I recently posted a Call-To-Action (follow link to learn more or volunteer) for a new project I’ve started called:
The Everything Bagel Anthology: An anthology of (sometimes Jewish) resistance in the times of genocide and fascism.
With everything going on in the world today, what can we do other than watch it burn on our tiny screens, feeling helpless and utterly doubtful of the outcomes? Specifically what can I do, as a writer, as a culturally Jewish American, as a human being watching people forced from their homes, starved to death, bombed— civilians being murdered just for being in the way. Of course I am talking specifically about the current genocide of the Palestinian people by the state of Israel. A Genocide done in my name as a Jewish person, and with my tax dollars as United States citizen. What can I do?
I loved reading the horrifying stories of the partisans of World War II. The stories of the few Jews who were able to escape or evade the holocaust, live in the forests, and take up arms in guerrilla warfare against the Nazi’s. No Time To Mourn by Leon Kahn was an influential, horrifying and important account for me as a Jewish American trying to reconcile and understand what happened in those horrifying days in times of genocide and fascism.
But those times have returned, and we as a species have certainly not learned the lessons of history, but allowed them to harm, compound and distill into the worst our society has to offer. The Jewish people of the diaspora allowed their history of pogroms, the Holocaust and trauma to poison their ideology. It is with some reverence I as a self-proclaimed atheist say; Judaism is historically a beautiful religion based on learning and liberation, (not without its own issues of sexism), and was a religion of a people forever on the run, without a homeland. The literal “other” on the world stage. I hold reverence for the other, the oppressed, the underdog, those were the stories that fueled my childhood, and Judaism is full of those stories. Other stories fill the pages of Judaism; rabbinical explanations and arguments about the true meaning of the Torah, and how we as humans should act and treat each other, and those we share a planet with. I found it incredibly thoughtful that through the kosher laws you were not supposed to mix meat and dairy because: a creature should never be cooked in its mother’s milk, and herald a people who thought not only of their own lives but of those non-human lives they coexisted with. Another story that always struck me as poignant did not come from the Jewish religion but from Jewish folklore, and it is the story of the Golem.
Illustration by Philippe Semeria, 2009. The Hebrew word אמת, ‘truth’, is inscribed on the golem’s forehead. (From Wikipedia)
The story of the Golem is a parable about while defending oneself (or their community), to be careful not to allow the tools you use to make you a monster yourself. In the story a Jewish community who is under attack turns to their Rabbi, who creates a monster using mud and clay to defend the community. However in the end, after the Golem protects the community it eventually turns on them.
I believe Zionism is the Golem of the Jewish people, and the driving ideology of Israel’s horrific treatment and ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Started back in the late 1800’s, Zionism was a reaction to the historical violence and ongoing pogroms against Jewish communities, almost 40 years before WWII and the Holocaust. The main tenet of Zionism was that the Jewish people needed a homeland in order to protect themselves. After the massive trauma of WWII, the Jewish people were presented with Israel. Here’s where the story I was told stops. Growing up as an American Jew, the Holocaust ended, and those that survived created the great nation of Israel, our homeland, my birthright. What I was not told was when the Jews took over the land soon to be called Israel, it was not empty. Of course it wasn’t, what livable land is just empty, no one to call it home, but this was omitted from my Sunday school classes as we waved the Israeli flag. And again if anyone mentioned “those people”, they just left of their own accord. Of course, we are talking about the Palestinian people, and no they did not just leave. Enter another word I never heard; the Nakba, which means “the catastrophe” in Arabic. During the first Nakba in 1948 Jewish paramilitary groups and eventually the Israeli army committed horrible atrocities such as;
“(The) destruction of Arab villages, psychological warfare including terrorism, dozens of massacres which caused many to flee out of fear, such as the widely publicized Deir Yassin massacre,[2] crop burning,[3][4]typhoid epidemics in some areas caused by Israeli well-poisoning[5]”, “Many historians consider that the events of 1948 were an instance of ethnic cleansing.” -Wikipedia
This is the horrible truth that was hidden from me as an American Jewish child, this is my birthright. This is the Golem of the Jewish people, writ large in the planned displacement of the entire Palestinian population, a plan that continues to this day resulting in genocide by continual bombing, blocking aide and finally starvation. Echos of the Holocaust fill our screens, where this time the victims have turned into the perpetrators. The Zionist state of Israel has poisoned the Jewish faith, casting itself as the villain, teaching its children that the Palestinian people are “animals”, much like the Nazi youth were inundated with flagrant falsehoods about the Jewish people. While Israel’s goal was safety and security for the Jewish people from the pogroms and the Holocaust, they have only garnered animosity and the promotion of antisemitism by their constant oppression and annihilation of the Palestinian people and continued attacks elsewhere in the region calling it pre-emptive self defense. This is why Zionism and, through ideological extension and execution, Israel is the Golem of the Jewish people, a literal trauma response from past events on a huge scale.
I was taught a phrase as a young Jewish American that heralded the supposed spirit of Israel and the Jewish people; “Never Again!” But as we can plainly see, it is happening again, so now we have to say “Never Again, for Anyone!” So, how do we as writers fight a war machine? Well, we do just that; we write, we edit, and we publish, we tell our stories and reshape the world, where every story we write is a tiny revolution. I propose we organize some of the best stories the writing community can muster under the banner of; “The Everything Bagel Anthology, an anthology of (sometimes Jewish) resistance in times of genocide and fascism. Because unfortunately we are seeing both those horrible bits of humanity rearing their ugly heads again.
Now, Why an ‘Everything Bagel’? Well, the ‘Bagel’ represents the culture of Judaism, from the shtetl to now, a culture originally of non-violence and pro-freedom for everyone that has spread through the world via the diaspora. The ‘Everything’ represents inclusivity, that everyone should be involved in this struggle and that we are not truly free until we are all free!
We are currently still looking for volunteers to help out with different aspects of the project so if you are interested in helping out please check the Call-To-Action page. Also we have not yet opened for submissions but keep an eye out on this page, or my X profile for more information as to when that will happen. Thank you for reading everyone, and remember, the world can be a cold dark place, but we can shine a light that gives warmth and hope.
-Jayme
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