I have just returned from an extended trip to the States and beyond. While logically, no one should ever want to be back in a war zone, I must say that while my body may have been abroad, my heart and soul remained solidly in Israel.
This was an eventful excursion. It began on a rather bizarre, even morbid, note. I received messages one day from several friends asking if I was still among the living! I soon learned that my yeshiva had sent out a death notice for someone with my same name (though they spelled “Stuart” with a “u” rather than with a “w”) who had passed away.
I quickly pinched myself – to be sure that I was still in this world – and assured the friends that, à la Mark Twain, rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated. I affirmed that I wasn’t quite yet ready to exit stage left and that anyone who still owed me money was obliged to honor the debt.
I was also reminded by my rabbinic colleagues that, in typical Jewish style, being referred to as prematurely deceased was actually a good thing! It is a segula – a protective, even magical, charm that guarantees one long life. (I hope to let you know how that goes!)
What I did gain from all this, after the initial shock wore off, was a vivid reminder that none of us is immortal, that some day our own name will appear in the obituary column, and so we must make full use of every precious moment of our lives.
To that end, I was privileged to serve on the staff of a marvelous cruise to Panama and Costa Rica. Beyond the stark beauty of these places, there is much to be learned regarding their illustrious history and culture.
Panama, in particular, has a rich Jewish heritage and is quite a remarkable place. In fact, some of the statistics of the Panama Jewish community are every bit as stunning as the miracle of the nearby Panama Canal. There are approximately 15,000 to 18,000 Jews in Panama City, and more than 90% of them are observant. There are more than 30 kosher restaurants in the city, and they are full every evening.
What is most extraordinary – and perhaps this is the key to Panama’s uniqueness – are two amazing, interconnected statistics: 98% of the Jewish children in Panama study in a Jewish day school; and the rate of intermarriage there is practically zero!
Unlike all the other countries in Central America, not to mention North America, Jews in Panama do not assimilate; they retain their Jewish identity from generation to generation and have an extremely high level of Jewish literacy.
Fighting for Israel in a dumbed-down America
WHICH BRINGS me to the subject of literacy in general.
You cannot travel the world today without seeing some form of Jew-hatred. It might be in the guise of pro-Palestinian protests, pro-Hamas placards, or seemingly innocuous calls for a “ceasefire now,” which, of course, is just another way of saying we should allow Hamas terrorism to continue until Israel is eradicated.
You see it on the streets of big cities, you see it trending in high schools, and you encounter it on subways, in malls, and outside Jewish institutions. And while some of it is clearly malevolent, much of it is pure illiteracy at work – a stunning demonstration of just how stupid people can be.
I have periodically stopped to engage these mindless protesters, and it would almost be amusing if it wasn’t so pathetic. It’s an unending exposition of ignorance, one long series of “Jay-Walks” that comedian Jay Leno made famous when he interviewed clueless people at random. One of my favorites was when he asked a high school student in what country the Panama Canal was located. The kid had no idea at all but suggested it was named after a man called Panama.
Forget about knowing deep and difficult facts about the Israeli-Palestinian issue, such as when it began or the positions of each side. Most of the sign-wavers out there cannot find Palestine on a map (several believed it was somewhere in Texas) and have absolutely no idea what the conflict is all about.
Most will proclaim that Gaza is “occupied,” though no Jews have lived there since 2005; that Gazans are peace-loving people just trying to stay safe from Israeli hostility; and that Hamas is a well-meaning “social welfare” organization. Some are even absolutely sure that the Holocaust was when Jews killed millions of Palestinians. It’s very hard to debate someone who literally has no capacity to learn, let alone absorb, the truth.
In fact, it’s downright scary to see just how ignorant the world has become. Television, for a long, long time, has dumbed down society. What you see on screen is almost always the lowest common denominator; it shocks and sexually arouses but it does not challenge the viewer. It entertains, perhaps, but it does not educate.
Social media – Twitter, Instagram, and the like – deliver sound bites that contain no context, no nuance, and no background. They appeal to the masses, who are too busy, too vapid, and too uninterested to learn what the reality is. They want to be spoon-fed tiny doses of semi-knowledge, enough to scream slogans but not enough to grasp the truth.
A GALLUP POLL released last week showed that only 15% of America’s Gen Z, aged 12 to 27, said their mental health was excellent, and only 8% of high school students surveyed by Common Sense Media believed their schools were doing a good job of educating them. Twenty-four countries outrank the US in reading skills and science, and 48 (including the OECD average) outrank it in mathematics. And – are you ready for this? – 38% of adults in America read comics (which is actually better than in France, where one of every four books sold there is a comic book).
As we have painfully seen, even the so-called bastions of knowledge in the higher institutions of learning often don’t have a clue. I recall a conversation I had with my English literature professor when studying the work of T.S. Eliot. Eliot was one of the 20th century’s greatest poets, but he was also an out-and-out antisemite who spread outrageous antisemitic conspiracy theories. “How could someone so brilliant be so ignorant?” I asked the professor. “Never, ever confuse intelligence with wisdom,” he told me.
Trying to convince the general public that Israel is the victim here, that we are ancient inhabitants of this land with a rightful claim to it, and that we have attempted, time and again, to reach a peaceful accommodation with the region’s Arabs is an almost impossible task. We end up beating our heads against a big brick wall of ignorance, as the misinformed fall prey to our adversaries, who are experts at spreading the “big lie.” All too many dead heads out there are more than willing to swallow it whole.
But, of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t have to try. We have been waging uphill battles since the earliest times of our existence as a people. Abraham the Ivri was alone on one side of the divide when he argued that there is only one true God, and Moses incessantly debated Pharaoh in an attempt to convince him that it is morally wrong to enslave others.
We cogently and persistently present our case in the UN, the World Court, and the court of public opinion whenever we can because we, the People of the Book, believe that education is the surest avenue to the truth; and the truth, ultimately, will set us free. ■
The writer is director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra’anana. jocmtv@netvision.net.il