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Begin forwarded message:
Subject: THE WORLD, U.S., ISRAEL AND ANTISEMITISM
Marking 30 days since the horrific massacre, the President of Israel invites the pubic to light a candle in their homes anywhere and everywhere in memory of the murdered and fallen. This is an appropriate time for me to share the following letter written by Joe Isenstein to his family this week.
DON'T KNOW IF YOU WILL TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS BUT I HOPE YOU DO.
MOST OF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GROW UP WITH VIRULENT ANTISEMITISM. I DO. FROM THE TIME I CAN REMEMBER ANTISEMITISM HAS BEEN PART OF MY LIFE AND THAT OF MY PARENTS AND BROTHERS . IN THE SMALL NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN I GREW UP IN WE WERE REFERRED TO AS "DIRTY JEWS" AND "CHRIST KILLERS". FROM FIGHTS ON THE PLAY GROUNDS TO SUBTLE (AND NOT SO SUBTLE) COMMENTS BY SOME TEACHERS ANTISEMITISM WAS ALIVE AND WELL. I STILL CARRY SOME OF THE PAIN INSIDE ME.DURING THAT TIME 6 MILLION JEWS WERE MURDERED IN EUROPE ALONG WITH 2 MILLION OTHER NON DESIRABLES. IN THOSE EARLY YEARS OF MY GROWING UP ISRAEL DID NOT EXIST. SLOWLY, AS ISRAEL MATURED IT APPEARED THAT ANTISEMITISM WAS SLOWLY FADING.THE UNITED NATIONS CAME INTO BEING BASED ON THE HOPE FOR WORLD PEACE ALONG WITH THE ERADICATION OF HATE AND OTHER FORMS OF BRUTALITY. IT SEEMED AS THOUGH HUMANITY HAD LEARNED FROM THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST AND MOST OF US THOUGHT THAT ANTISEMITISM JUST EXISTED WITH FRINGE WHITE SUPREMICISTS. WE HAVE BEEN PROVEN WRONG.
COLLEGE CAMPUSES ARE EXPLODING WITH ANTISEMITISM FOSTERED BY PROGRESSIVE LEFT WING FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATIONS UNABLE TO FIND THEIR VOICES. MY SISTER IN LAW KIETHA LEFT HER FAMILY TO MARCH WITH MARTIN LUTHER KING AND JEWS RODE BUSES AND PARTICIPATED IN SITINS WITH BLACKS THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH. JEWS SUPPORTED BLACK LIVES MATTER BECAUSE WE BELIEVE ALL LIVES MATTER. NOW BLM SUPPORTS HAMAS AND CELEBRATES THE MURDER OF JEWS. LGBTQ HAS BEEN SUPPORTED BY JEWS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AND THAT COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE SUPPORTS HAMAS AND THE MURDER OF JEWS. JEWS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT AT THE FOREFRONT OF LIBERAL THOUGHT, LIBERAL ACTIONS AND RIGHTS OF MINORITIES. I ASK MYSELF WHERE DID WE GO WRONG.
MY HEART HAS NEVER BEEN SO HEAVY. I AM SADDENED THAT MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN WILL LIVE THROUGH TIMES MUCH MORE DESTRUCTIVE OF JEWS THAN WHAT I LIVED THROUGH. I AM AT A LOSS OF WHAT TO TELL YOU.
WHEN OCT 7 HAPPENED PEOPLE WOULD ASK "DO YOU HAVE RELATIVES IN ISRAEL?" I WOULD TELL THEM I HAVE A COUSIN IN TEL AVIV AND A GREAT NEPHEW IN THE NORTH WATING TO BE CALLED UP TO FIGHT. FOR ME THAT IS NO LONGER A SUFFICIENT ANSWER. I NOW ANSWER "I HAVE 9 MILLION BROTHERS, SISTERS, NIECES AND NEPHEWS LIVING IN ISRAEL. THEY ARE ALL MY FAMILY. THEY'RE YOUR FAMILY TOO.