Profiles in courage - our turn

For those who witnessed, and yes for those born soon after, the assassination of President Kennedy did much to shape - if not define - a generation of America. Growing up outside Boston in the 70's, in what I've always called "Kennedy's Massachusetts", the impact of that event loomed large, as the nostalgia for the Kennedy mystique deepened further. Profiles in Courage and PT 109 were frequent choices on our reading lists in school. I was nearly bar mitzvah before realizing that Camelot was actually a play about some guy named Arthur...

Now here we are, 53 years following that fateful day. It is all too clear that the issues that troubled us then - world peace, economic disparity, racial divides, religious intolerance, the need for greater social justice - are still as significant today. Certainly some of the details and players have changed: Cold War alliances have given way to concerns about global terrorism; the struggle for civil rights now includes the strides we are making for our LGBT brothers and sisters; our social welfare efforts concern not only addressing poverty - they are also needed to fulfill our responsibility to an ever-increasing aging population as we've never known before. Most significantly, these are not "global" issues - as in they fester in far-off places well removed from us in our daily lives. Rather, these are imminent problems, poisoning our very American society, fostered by domestic players. 

And there is still hope that we can live up to our promise to become a better world. Looking at our situation today or during the Kennedy era (or any other point in time you choose) is but a momentary snapshot of the human condition. We need to involve a longer view of our history to sustain such hope. Consider this: this week we also marked the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, that powerful, articulate vision that Lincoln delivered during a particularly bleak and vulnerable time for our nation. Fast forward 100 years. It is following the Kennedy assassination that we truly begin the repair and resolve the issues that had torn the country apart through civil war. The Civil Rights act, the Voting Rights act, enabled in the mid 60s, we're predicated by earlier voices, Lincoln's included.

We still have much to do, much farther to go to bring about the just society that has been hinted at in every generation. It starts right now, by standing up to the emerging neo-Nazi element in our very midst. On this sacred memorial, let us recommit ourselves to partnership with all of our fellow human beings in working toward that day.

Know your history or wither away

Today I saw news coverage of an *interview* with a young, clearly ignorant and uneducated Trump supporter, on his way out of a rally for the candidate. When asked why he supports Trump, the simpleton mentioned “getting rid of immigrants, people from the Middle East, and ending the Zionists, because you know, they control everything like finances and media and stuff…” at which point I turned off the TV in disgust.

Ironic that this happened this morning, November 2, 99 years after the following was published:

November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild, 

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet. 

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." 

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation. 

Yours sincerely, 

Arthur James Balfour

This letter, known as the Balfour Declaration – which established Great Britain’s support of for a Jewish homeland in Palestine – paved the way in part for the fulfillment of traditional Zionist hopes and dreams. Without this vital document, and the exertion that led to it (as well as subsequent Jewish maneuvering afterward), the process that led to the founding of the modern state of Israel would have unfolded much differently, if at all. As I wrote on this topic many years ago:

The complex political maneuvering which took place to create the Balfour Declaration and ensure its intent for a British mandate in Palestine was not caused simply by the tide of history. This great debate was manipulated to achieve particular goals and further the hopes of world Zionism. The letter itself states that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National home for the Jewish people..." This statement evoked both a certain level of Zionist euphoria and a hostile controversy over British aims during WWI. One must remember that the British did not have control of Palestine at that time; nor were they guaranteed it in the event of victory.

For modern Jewish history, today, November 2 – the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration – should be much better known. And yet, due to a variety of factors, this remains one of those “important dates in history that goes unnoticed.” I find this phenomenon fascinating.

Know your history, or wither away.