—a non-Jewish woman—decided to take it upon herself to categorize that the antisemitism of the Holocaust was “just white on white crime.” In recent months, antisemities have even tried to say that the term antisemitism doesn’t actually refer to Jews but to all persons of Semitic descent, including the Arabian peoples. (This is another blatant lie). The desire of the western world to rewrite the narrative of Jewish persecution to their own benefit is increasing at an alarming rate. Jewish persecution and oppression seem to only be valuable when they can be used as political props. The dismissal of various attacks on Jews when done by persons of color, the use of gold stars in comparison to current day political disagreements, and the reference to Hitler to describe political figures that some disagree with are just a few examples of this. I think it is safe to say that in 2022 antisemitism isn’t getting better, it’s only getting worse.
To many, including myself, moments like these feel incredibly heavy and hopeless. What, if anything, can we do? At times like these, the words of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (of blessed memory) come to mind: “The only sane response to antisemitism is to monitor it, fight it, but never let it affect our idea of who we are. Pride is always a healthier response than shame.”
We must always stand up for our Jewish identities and speak the truth. We must always stand tall as proud Jews with thousands of years of history. We must always support the modern State of Israel, our ancestral homeland, and never let anyone’s uneducated or hateful opinions influence us. And we must always say “Never Again” (and mean it!).
Like what you are reading? Check out this full-length novel from Sarai and her husband, Ben, inspired by the legendary origins of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) community. Click on the image below!
