Max Nordau, the 19th-century Zionist, once told Ze’ev Jabotinsky that Jews learn not from reason but from “catastrophe.” A Jew, said Nordau, would not buy an umbrella until he was caught in the rain.
This was a fundamental conflict between those who wanted to achieve Jewish sovereignty before it became absolutely necessary and those who were afraid to upset the apple cart in the countries where Jews lived at the time.
Col. John Henry Patterson, who commanded the Jewish Legion in WWI and worked closely with Jabotinsky, once wrote that this apple-cart problem manifested as a kind of paralysis. Any major war that broke out would likely feature states with Jewish populations in conflict with other states that have Jewish populations, turning those Jews into unofficial hostages, afraid to be seen as a partisan on either side lest their fellow Jews be punished.
The great effect of Zionism was that it awakened in Jews around the world a sense of agency, whether or not they were in Palestine. In this way, the dual-loyalty canard is especially ridiculous: Zionism makes Jews, if anything, more fully embrace their rights as citizens in whatever country they reside.
Recognizing one’s full rights as a citizen is a way of buying an umbrella. When it rains, you’ve already got it.
In that sense, American Jews are only starting to realize the value of an umbrella. In the great United States, that umbrella is the constellation of unprecedented freedoms, one of which is political liberty. That liberty is weakened when people allow their votes to be taken for granted, because a full citizen’s vote must be earned.
Jewish Michiganders’ anguish over the idea of not backing Abdul El-Sayed, a seething Jew-hater with open contempt for democracy and creepy admiration for dictators, is a case in point. But as Jewish Insider reports, there are finally more than a few umbrellas popping up in the Wolverine State. I’ve always found it strange to see people who acknowledge that El-Sayed’s a bad guy then agonize over what to do about it. This is America. It’s a free election. Do what you want. Yet because El-Sayed is a Democrat, some of these voters treat him like a wayward relative: Maybe this time he’ll clean up his act!
El-Sayed’s debate performance last week against Mike Rogers finally appears to be breaking the spell:
“Community leaders said that they’re hearing from some previously undecided Jewish Democrats that, after the debate, they now plan to back Republican Mike Rogers.
“‘I think for a lot of pro-Israel Jewish Democrats, Abdul has made it easy. He’s not really made any accommodations whatsoever, and the debate was just the latest example,’ said David Kramer, a prominent Michigan Democratic fundraiser and vice chair of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus.”
They were bothered that, at the debate, El-Sayed “framed Israel as a threat to the United States comparable to Iran and said he would not vote to send defensive aid to Israel even if it were under fire.”
In other words, told them (for the thousandth time) to drop dead. And they seem to be on the verge of taking no for an answer: “I’ve talked to a couple of people who were wrestling with the same choice as I am,” Kramer told JI, “who have said that based on the debate, that was kind of a final straw, and they are going to vote for Rogers.”
I have to ask: Where was the community keeping all this straw? It sure took a while to get to the last one.
El-Sayed made excuses for a terrorist who tried to massacre Jewish children at a Michigan synagogue. It’s one of about a half-dozen or so things that make him a truly appalling human being. I can’t tell Jews in Michigan how to vote, but I can and I will tell them to stop apologizing for asserting their humanity. Nobody else makes excuses for standing under an umbrella when it rains.