Wandering Jew

I saw this billboard just outside of Nashville on the interstate. There was a similar one outside of Little Rock. They were put up by an organization, called Jewbelong. You can read about it here. https://www.jewbelong.com/national-antisemitism-campaign/

Today I woke up in Little Rock, Arkansas, had dinner in Memphis, Tennessee, and dessert in Nashville. These places feel much different than I would have imagined. Perhaps it is magical thinking but I feel a bit safer in these places. Like the bogeyman, the idea of Hamas seems less scary here. Perhaps it is the perception of these places, as “conservative“ and perhaps less tolerant of Hamas gives rise to these feelings.

To get back to the message of the billboard, that Hamas is everyone’s problem, leads the imagination down the path of just how much the situation in Gaza could very easily become a trans regional, or even global situation. There are those who believe that we are about to see a clash of civilizations, a battle for the very identity of the planet. I think of two such people I know. One tends to be an alarmist who really does not have any professional knowledge. Another, who describes the situation in a less overheated, but still equally dramatic way is a seasoned professional. Is this really where we are?

There are so many moving pieces – – Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran. My head spins just thinking of the possibilities.

Overlaying all of this is the explosion of antisemitism everywhere. We live in the age of social media, and instant communication. What might have taken years in Nazi Germany to communicate can be accomplished in hours. Fun fact. Hitler was a master of the social media present in the 1930s.Volksempfänger was a type of radio present in almost every German household that allowed Hitler’s voice into every home. https://spectrum.ieee.org/amp/inside-the-third-reichs-radio-2652903842