It’s hard to be a Jew - The Jewish Standard

Years ago, when I was a kid, my maternal grandfather, a widower, lived with us. To be honest we lived in comfort, never deprived of life’s necessities, even if some luxuries were beyond us. So, while we never even thought about a private plane, we always had a nice car, and certainly good food aplenty. Nonetheless, Pop as we called Mom’s father, always bemoaned our collective fate with the timeless phrase: It’s hard to be a Jew. Shver tzu zein a yid.

I didn’t understand what he meant. Our family was doing just fine. We lived in Newark’s Weequahic neighborhood, which epitomized the best in Jewish life. We had unguarded shuls galore, about 50 of them, which were never threatened in any way, a wonderful Y, an outstanding public high school, and thriving Jewish day schools, which included the Hebrew Academy of Essex County. Our streets were filled with other Jews, and all the services Jewish families needed — multiple kosher butchers, a fine Jewish hospital where most of us were born, and treated when necessary, and everything that encompassed a good solidly Jewish neighborhood.

Why was it so hard to be a Jew, Pop? Did you know something that I didn’t? The obvious answer to that question is yes. Pop did know. He had escaped the grip of the Polish Army, which would have been a lifetime assignment, providing he survived to old age. He somehow fled Poland without money or power or education but with his beautiful wife Peshka and their infant son Duvid, who became my cherished Uncle Dave. Those early years in New York were a daily struggle, and my own mother, who grew up an American and became an educated, literate, and cultured woman, loving poetry and opera and writing for newspapers, used to describe her first home as an unheated cold-water flat in Brooklyn where her father would iron her sheets for warmth before she went to sleep on frigid wintry nights. He and Peshka prevailed and became owners of a Bed-Stuy brownstone and a small hotel in Parksville, New York. Their middle child, my Uncle Charlie, became a successful dentist. Their grandchildren and those who followed were all college educated and successful to a degree unimaginable by Peshka and Pop, attending Ivy League universities, traveling the world, with amenities unknown to the founding generation.

I can imagine that if Pop still walked this planet that he would be nodding his head and telling us that he was correct all along, that despite success by all the typical metrics, it is hard to be a Jew. The simple difference is that now, with benefit of hindsight, and foresight, we would be compelled to agree with him. I suspect the same is true for many of you. The world’s post-Holocaust and pro-Israel Jew-loving days are gone — over, finished, buried. We Jews are once again the world’s whipping boys, the scapegoats, those who are blamed for whatever the haters choose to indict us for. And does it even matter if some of those haters come from similar backgrounds to many of us? If they are Jews? Israel has become reviled by virtually everyone, especially those empowered in our own United States. Even New York City, with its huge Jewish population, has now elected a mayor with undeniable and avowed animosity toward our Jewish state.

And we, after all, do have Jews who represent the worst of human failings. Think of Stephen Miller, wielding incredible power in the White House and funneling his unchallenged hatred of Jewish values into government policy. It bears remembering that he has forgotten his own family’s Jewish travails, which forced them out of Russia into Pennsylvania, where they became extremely wealthy, business owners. Stephen is now a leading proponent of anti-immigration laws, contrary to those same laws that previously allowed his own family to thrive. His is the voice of inhumanity and antipathy. It is profoundly embarrassing that he is a Jew. He is probably Trump’s most powerful advisor, a position that brings dishonor to us all.

And with shame, we hear the inflections of Senator Bernie Sanders. In the voice and accented tone of Jewish Brooklyn, he has chosen assimilation and a long campaign to impugn Jewish values and the State of Israel by aligning himself with radicals like New York’s Mayor Mamdani and many other Jew-haters known as progressives, including ambitious politicians such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a likely contender for much higher office in the coming years.

It is very probable that we Jews will soon have very difficult political choices to make, in both America and across the world in Israel. After Trump’s abominable stint in the presidency, where he has stood for no values beyond self-glorification and personal financial enrichment, it is clearly impossible to imagine voting for any of his followers, who have distinguished themselves only by being hateful sycophants. Many of these men can be quickly identified by their red ties. It’s laughable, but not funny. Trump women are a bit more subtle but if you look closely, you’ll find that many of them have flowing long hair and enhanced lips. Why, I simply cannot fathom. I call it the Kristi Noem look. So, vote no for Republicans!

But what of the Democrats, who are on a major push to deny their former positions and are moving rapidly to the political anti-Israel far left? The Bernie Sanders, Ro Khanna, AOC followers? Can we ever vote for them? They are constantly, incomprehensibly, gaining support, especially from younger voters. These supposed young adults need more schooling — lots more. So, vote no for Democrats!

And what of Israel, being torn asunder after the unprincipled leadership of Bibi, who is willing to sell out the nation for his own power? Do we really want to see charedim freed of the responsibilities of the military draft? Can you explain why? Do we really want continued appropriation of Arab land and a hateful cast of political characters who bring shame to the nation? Do we really want to see continued buttering up to Trump? Or do we instead search for a candidate who will once again bring values to the Land and allow us to regain our pride and our sanctuary?

Presently, safety is not ours, in either America or Israel. It remains hard to be a Jew. Pop was right.

Rosanne Skopp of West Orange is a wife, mother of four, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of 12. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She is a lifelong blogger, writing blogs before anyone knew what a blog was! She welcomes email at rosanne.skopp@gmail.com

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