I am Maltese, and I am not Jewish, i was catholic, until I saw what the Roman Catholic Church was and still is capable of doing. So I am not Jewish by birth, but I am a Jew in spirit and a Zionist by DNA. I feel like a hand extended in friendship from Israel, telling me to cross the sea....and go where I feel I belong. It is a very unusual feeling. I got to know all about Israel and Judea, ironically enough from a decrepit old picture bible which belonged to my mother...and instead of just looking at the pics, at the inside of the cover there was a map of Israel and I would stare and stare at this map....i was around 4 years old at the time as i was born in 1967...the mythical year for Israel!!!! And when I was 10 years old, at the time whether you believe it or not, my mum used to take my brother and myself to Good Friday function where all I remember is of sitting down and standing up like a yoyo....but there was a prayer which really irked me...it was a prayer for the Jews to convert to Christianity. And although only 10 years old I asked my mum, why do we have to pray for the Jews and do the Jews pray for us to convert to their religion....and why should people want others to convert to their religion....she told me that at my age I should be playing with dolls not ask such questions and she only succeeded to answer me, because I continued pissing her off, saying because the church says so....Nowadays when I grew up I did try to go back to the church, but it seems that I don't belong, because sheer antisemitism during the homily, giving inflated numbers of casualties in Gaza, not once speaking about the hostages, and around a month ago, the priest's idiotic homily got a group of pro-pal who were in church to start applauding....that was it. I never went back and never will do so. To be honest I always felt more at once with Jewish people then with Catholics...or let's say pseudo catholics. I am presently also studying Hebrew and I'm looking forward to going to Israel to meet my large number of real friends...something I don't have here in Malta. Anyway...like what the late Danish King Christian stated when the Nazis invaded Denmark - he told them that as from the next day each Dane is same as the other, so everyone will start wearing the armband with the Star of David, starting from himself, as he declared everyone was Jewish....and sure enough from the next day he used to go on horseback in public wearing the yellow arm band with the Magen David Adom, and not only with his declaration the smallest number of Jews rounded up were in Denmark, apart from Italy, but he have a new proud dimension to the Magen David Adom. And I end up by saying...that today all decent people are Jewish! And we are not frightened to show it. Am Israel Chai
Absolutely perfect article! My parents are Holocaust Survivors/Fighters. Never surprised by virulent antisemitic demonstrations as our history is full of them. Thats just the way the Hakodesh Boruchu set it up so Am Yisrael wouldn't become like the rest of the world! Am Yisrael Chai!
Jew hatred has become the norm, peoples views have been shaped by the billions of dollars Qatar has spent provoking Jew hatred throughout the world with oil money. We remember when this happened in 1973 and now it is happening again only with a vengeance. suddenly, October 7 has brought the winds of persecution and elimination, the most deadly hatred in the world. It is as if it was not enough to burn 6 million Jews in the 1940s and prior to that the vicious attacks on Jews in eastern Europe. Now the allies, we thought we could depend on have now revealed their hatred of Jews in full display in front of international organizations and without blushing the denial of human rights organizations to include Jews as part of the flesh of humanity. jews again have been denied their existence and so history repeats itself again and the “protocols of the elders of Zion“ becomes the flavor of the day and of the millennium and unfortunately of the future.
@JoshuaHoffman: thank you Joshua, insightful as usual and aggressive as needed!
One paragraph stuck with me, and after more reflections, mostly looking into my own perceptions and reactions, I added a comment at the end.
Your paragraph: “We have stopped waiting for the world’s approval to define our worth. We have remembered that our survival never depended on the kindness of kings, popes, or pundits; it depended on our own unbreakable covenant. We are the Jews who now know that safety does not come from slogans, but from solidarity. That the only protection stronger than an army is identity. That the only sympathy we can truly rely on is our own.”
My reaction: “After living in Israel from March 20, 1960 (I was 10-2 months when we arrived), I was an “inbetween” Jew — born in Western Ukraine to Holocaust survivor father and USSR-born mother, I was NOT exactly Israeli, like my 7 years younger brother, but some Israeli habits and psyche got into my DNA and the inoculation persisted. Gone was the diasporic paranoia and obsession with “what other tribes think about mine”. What upset my Jewish friends from the U.S., South Africa, Australia, Canada, the UK and more, as antisemitic slurs, made me chuckle dismissively. I maintained tactful, “foreign” behavior, e.g., including “please” and “excuses me” in my automatic dictionary, I didn’t try to show all “goim” the “birdie”, but would also resist unreasonable, authoritarian attitudes of controllers on trains and planes, if they were arbitrary and below required par of services, from Sweden to Australia, Switzerland to Canada.
