I awoke on Sunday morning in Singapore to the news that another synagogue was under attack. The rabbi and several congregants of a synagogue in Texas were being held hostage by an unknown assailant. An old story, a repeated story – Jews under attack for being Jews. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
A group of 7th graders sit in a circle, white kids in the center, black and brown kids on the outside. They have been sorted by a “privilege” score assigned based on the color of their skin. The white students are trying to find a way to apologize to the students of color for the sins of their ancestors. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
“Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by ignorance, confusion, or ineptitude.” This statement was made by Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis in response to a disturbing incident that happened in Texas last week. In a teacher training in Southlake, a suburb outside Dallas, the curriculum director made a surprising statement: “Make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you have one that has an opposing…that has other perspectives.” [redirects to the Times of Israel]
Sometimes it takes the wrong holiday to get us to the right one. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
Twenty minutes. That’s how much time I have to teach a group of white, Christian, Texan women about the Holocaust. One message – that’s all I’ll get. If you had time to pass along one message about the Holocaust, what would it be? [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
Anger. Sadness. Fear. Recognition. I would not presume to speak for the community of color. But these are some of the things I would be feeling if this were happening to the Jewish community. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
I never really understood Chanukah until I went to Spain. Standing in a church that had been a synagogue until the Jews were all either expelled or murdered, looking at the crucifix hanging where the ark had been, I understood the Maccabees in a whole new way. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
“Why do we need to teach the Holocaust?” This week, as we mark the first yahrzeit of the eleven people murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, I want to explore this question from a different angle, an angle of hopeful action. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
Have we built concentration camps on our border? As a Holocaust educator, I get asked this question a lot. It’s the wrong question. Asking whether they are concentration camps pushes us into extreme language that blocks conversation. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
“I’ve got a Nazi Iron Cross tattooed on my chest.”
We were chatting with a stranger across an unmanned gas pump, along an isolated road in rural east Texas. He had asked us, conversationally, what church we attended. This is a common conversation starter in this part of the world and did not surprise us. We’re Jewish so we attend synagogue, we replied, equally casually. That was when he told us that he had a swastika on his chest. He said it matter-of-factly, but there was a challenge in his eyes.
[Redirects to the Times of Israel]
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