WHERE SHOULD I GO?

Yesterday, as I sat down to write an article for our band’s website, I had a very clear plan in my head. The article was supposed to be about a song we recorded not so long ago. A wartime tango in Yiddish, a tango about antisemitism. And because both Yiddish and antisemitism seem to be the privileges reserved mostly for the Jews’ private enjoyment (I think God gave us Yiddish because He thought: “Hey, I gave them antisemitism, let them have something really nice.”), I gave some serious thought as to how to present this song. Which words to choose.

I mean, this song is in Yiddish (a Jewish language going out of business these last eighty years).

And it’s about antisemitism (a Jewish problem that’s been in business of putting Yiddish out of business since times immemorial) relevant to the rest of the world.

I had tons of ideas. I just had to find the right words, the correct ones. Maybe, I could make a parallel between an antisemitism and a rejection that every one of us has certainly experienced sometime in life. Maybe I could make a parallel with unrequited love. Maybe, I could…

And then I scrolled the news.

And I read about New York. About attack on a synagogue. About Jewish boy being attacked. About a Jewish woman being dragged by their hair. About ridiculous lies printed in “New York Times”. About the report on weaponized sexual violence of October 7 attack.

And you know what?

I will not choose my words for you, world.

I will not chew them this time.

I will not do it anymore.

I am a Jew. And that means I am a human being.

And that means that antisemitism is not my problem.

It is your problem.

It is my suffering, my fear, my pain, my nightmares, and this neurotic (or is it really?) habit to measure all my friends with the unspoken internal question: “Would he or she hide me and my children if needed to?”.

Antisemitism is all that for me, but it is not my problem.

It is yours.

The fact that you, world, allow yourself to be silent and neutral while all this is going on, doesn’t make me less of a human being.

It does it to you, unfortunately.

Unfortunately, because I love you.

I love you and I want to be with you.

And that is why I am going to tell you straight out what that tango is about. It is about the anguish, the pain and the loneliness of being a Jew. It’s about every door closed, every bridge barred. It is about this beautiful and grand world feeling cold, small and unwelcoming when you are born a Jew. It is about the point where even as you struggle day and night, you start getting that nudging feeling that maybe you really must disappear, like a feeling glance.

This is what this tango is about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa6OaC-qy3s&list=OLAK5uy_llPTw_96vLmYmKPsgk_kY4AfsbFRuE854

Tango in the middle of a storm.

And we’re in the middle of a storm. We are in the middle of a battle of good and neutral. Yes, neutrality is the new evil. Because there is no place to stand aside and wait out the storm. Not for you, world, not for me, a Jew. There is no more time to tell yourself: this is not about me, this will not touch me.

No more time.

We are all Jews now. If you ever felt rejected, unloved and judged based solely on some inborn trait, like your skin color or your last name, mazltov, you’ve been a Jew.

They say God created people because He loves stories. And people love stories, too. That’s why they created art, literature, music, cinema, dance and theatre. That’s why they created fire. That’s why they created gods. And antisemitism.

And antisemitism loves stories, too. The more fantastic, improbable, unrealistic the better. Because nobody wants a plain-clothed truth, everybody wants a fancifully dressed lie.

The Jews poison the wells. The fact that they drink from them, too doesn’t seem to bother anybody.

The Jews kill Christian babies to add their blood to their matzah. The fact that the laws of kashrut strictly forbid consuming any blood in any way doesn’t seem to make any difference, not to mention the fact that hey, we would love to be able to add something to our matzah, like apple juice or maybe even martini, to spice up the bland taste, but the only thing we are allowed are eggs, onions and garlick, and even that is for young children or ailing adults. And this blood libel is a particularly hurtful accusation for anyone who regularly pays top buck for kosher meat. I mean, Jews pay extra and literally go an extra mile not to consume blood. Any blood.

The Jews control the world. The Jews control the world banking system. You know, when you are Jewish, you are born rich. Sort of like in Dubai.

The Jews train their dogs to rape Palestinians. You know you can’t do it. You can’t train an animal to rape. You can train people though. Which makes me personally question the whole evolution process.

And I’ll tell you one more thing about this tango. This tango is a question: where should I go? In this unfriendly world that shuts down for me, where should I go?

Do you know?

Can you tell me?

Or maybe I don’t have to go anywhere; maybe we can just remove the unreasonable hate from the equation, so that we both can see how beautiful you are, world. And because I am a part of you, how beautiful I am, too.