My point: the only revelation was not about myself waiting for the world’s approval but rather about the persistency of contemporary relevance of antisemitism by the masses — I actually started to consider since about 1990 antisemitism an anachronism, not very pertinent to my existence outside of Israel. As another byproduct of 10-7, I realigned my axioms around Einat Wilf’s thesis about the goals of Palestinianized Arabs. Not great news, but accuracy in understanding facts trumps an unsupported “happy ending.”
Having a mother in law who is a holocaust survivor and still alive, it is not just grandparents. There are still a small number of parents, uncles, aunts, sisters and brothers alive and witnessed first hand and survived the Holocaust.
Let’s honor them and not move on to the next generation in our thoughts and essays until every single witness of this unimaginable atrocity has passed and is one with God.
I can’t understand why Israel’s leaders and our so-called friends in the United States (Witkoff, Kushner) are pushing Israel into this deal. I read today on Palestinian Media Watch that Abbas is saying out loud that they are going to keep Hamas under the radar for a few years and then bring them back. I also read that Hamas is making more and more demands, and that Israel is actually thinking about releasing major terrorist criminals (like Barghouti) who murdered hundreds of Jews. This is all too horrible to fathom. The United States did not make deals with the Nazis – they obliterated them. The same with the Japanese. Why in the world would they force Israel into a compromise plan that everyone knows is not going to last? The hatred that is pounded into Palestinian children from the time they’re born has resulted in a population brainwashed to hate and want to kill Jews. You don’t overcome that with a deal. Hamas is in no position to be making any demands. The minute they started making them, Trump should’ve called off the negotiations. Why is he pushing this so hard? And why is Israel going along with it?
I am Maltese, and I am not Jewish, i was catholic, until I saw what the Roman Catholic Church was and still is capable of doing. So I am not Jewish by birth, but I am a Jew in spirit and a Zionist by DNA. I feel like a hand extended in friendship from Israel, telling me to cross the sea....and go where I feel I belong. It is a very unusual feeling. I got to know all about Israel and Judea, ironically enough from a decrepit old picture bible which belonged to my mother...and instead of just looking at the pics, at the inside of the cover there was a map of Israel and I would stare and stare at this map....i was around 4 years old at the time as i was born in 1967...the mythical year for Israel!!!! And when I was 10 years old, at the time whether you believe it or not, my mum used to take my brother and myself to Good Friday function where all I remember is of sitting down and standing up like a yoyo....but there was a prayer which really irked me...it was a prayer for the Jews to convert to Christianity. And although only 10 years old I asked my mum, why do we have to pray for the Jews and do the Jews pray for us to convert to their religion....and why should people want others to convert to their religion....she told me that at my age I should be playing with dolls not ask such questions and she only succeeded to answer me, because I continued pissing her off, saying because the church says so....Nowadays when I grew up I did try to go back to the church, but it seems that I don't belong, because sheer antisemitism during the homily, giving inflated numbers of casualties in Gaza, not once speaking about the hostages, and around a month ago, the priest's idiotic homily got a group of pro-pal who were in church to start applauding....that was it. I never went back and never will do so. To be honest I always felt more at once with Jewish people then with Catholics...or let's say pseudo catholics. I am presently also studying Hebrew and I'm looking forward to going to Israel to meet my large number of real friends...something I don't have here in Malta. Anyway...like what the late Danish King Christian stated when the Nazis invaded Denmark - he told them that as from the next day each Dane is same as the other, so everyone will start wearing the armband with the Star of David, starting from himself, as he declared everyone was Jewish....and sure enough from the next day he used to go on horseback in public wearing the yellow arm band with the Magen David Adom, and not only with his declaration the smallest number of Jews rounded up were in Denmark, apart from Italy, but he have a new proud dimension to the Magen David Adom. And I end up by saying...that today all decent people are Jewish! And we are not frightened to show it. Am Israel Chai
That was wonderful to read. Blessings and love to you. Next year in Jerusalem . . .
Amen!
