Fury..

Rage, wrath, vehemence... I am the storm....

My initial purpose in starting my substack was to take a breather from politics, anger, hate, and most of all worry. I decided to focus on something that I felt was overlooked in the world, that aging is not easy, especially not easy for a woman. Now of course, men will let you know that it’s no fun and games for them either, try getting fired after 50 and see how easy it is to get a job in today’s world for anyone (not).

I meant to focus on the everyday, and the absurdities of life. Something that which only say, menopausal woman do deal. It was going to be my little niche. A way to laugh at the nonsense that confounds me on a daily basis.

I am truly tired of the animosity, and the angst created by American politics. I am truly irked by the nonsensical attitudes of people who have assigned political leanings to whether you wear a mask, get a COVID shot/boosters, lean in towards gender fluidity, or believe in systemic racism. I have had truly enough of people judging whether you are good or bad depending upon whether pronouns show up in your bio or Linkedin. I am truly over the threats, the canceling, and the bullying that greets us daily as we open our news apps and social media pages.

In truth, I am an old fashioned liberal. In truth, I feel that I don't fit into much of today’s world. So I decided to ignore what simply I could not control…

Then words from over 2500 years ago came flooding back…

Just because you do not take an interest in politics, doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you-Pericles

…October 7, 2023…

For some ungodly reason it became a cool thing to support gang-raping Jewish women to death, burning Jewish babies and entire families alive, and to celebrate the general mass slaughter of Jews. It became cool to graffiti swastikas on synagogues, and rip down posters of kidnapped red headed children because they are Jews. It became ok to dance with glee in universities and major cities in the west when supporting Islamist-genocial-Nazis.

It is ok for international organizations to never condemn any of these atrocities, and their perpetrators, but it is de rigueur to continually condemn the victims.

It was as if I was living in a dream world of disbelief, shock, and horror.

Suddenly it is ok in artistic circles to openly not hire Jews, cancel venues of Jewish musicians, or not print books, articles or poetry by Jews. It is ok in academic circles to openly fire Jews, or bring them up on trumped up charges to try to remove their tenure. It is ok in cities in the US to call for a ceasefire in a war, without mentioning the hostages kidnapped by Islamists mass murderers, the actions that actually started that war.

It was as if I was walking through quicksand being pulled under.

It is ok to push an ethnic studies curriculum starting in elementary school that promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories, that Jews have no right to their indigenous homeland, to deny Jewish history, archeology and genetic truths that the Jewish People, all Jewish People, are from the middle east, the Land of Israel, Judea. It is ok to teach children as young as 3 years old, in pre-k in NYC, to hate as long as they are hating Jews.

It was as if awake I live in a world turned upside down.

And still, I wanted to write about silly things, laugh at how ridiculous I can be, and to actually recognize that age is creeping up on me. I could no longer ignore that after going for a long walk with a friend, I simply couldn’t move for 2 days without my legs giving way. Apparently, riding the peloton bike is not the same as hiking hills.

Then last Saturday night I watched 300 missiles and drones aimed at the 9 million Jews, Arabs, Christians and Druze that live in the State of Israel streaking through the night sky from Iran.

I saw those who were virulently angry, because the newly formed coalition helped Israel prevent her people from being obliterated from the face of the Earth.

I saw the dancing in the streets of western cities in celebration of the attempted slaughter. I saw the mass universal protests, 50 in the US alone, calling for the destruction of the Jewish People and of the United States.

Only now, I no longer feel disbelief, I no longer feel as if I am wading through mud, I am no longer overcome with shock. Now…

I.AM.FILLED.WITH.FURY ….

Fate whispers to the warrior, 'You cannot withstand the storm. ' The warrior whispers back, 'I am the storm. '

This is your reminder, Hamas and Iran chose barbarism and war….

This is your reminder that if Hamas gave back the hostages and surrendered, the Gaza war would be over….

This is your reminder that creating a different set of rules for Israel, is the same antisemitism that fuels genocidal Islamists…

This is your reminder that when Islamists say they want to commit genocide against every Jew in the world, and then destroy every western democratic nation, this is not a bargaining point, they mean every word they say…

This is your reminder that this is not the first time the Jewish People have been threatened with genocide…

So said Mark Twain:

The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

I may not know what the world will be eons from now. I hope and pray it is the free democratic world we all would love to help create. I pray the United States of America is a leader in a free world that brings joy and hope to the billions on the face of the Earth.

But I know, no matter what shape the world will take eons from now, that there will be Jewish households like mine, at this time of year, preparing for the remembrance of the Jewish liberation from slavery (Passover) and the remembrance of the beginning of the Jewish odyssey as a People (Shavuot).

Maybe in the next post I will talk about something silly…probably…perhaps..hopefully…