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Abby Kutler President Annette van de Kamp-Wright Editor Richard Busse Creative Director Susan Bernard Advertising Executive Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Editor Gabby Blair Staff Writer Mary Bachteler Accounting Jewish Press Board Abby Kutler, President; Eric Dunning, Ex-Officio; Danni Christensen, David Finkelstein, Candice Friedman, Bracha Goldsweig, Margie Gutnik, Natasha Kraft, Chuck Lucoff, Eric Shapiro, Andy Shefsky, Shoshy Susman and Amy Tipp. The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the Federation are: Community Relations Committee, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Life, Jewish Social Services, and the Jewish Press. Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: wwwjewishomaha. org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment. Editorial The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in TIF or PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org. Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1.402.334.5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: avandekamp@jewishomaha. org. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be single-spaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer. The Jewish Press will not publish letters that appear to be part of an organized campaign, nor letters copied from the Internet. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf. Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For information, contact Annette van de KampWright, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly (except for the first week of January and July) on Friday for $40 per calendar year U.S.; $80 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or email to: jpress@jewishomaha.org.
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Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole.
Why Soros?
ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor From Marjorie Taylor “Space Laser” Greene to the Hungarian prime minister, George Soros is the go-to scapegoat. Rudy Giuliani accused him of being intent on destroying our government. He controls the free Press. His face shows up in countless memes, picturing him as the ultimate bad guy. He’s rich, Jewish, foreign-born, he gives quite a bit of money to liberal causes and he’s up to no good. In the current climate of paranoia, forget about the Rothschilds. While they may still make a cameo appearance here and there, if you want to show off your anti-Semitism, George Soros is who you blame, publicly and often (one day last year, there were 500,000 negative tweets about him—one day!). Funny thing: George does not practice his Judaism. Or so he says. He doesn’t have much sympathy for Zionism, although he has at times acknowledged that Israel’s existence is important. He has spoken out against AIPAC, claiming “the group’s behavior lent some ‘credence’ to the antiSemitic belief in an ‘all-powerful Zionist conspiracy.’ Ouch. That Soros is a liberal, who funds Democratic candidates and promotes left-wing causes has never been a secret. So we can agree with him or disagree with him on various policy issues, and that’s fine. It’s how democracy works: we don’t all see the world the same way. However, when Fox News’ Glenn Beck in 2010 aired a series labeling
Soros a ‘Puppet Master,’ then-Director of the AntiDefamation League Abe Foxman said this: “The oldest stereotype of anti-Semitism is about Jews and money. It goes all the way back to Jesus being sold for 30 pieces of silver. It’s there, it’s deep, it’s broad, it’s universal. What has happened in recent years is that Soros has been made the poster boy of this stereotype of the international Jew. He’s become an icon.” (JTA.com)
George Soros Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
The ‘stereotype of the international Jew’ does not only have to do with money. It has to do with control. Which makes Soros a prime candidate for the types of conspiracies people like Marjorie Taylor Greene are so fond of: the world is not working the way we want it to, someone must be pulling the strings. Someone is sabotaging, controlling the outcome, working against us, in secret. This notion that
Jews are secretly scheming to undermine the status quo has been around for a long time and even taken on new life with the theory of ‘Great replacement-’ the notion that a Jewish cabal is working to replace all white people in America with minorities. And George Soros, well, he is at the head of that cabal. Another favorite claim QAnon followers continue to make is that Soros pays thousands of dollars to counter protesters in order to bring violence. Remember the migrant caravan? George Soros was accused of masterminding that, paying migrants to “storm the border.” When you are susceptible to conspiracy theories, you’ll twist everything to fit those theories. I wonder how it feels to be George Soros. To look in the mirror and know you are the embodiment of everything the Nazis hate. To know that whatever you do, you will be blamed for wanting to destroy entire regimes. It must be a little insane, to live with that. I couldn’t handle it if one person tweeted something mean and untrue about me. What do you do when that becomes a world-wide thing, where hundreds of thousands of people you’ve never met denounce you? Why George Soros? I don’t know. He fits pretty neatly into existing stereotypes, and maybe that’s the key here: none of these accusations sound exactly new. Maybe someone can tell the anti-Semites out there they are getting boring, but then, they might come up with new material. We don’t really want that either.
