Rant #3,128: Shame, Shame, Shame

Today is a big anniversary in my life, a touchstone that I will never forget.

Today is the 53rd anniversary of my bar mitzvah.

I had my bar mitzvah ceremony on this day in 1970, but I did not have my party this day because it was during a scared period in the Jewish religion where you cannot have such parties, so that was put off until near the end of this month.

But I read my Haftorah that day 53 years ago, even though I was sick as could be.

I have gone into this story many times here. It has become part of the folklore of my family, where the New York Knicks winning the NBA championship the night before—and Willis Reed walking onto the court, or more to the point, limping onto the court—not only propelled the Knicks to victory, but it energized my sick body enough that I was barely able to get through my speech and become a man in the Jewish religion.

I won’t go into that entire story again—more than I just did—but it is 100-percent true, and as the current Knicks team battles the Miami Heat in the playoffs, maybe my story can spur them on as their story energized me 53 years ago.

They are going to need it, as the Knicks are down three games to one in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

And let me bring up my bar mitzvah experience even more to the present time.

I had that experience as a Jew in America, a second-generation-born-in-the- U.S.A. Jew who benefited from my grandparents coming to the country in the early part of the 20th century (my maternal grandmother was already here, but my three other grandparents all came over from Eastern Europe during that period more than 100 years ago).

My grandparents came to this country as young people looking for a new and better way of life, and through hard work and their own smarts, they were able to carve out that new and better life for themselves and later, their families.

My grandparents came literally from what you might call “nothing,” and they made themselves into something and followed that up with kids and grandkids and great grandkids who really lived the American dream, and still do.

Thousands of other Jewish families in America have the same story, and some of us have reached historic heights in every semblance of success.

To celebrate that great success we hare had—as well as the struggles we continue to have, as anti-Semitism is on a dramatic rise in this country—we have Jewish American Heritage Month, which started in 2006 and is this month, to put a spotlight on our accomplishments in this country, as well as the problems some still have with us being as successful as many of us are here.

Jews are clearly woven into the fabric of our country’s history, but some still refuse to acknowledge this fact.

The problem is that this annual celebration gets virtually no acknowledgement from the mainstream media, receives little-to-no coverage at all, paling in comparison to other such celebrations which dot the calendar throughout the year.

Why is that?

The reason is that Jews are not part of the government's eight Special Emphasis programs, which includes Asians, Blacks, Women. LGBTQ and others, meaning that the federal government does not consider Jews as an oppressed group.

With anti-Semitic acts on a steep rise every year, and with an increasing amount of hate speech directed at the Jewish population, this is, quite frankly, hard to believe, but true.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which is also this month, gets precedence and full coverage because this group is thought to be oppressed by our government and our country.

It is shameful, but it is true.

Not to minimize their pain, but we get bombarded this month by tributes, remembrances and what have you for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, but little to nothing about Jewish American Heritage Month, which is really striking for a variety of reasons.

Notice that the rise of anti-Semitism is real—the latest mass murder in Texas, in a shopping mall, was perpetrated by a gunman who had wide anti-Semitic views.

So why the cover-up beyond what I just told you?

And don’t tell me that the lack of coverage for this month does not add to the rise in anti-Semitism that we are going through now, but I think that, unfortunately, my Jewish brethren are at least partly to blame for this invisibility.

Many of us cavalierly have blended themselves into the mainstream of society, and have no idea what anti-Semitism is, simply because they don’t really know who they are.

And many others know what anti-Semitism is, but choose to ignore its very existence.

This is just so wrong on both counts, but as a proud Jewish American, I, personally don’t ignore what is happening in this country right now as easily as others seemingly do.

To each his own, but when Jews are not considered to be oppressed anymore, yet anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise, there is something wrong here, something very wrong.

That Jewish people in this country have somehow persevered through all the hatred is to be commended, and almost completely ignoring Jewish American Heritage Month is a clear slap in the face to this group of people who have had such a major impact on our nation.

And yes, ignoring this month is also sort of under-the-radar anti-Semitism, which is probably the worst anti-Semitism that there is, because it clearly exists, but is completely ignored by the mainstream, the very faction that perpetuates its existence.