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I do not know what it is about Americans that they think that the use of a gun will solve the world’s problems. Sadly, we know first-hand in Pittsburgh, and once again we have experienced it at the Capitol Jewish Museum. We learned about the dangerous education people can acquire through the Dark Web at the trial of the Pittsburgh shooter, as it is a cesspool of conspiracy theories and lies that easily move readers to the Dark Side. 

I never thought that the use of the word “Zionist” would become an obscenity. What is more apparent is that those who easily toss the word around as the replacement for “Jewish” know nothing of its origins nor meaning, and don’t care to learn. Theodore Herzl held the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. It was in response to the rabid antisemitism on display during the trial of Alfred Dreyfus in France in 1894 which Herzl covered as a reporter. Zionism was, and remains to this day, the same: the desire for the Jewish people to return to their ancestral homeland, the ancient land of Israel. That’s all it is. No one could have predicted that the word would become weaponized in today’s world. 

One can simultaneously be a Zionist yet opposed to many of the policies of the Israeli government. It is equally true that one can be an American and opposed to many of the policies of the American government. One can also be opposed to the policies of the Russia government regarding its invasion of the Ukraine, the Chinese policies insofar as the treatment of the Uighur, or the Myanmar policies treating the Rohingya. Yet again, there is only one people on this planet, many of whom do not live in a particular country, yet are held responsible for the actions of that government, and it is the Jewish people. That’s antisemitism. Alas, it has become clear that antisemites do not need reasons nor excuses to spew their H. I am reminded of the words spoken by Senator Alan Simpson in his eulogy of President George H. W. Bush: H corrodes the container it is carried in. We are witnessing much corrosion of humanity in America particularly, with morals and ethics selectively utilized or ignored, or, as they used to say in Brooklyn, people are playing handball with the curb. A phrase that I have used before remains in force. There are those who are virtually rewriting the Declaration of Independence to read, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, except for the Jews.”

What should our response be to this venom? We must grow our allies, and express continued gratitude to those who support us. Victims by themselves cannot halt the corrosion. All decent Americans must come to recognize that the moral decay endangers each and every one of us. It is not uncommon that H of the Jewish people extends to other minorities in America, regardless of the color of their skin, their faith, their sexual orientation or their country of origin. Our response is found in the words of the prophet Micah: “You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what God requires of you: Only to do justice, and to love goodness, and to walk modestly with your God. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., understood the challenges of finding hope, and expressed it beautifully in the following: “When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.” May we witness this speedily in our lifetimes.