I refuse to tell my daughter about what shut down her Jewish preschool CARLY PILDIS This story originally appeared on Kveller. I lied to my 4-year-old little girl, right to her pretty little curly-haired face, about why her school was closed. I told her it was because of a traffic problem. She accepted this — she was happy that it wasn’t because of COVID-19 and that school would open again on Thursday. The truth, however, was much uglier. The real reason her school was shuttered was because it wasn’t safe to go to school. It was the second time this term her Jewish preschool had to close because Nazi hate groups and far-right extremists were marching in support of President Trump. We live in Washington, D.C., and her school is downtown. The Stop the Steal March was today, with its parade of fanatics, conspiracy theorists and white supremacists who are furious that Trump lost the election, and they came to demand Congress overthrow the will of the American people. While violent white supremacy has always existed, for most of my life public displays of it were not a regular occurrence. But Trump’s presidency took extremism out of the shadows and encouraged it into the mainstream. My daughter’s school was closed because fascists were marching against democracy. They marched to take away your vote — our votes — the vote I fought to mobilize and win while I served as director of grassroots organizing for the Jewish Democratic Council of America. The vote for which we are still fighting. At four, my daughter is just beginning to learn about voting, and about how wonderful democracy is. She hasn’t learned yet that it is also fragile. Mayor Muriel Bowser advised Washingtonians to avoid downtown and warned that this was not a normal protest — the ones we expect and respect as D.C. residents — but an event filled with those who were seeking violent confrontation. The night before, six protesters were arrested for assault or gun charges. While downtown D.C. was dangerous for everyone that day, it was particularly dangerous for my family: We represent everything these people hate. We are Jewish, we are interracial, and my daughter and husband are Black. We are everything they want to burn down and destroy. Just how can I tell my daughter this awful fact? And when, exactly, is the appropriate moment to tell her how much some people hate our family be-
cause of who we are proud to be? They hate our tell her Jewishness is wonderful, Blackness is beauBlackness, our Jewishness and our proudly multi- tiful, and how good it is to have many different types cultural family. of friends and family. At home, we dance to Beyonce My daughter knows about the election. She and Debbie Friedman. We talk about love, and lovknows her mother helped elect Joe Biden. She ing ourselves, and how proud we are of who we are. knows her friends’ mothers would bring her This is a part of how we resist: We celebrate who mother coffee and offer rides to school so her we are and live lives full of joy. The day we must talk mother could work. These women would tell her to her about hatred is coming, probably sooner how important her mom’s work was and she would than we’d like. But first we are instilling love, confinod solemnly. She knows about the late nights. dence and pride. When it is time, we hope to tell She remembers the joyful day the election was her a story of a world where hate still lives but good called; she calls it “Joe Biden Day.” She saw her en- people are fighting for equity and justice every day. tire city block explode in joy: honking horns, banging pots and pans, chanting and dancing in the street. She learned about happy tears. She thought it was pretty fun and frequently asks when the next Joe Biden Day is. She knows that you are supposed to be kind and welcoming and that our old president was not. She can’t remember his name; Biden is the first president she will remember. She requested hamburgers and fries for Inauguration Day. She knew it as the day when Biden moves into the White House Crowds arrive for the Stop the Steal rally in Washington, Jan. and when we would celebrate the Biden- 6, 2021. Trump supporters gathered in the nation's capital to Harris victory again. She occasionally protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Elecasks if she can meet Biden’s grandkids toral College victory over President Trump in the 2020 elecand pet his dogs. Given all this excite- tion. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images ment, how can I tell her that white supremacists While I beg all Americans not to let this become were still marching to take the vote away? When our new normal, I am working my hardest to give should I tell her that people died to be able to vote, my daughter normality. Like all of us, she has had and that we still need to fight to protect the ballot, precious little “normal” since the pandemic started, especially for Black people? and we are so grateful to be able to have her physAs for why school was closed, my husband and I ically in school at all. struggled with what to tell her. In general, we prefer So instead of spending that day in fear, I declared age-appropriate truths to flat-out lies. But this year it to be Special Mother-Daughter Fun Day. We has been a very scary time for us all, and we didn’t stayed in our neighborhood, farther away from want to scare her further. What could we say that downtown. We had bagels delivered from our fawas truthful, but not terrifying when we ourselves vorite place, and we went to the playground for a are frightened? So we made the decision that child- masked and socially distant playdate. I let her eat hood is precious — especially Black girlhood, extra treats so she thinks the world is sweet just a which tends to end far too soon. little while longer, and she won’t question why I So we decided that we won’t let these marchers was being a little indulgent. Precious girl, I love you take that from her. As a Black Jewish woman, un- so much, how could anyone hate you? To your fortunately there will be plenty of opportunities for mother, you are perfect. her to experience hatred. So I want her to learn to The views and opinions expressed in this article are love herself first: her Jewishness, her Blackness, her- those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the self. We fill her life with books, music and media that views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
