Reflection times

Marina Berkovich, JHSSWF President

During the Q&A after my January’s presentation “The Jewish Confederates,” someone asked, “Why are you covering the Confederates?” In all honesty, I felt like impulsively responding, “Why do you all like living in the South ’cause it’s still nice, but want to eradicate any reference to Confederacy?” A few nights before, a gentleman to whom I mentioned my presentation already berated me for it, calling the Confederate Jews traitors and lowlifes. He was not ready for a civil conversation, but I later learned that he spent half the night researching and reading. So, I replied to the question, “So that you would be informed. It’s kind of like knowing facts about Israel so you can refute the uninformed.”

On March 4, 1845, when Florida was admitted into U.S. statehood, its very first Senator was David Levy Yulee, a Jewish man, who suffered the burdens of institutionalized antisemitism in U.S. politics for the entirety of his political career. He was pro-slavery. His father, Moses Levy, formerly a slaveowner and slave-trader, became a significant figure in the antislavery movement later in life and influenced attitudes in Europe not only vis-à-vis slavery, but Jews, becoming the first Jewish speaker in private society circles of England.

People change over the course of their lives. Haven’t you? Historical figures do and with much more visible and lasting effects than ordinary folk. Haven’t we all changed since the Oct. 7 massacre? How about since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? There are future changes of historic proportions on the horizon. I assure you that each one of us will be altered by them.

It’s part of life experience, learning how to change in response to changing times without losing the core values one holds dear. To me, those have always been liberty, integrity, self-respect and the ability to reflect on history without having the urge to revise it because of demands from new societal perspectives and pressures. I am guided by the intrinsic drive to conduct not only an honest search of available facts but to withstand the demands of cultural revolutions and openly present those facts to all people, so that they can draw their own conclusions and reflections.

The correlation between historic and current events sometimes seems uncanny and often not coincidental. But those are the hypothetical suppositions. Our future will tell. Our past has already spoken. How informed you choose to be in order to discern its lessons, hints and messages is entirely up to you. I’m saddened that too many prefer to remain uninformed and, worse, twist facts into something supporting the revisionists’ views, even supplying fuel to modern-day libels.

Stay historically informed through us

The newest documentary film in SWFL Jewish Pioneers series, “A Midsummer Dream,” about Michael Mendelsohn, will premiere on March 21, 3 p.m. at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center. Born into an Ashkenazi family in the U.K., Mendelsohn spent his life between being a professional pharmacist and playing double bass and piano in various groups and orchestras in England and Naples, Florida. Free to members. Registration is required. Tickets may be purchased at jhsswf.org.

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