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Alex ื’ื“ืขื•ืŸ ื‘ืŸ ืฐืขืœืฐืœ Profile picture
@JewishWonk
Apr 25 โ€ข 5 tweets โ€ข 1 min read โ€ข Read on X
Most years Pesach is a festive affair. Like many Jews around the world, I experienced the Seders quite differently this year. ๐Ÿงต
The company I keep doesn't just have ideological ties to Israel, but personal ones. Several attendees had traveled to Israel since 10/7 to do volunteer work, speak with survivors, meet with families of hostages, etc...

They recounted what they had seen and heard.
None of the information was new to me, but in the context of a meal that celebrates our liberation, it hit quite different.

I've been angry since 10/7. I never stopped to grieve.
My father-in-law is a Hazan. The Seders at their house are always a musical affair of fine singing featuring original compositions, adaptions, and yes, rehearsals.

One song they sang this year was about Marranos, the Jews forcibly converted by Spain and Portugal.
The song is, as I understand, originally a Yiddish one. It asks how the Marranos will celebrate Pesach underground.

In a cave?

Will they know when Pesach is?

Will they have matzah?

Will they have Pesadik food?

My mind went straight to the hostages.

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Alex ื’ื“ืขื•ืŸ ื‘ืŸ ืฐืขืœืฐืœ Profile picture

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More from @JewishWonk

Alex ื’ื“ืขื•ืŸ ื‘ืŸ ืฐืขืœืฐืœ Profile picture
Apr 26
I'm so sick of this crap about "asking tough questions" to sanitize a movement of Hamas fellow travelers. Here's my tough questions, a thread
1) Why did Hamas throw Fatah members off roofs to violently and undemocratically take control of Gaza?
nbcnews.com/id/wbna19168118
2) Why did Hamas spend nearly two decades and billions of dollars in foreign aid on tunnels, rockets, and warfare? Did the Palestinians of Gaza not need investments in education and infrastructure?
Read 10 tweets
Alex ื’ื“ืขื•ืŸ ื‘ืŸ ืฐืขืœืฐืœ Profile picture
Apr 26
Feels like a good time to tell a somewhat forgotten story.

Let's talk about the "German Colony" you can find in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities, a thread.
1) Before the unification of Germany under Bismarck, there was a quirky religious movement of protestants in what is today southwest Germany. They had a particular interpretation of Christianity which was very communal in nature.
Like other Christian movements in different places and times, they imagined themselves as the "new Israel." This detail will be funnier a little later in the story.
Read 18 tweets
Alex ื’ื“ืขื•ืŸ ื‘ืŸ ืฐืขืœืฐืœ Profile picture
Apr 25
If Jews were on campus waving flags associated with hilltop settlers, harassing Muslims students, calling for a "solution" to Palestinians, I would condemn that, because I wouldn't want anyone to associate that toxic politics with what I advocate for. I'd spend time trying to marginalize such people, not policing those who are horrified by the islamophobia these hypothetical students are advocating for.
When I argue that antisemitism is occurring among campus movements today, I mean that it is occurring among campus movements today, not a subtext for "I'm glad the cops are being called on these students."

I'm not glad the cops are there. I don't think the options are "do nothing" and "send in the goon squad."
I believe we have an obligation to confront those who promote bigotry, *especially* when they are people who, however loosely, are associated with politics we advocate for. We are the ones who are able to persuade those in our camp.

A recent example.
Read 6 tweets
Alex ื’ื“ืขื•ืŸ ื‘ืŸ ืฐืขืœืฐืœ Profile picture
Apr 25
Some thoughts on the "go back to Poland" slogan hurled at Jews, a thread
1) The majority of Jews in Israel are not descendants of Jews from Poland. There are two major reasons for this.

a) 50%+ are Jews whose families fled from Middle Eastern and North African countries
b) 3 million people - 90% of Polish Jews - were murdered in the Holocaust
2) Even if the majority of Israeli Jews had roots in Poland, there's no mechanism for them to return. Poland is a sovereign state, it has control over its immigration policy. There is no reason to believe Poland would accept an influx of millions of Jews.
Read 12 tweets
Alex ื’ื“ืขื•ืŸ ื‘ืŸ ืฐืขืœืฐืœ Profile picture
Apr 17
Experiences I have had as an Ashkenazi, but Soviet, Jew in the so-called "Ashkenormative" American Jewish institutions, a quick thread.
1) Hostility towards the customs of my Ashkenazi (Soviet) community.

e.g., Any Soviet Jew who has been subjected to American Jewish institutions has faced pressure to abandon things like the Novi God yolka. Because they associate it with Christmas.
2) For Jewish life events, having to prove that I am halachically a Jew before enjoying them. I've written about that "proof" before. Do let me know, White Ashkenazi American Jews, how much of this you had to do for your weddings.
Read 9 tweets
Alex ื’ื“ืขื•ืŸ ื‘ืŸ ืฐืขืœืฐืœ Profile picture
Apr 17
I'm happy to answer this one. I am a refugee from the Soviet Union, which was "anti-Zionist." I believe this politics represents a threat to my personal well being, not that of the state of Israel. A quick thread.
1) In the name of fighting "counterrevolutionary force" the Soviet Union systematically killed our communal leadership and dismantled our communal institutions.

Rabbis, Yiddish poets, intellectuals, bundists, and Zionists, all were persecuted and killed.
2) In the name of fighting "counterrevolutionary forces" the Soviet Union systematically banned the use of Jewish languages such as Yiddish and Hebrew.

My native tongue and that of 2 million other Jews is Russian because of this state sponsored cultural genocide.
Read 7 tweets

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