If I Were Something Else

Many have reached out this week to share love and kindness as we all witness tragedy unfolding.

I wrote a short post on LinkedIn that said, “I am not ok.”

Many in my network have asked if “I am ok.” I appreciate you reaching out and I feel the love and warmth. No, I am not ok. I am not ok with war. I am not ok with death and destruction. I am not ok with the state of our world today. I am NOT ok. We are all different, we are all unique, we are all of value. One life lost is a butterfly lost to a storm. I am saddened for humanity, and I am trying to sort out how to answer questions my children ask. I don’t know why we can’t live in peace. I don’t understand it. We have all lost too much. For today, I live in the moment and do what I can to help people. I don’t know what is going to happen in the world next, but I’ll be ready to serve and protect in the capacity that I can. Much love to you network.. thank you .. let us all be a force for good…

In this blog post, I’d like to explain a bit more of the complexity. Some of this may surprise you.

What am I?

I identify myself as American. I grew up in the Bronx. I grew up with the people of Coop City. To those who know me best, I am just me “Howie.” To those who don’t know me, I am something else.

• To a religious Jew – I am a Cohen
• To a religious Christian – I am a Jew
• To the Black and Hispanic – I am a Jew
• To White “Merika” – I am a Jew
• To the Muslim – I am a Jew
• To the world – I am a Jew

What does this mean?

It means I am more Jew to you than I am to me. I know what Ancestry says about my DNA, but I believe there is only ONE kind, humankind. Unfortunately, my whole life has the world around me telling me what I am.

I’ve written many times about what I had to face growing up with people assigning their generational perspective on me. That goes for the religious Jews as well. I never wanted to have anything to do with religion. I was forced to do it, just in the same way that I had no choice in a circumcision.

You see, people decide for you what they believe you are, and they assign their belief and their perspective to you and ON you.

I have never been to Israel. I didn’t do a birthright trip; I didn’t even know they existed. I knew that a group of people barely survived genetic annihilation and that I am tied to that group of people. I knew that people in world wanted me to be dead or never to exist because of some reason.

I grew up in a small apartment in the Bronx with my family. We didn’t have for much and we didn’t ask for much. I didn’t have money automatically come down from the heavens. I didn’t get on the fast track to being a lawyer or a doctor. The Jewish people didn’t surround me with gold and opportunity. I had to work hard and build relationships. As “we” the Jews are but a small group of people, we aren’t considered a minority. Let me put things into perspective for you.

According to Census.gov, Native Americans account for 2.9% of the Amercian population while Jews account for 2.4%.

If I am Native American, what benefits exist in the US for me?

If I am a Jew, what benefits exist?

https://cdn.fedweb.org/fed-42/2892/jewish-poverty-in-the-united-states%2520Weinberg%2520Report.pdf <– 32% of the Jewish population in NY lives at or near the poverty line. What do you know of this? What programs exist specifically for these people?

A small group of people, a global minority, persecuted and driven from where they’ve lived for almost all of human history, facing atrocities and genetic annihilation and what?

When I was in the Navy less than one half of one percent was Jewish. How did you think that went?

A Rose by Any other Name

So, I can’t escape what I am because I am genetically aligned to a group of people. Let’s be honest here, we aren’t talking about fairness. Nothing about any of the shit that I’ve had to manage in my life for being of Jewish descent is fair.

For clarity, I have more likelihood to have a stronger genetic connection with someone from the Ukraine than I do from Israel. If you went to Ancestry and looked at my DNA history, Israel doesn’t even show up as a blip. So as Putin stomped on Ukraine and killed, maimed, and destroyed, no one knew to make one phone call to me. No one called and said, “your people are getting stomped, are you ok”?

Let’s talk about Hamas for a moment. Hamas isn’t new, they aren’t rare and there is no surprise here. Why? BECAUSE Jews are hated around the world. People want them gone. If they get rid of all the Jews, they’ll just move on to some other group they hate. This is how it works.

The JDL did a survey that was published https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-10-most-anti-semitic-countries/ United States: At 9 percent, nearly 1/4 of those surveyed in the US said the Jews talk too much about the Holocaust (22%). While in the US, 31% said Jewish were more loyal to Israel than the US, only 11% thought the Jews have undue influence on the American government.

You see, the Jews are more loyal to Israel as a perspective. This is what people believe. For me, Israel isn’t much different from Montana, I haven’t been there, it is someplace I’d like to see protected and I hear good things about it.

If you are still with me, reading from this magical Jewish manipulation of words and facts, let me recap and frame this for clarity.

1. I don’t associate myself with a specific group of people, but many are happy to do this for me.
2. I don’t get the benefits of being a minority AND I am a minority by the facts.

Region	Ethnicity	Estimated Population	Religion	Estimated Population
Global	Various	7.8 billion	Various	7.8 billion
Africa	Various African Ethnicities	1.3 billion	Christianity	50%
			Islam	45%
			Traditional Religions	5%
Asia	Various Asian Ethnicities	4.6 billion	Buddhism	15%
			Hinduism	15%
			Islam	24%
			Other religions	6%
			Non-religious	22%
Europe	Various European Ethnicities	742 million	Christianity	71%
			Islam	6%
			Judaism	0.2%
			Non-religious	22%
North America	Various Ethnicities	579 million	Christianity	71%
			Judaism	2%
			Non-religious	23%
South America	Various Ethnicities	422 million	Christianity	90%
			Judaism	0.2%
			Other religions	4%
			Non-religious	6%
Oceania	Various Ethnicities	43 million	Christianity	51%
			Judaism	0.1%
			Islam	2%
			Other religions	8%
			Non-religious	36%

“Jews” may well be loved. But most Jews will always, ultimately, fail to be “Jews.” And in an antisemitic society, the failure of Jews to be “Jews” cannot be tolerated. The Jew will be hated, even as (indeed, in many ways because) the hater in the same breath proclaims their adoration of the “Jews.” —

https://www.associationforjewishstudies.org/publications-research/ajs-perspectives/the-hate-issue/on-loving-jews-and-hating-jews

It is more likely in our world that someone would want to kill me vs hug me. At the same time, it is more likely for me to offer or want a hug vs cause harm to anyone.

Where I had my Bar Mitzvah, there is a Baptist Church today. Many Americans like me have distanced themselves from religion because it isn’t worth the cost. Those who hate us may have already won.

There is no “winning” even if I had an idea to convert to something, there would be NO way out of being that which I am. Even in Jewish law, no matter what you do, you are still a Jew.

In my view, we are out of options. We will see war continue and blood will run deep into the soil of the earth until one group is left standing. When the one group stands alone, they will look at each other and find a difference however slight it may be and then they will seek to kill each other.

We will no longer be anything because we can’t be together, and this is what human history has taught us. There is no peace because we don’t allow ourselves to remain as happy and loving as innocent children.

In the meantime, this doesn’t mean we don’t give up. Where there is life there is hope and maybe we can beat the odds and live together in harmony.

In the meantime, understand that war anywhere on this planet and for any reason disturbs me. We are all one people in my view and the atrocities carried out by mad people are not ok.

“But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you. I love you. With all my heart, I love you.”

― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

Maybe we can live in a world where we can find ways to love in the same way children find themselves playing in harmony in a large sandbox with enough toys and sand to go around for all.