Absolutely perfect article! My parents are Holocaust Survivors/Fighters. Never surprised by virulent antisemitic demonstrations as our history is full of them. Thats just the way the Hakodesh Boruchu set it up so Am Yisrael wouldn't become like the rest of the world! Am Yisrael Chai!
Thank you again. You have expressed so eloquently what all of us are thinking and feeling!
Jew hatred has become the norm, peoples views have been shaped by the billions of dollars Qatar has spent provoking Jew hatred throughout the world with oil money. We remember when this happened in 1973 and now it is happening again only with a vengeance. suddenly, October 7 has brought the winds of persecution and elimination, the most deadly hatred in the world. It is as if it was not enough to burn 6 million Jews in the 1940s and prior to that the vicious attacks on Jews in eastern Europe. Now the allies, we thought we could depend on have now revealed their hatred of Jews in full display in front of international organizations and without blushing the denial of human rights organizations to include Jews as part of the flesh of humanity. jews again have been denied their existence and so history repeats itself again and the “protocols of the elders of Zion“ becomes the flavor of the day and of the millennium and unfortunately of the future.
We will take care of our brothers and live forever. Am Israel Chai.
Our forefathers built lives after the holocaust.
We have to rebuild lives after the betrayal from the institutions we helped create.
It’s clear that Jews need Jewish day schools. Forget goyim charities - support families that cannot afford day schools.
We are the only ones who can bring light into the world.
Standup to those who submit to allah.
@JoshuaHoffman: thank you Joshua, insightful as usual and aggressive as needed!
One paragraph stuck with me, and after more reflections, mostly looking into my own perceptions and reactions, I added a comment at the end.
Your paragraph: “We have stopped waiting for the world’s approval to define our worth. We have remembered that our survival never depended on the kindness of kings, popes, or pundits; it depended on our own unbreakable covenant. We are the Jews who now know that safety does not come from slogans, but from solidarity. That the only protection stronger than an army is identity. That the only sympathy we can truly rely on is our own.”
My reaction: “After living in Israel from March 20, 1960 (I was 10-2 months when we arrived), I was an “inbetween” Jew — born in Western Ukraine to Holocaust survivor father and USSR-born mother, I was NOT exactly Israeli, like my 7 years younger brother, but some Israeli habits and psyche got into my DNA and the inoculation persisted. Gone was the diasporic paranoia and obsession with “what other tribes think about mine”. What upset my Jewish friends from the U.S., South Africa, Australia, Canada, the UK and more, as antisemitic slurs, made me chuckle dismissively. I maintained tactful, “foreign” behavior, e.g., including “please” and “excuses me” in my automatic dictionary, I didn’t try to show all “goim” the “birdie”, but would also resist unreasonable, authoritarian attitudes of controllers on trains and planes, if they were arbitrary and below required par of services, from Sweden to Australia, Switzerland to Canada.
My point: the only revelation was not about myself waiting for the world’s approval but rather about the persistency of contemporary relevance of antisemitism by the masses — I actually started to consider since about 1990 antisemitism an anachronism, not very pertinent to my existence outside of Israel. As another byproduct of 10-7, I realigned my axioms around Einat Wilf’s thesis about the goals of Palestinianized Arabs. Not great news, but accuracy in understanding facts trumps an unsupported “happy ending.”
Having a mother in law who is a holocaust survivor and still alive, it is not just grandparents. There are still a small number of parents, uncles, aunts, sisters and brothers alive and witnessed first hand and survived the Holocaust.
Let’s honor them and not move on to the next generation in our thoughts and essays until every single witness of this unimaginable atrocity has passed and is one with God.
I can’t understand why Israel’s leaders and our so-called friends in the United States (Witkoff, Kushner) are pushing Israel into this deal. I read today on Palestinian Media Watch that Abbas is saying out loud that they are going to keep Hamas under the radar for a few years and then bring them back. I also read that Hamas is making more and more demands, and that Israel is actually thinking about releasing major terrorist criminals (like Barghouti) who murdered hundreds of Jews. This is all too horrible to fathom. The United States did not make deals with the Nazis – they obliterated them. The same with the Japanese. Why in the world would they force Israel into a compromise plan that everyone knows is not going to last? The hatred that is pounded into Palestinian children from the time they’re born has resulted in a population brainwashed to hate and want to kill Jews. You don’t overcome that with a deal. Hamas is in no position to be making any demands. The minute they started making them, Trump should’ve called off the negotiations. Why is he pushing this so hard? And why is Israel going along with it?