Wayne L. Fuller is a former corporate trainer and former Lutheran minister living in Concord.
Judaism is one of the world’s great cultures. The world has benefited greatly from the Jewish culture of Talmudic law, with its emphasis on education, art, music, literature, science, fashion, and social movements. I myself grew up near a Jewish neighborhood, so I have benefited from this perspective. I believe that my Jewish friends and their families introduced me to a wider world that I would not have known if I had only grown up around relatives.
As a child, I laughed at the comedy that Jews brought to America, listened to great songs by Gershwin and Cole Porter, to name a few, and enjoyed movies, books, and plays written by Jews. Still, there’s one thing I know. All cultures are great, but we must be careful not to equate them with nation-states or political parties.
I know this because a large part of my background is German. My grandparents arrived in the United States in the late 1800s and established themselves in the Midwest. They, too, have a great spiritual tradition and culture: Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Goethe, Kant, precision and craftsmanship, discipline and order, to name just a few, but they also is almost unrelated. But by the time I was born, my mother had done everything in her power to distance herself from her German identity. why? It’s not because of the culture itself, but because of what Germany has done. When it was revealed what Germany had done during World War II, she stopped speaking German and tried to hide her identity. Even in the church we attended, all traces of German culture had been largely erased from my childhood. This was a result of her shame, which she was made to feel as people identified her with her nation-state, which she did not know, rather than with her culture and tradition itself.
To me, this is a cautionary tale for Jews who have come to confuse their heritage with the nation of Israel. Israel, like Germany, is a political nation-state. It is prone to all the weaknesses of a nation-state, where the desire for power, greed, conquest, and domination dominates the actions of politicians. I believe that such identification with the nation is bound to hurt those who identify too much with the nation and confuse loyalty to the nation with their own spiritual traditions and culture.
To be clear, the current conflict is not a battle between Judaism and Islam. It is a nation-state seeking to control rebellion, a perceived threat to its existence and identity, by alienating, subjugating, and controlling another identity.
I refuse to accept that my criticism of the state of Israel is anti-Semitic, just as I refuse to accept that others’ criticism of Germany is about Germans in general. People who are angry about Israel are not necessarily anti-Semites. Such accusations are nonsense. But when people attack Jews in this country because of what Israel is doing, that’s exactly what anti-Semitism is.
Personally, I believe that Israel is currently engaged in some kind of ethnic cleansing, and perhaps even genocide. And I am angry that our president has wrapped his arm around Prime Minister Netanyahu and given him and Israel a “blank slate” to do whatever they want and provide. the money and munitions to do it. However, I will continue to enjoy the company of my Jewish friends, embrace their friendship, and enjoy their culture, traditions, and contributions.
For me, the two will forever remain separate. I hope that the majority of Americans and Jews will come to understand that these two things must be kept separate in their own minds.