Racism vs Fear of Racism + Working Upwards

First a short story:

Long, long ago,  I lived in a different neighborhood. I lived in Jerusalem.  And, I would always take my twin girls to a nursery in that neighborhood.  Only thing was, whenever I passed a certain corner, there were these little boys there -almost waiting for me, it seems like. 


Like clock work, everytime I passed near them, they jump up and yell at me in Hebrew.  At the time, I didn't know as much Hebrew as I do know and wasn't sure what they were saying. (Also, my brain had this habit of just not trying to read or hear Hebrew).  So, I chose to ignore them, since I couldn't fight them.  I was sure they were saying some racial slur and was even embarrassed to go by there.  But it was my job to get the girls to and from the nursery sometimes and so I had to do it.


Well, one day, one day when I got good and tired of feeling kicked at, I made up my mind to give a good talking to to those little boys!


So the day came.  I was taking the girls back from the nursery to home, as usual.  And as usual, there were those boys some standing some sitting at the curb.  Sure enough as soon as they saw me they began jumping and yelling.  This time I listened to what they were saying....


"Please, please can you help us cross the street!! Please!!"


I was so embarraased.  All this time....all these days...they had been asking me to help them cross the street!!  In my own constricted mentality, I just interpreted unknown variable x to equal racism!!   I quickly gathered the boys around me and when the time was right, we all crossed the street together.  Then the boys ran off some this way and some that way off to their homes or down to the next curb.

Quite often--and I doubt I am speaking just for myself-  we just assume racism or quite often we don't even try- not because of racism, but because of the fear of racism.  I didn't even try to hear the boys out of fear that they were being racists towards me.

This can really hold someone back. Negative emotions are not simply emotions, they almost help the reality to be a certain way. Emotions are like cups, buckets, vessels.  When we invite a certain emotion around us, we are also inviting that cup and those types of vessels only hold "certain" types of "goods" --and it ain't good!

Well, I pray we can fight this.  I know the situations and locations are different.  For me, there is a lot less racism living in Israel, than in America.  I doubt in America a bunch of white boys would beg me to help them cross the street.

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There is another problem that I see, but I haven't heard anyone address it.  I certainly hope somebody with some popularity or celebrity status address this. Anyway, before I state the problem......another story...!

A man from South America was very poor.  But he was also optimistic and worked hard.  He made friends with an Italian who asked him to come to Italy. He came, however, he had no money.  So he had to work at all sorts of jobs, construction, janitor, waiter, anything he could find I took. He wasn't afraid. and slowly he saved what he could.  One day while sitting and resting from a job, he saw a synagogue. He decided to visit it.  The people there were nice to him, even though he wasn't Jewish.  And he came again, and again, and again. Finally, they accepted him in the synagogue and taught him whatever he wanted to know about Judaism. 


One day he confessed he wanted to convert.  The Italian rabbi wrote the proper papers and he managed to buy a ticket to Israel. Once there, he learned until his conversion. Again scrapping by with whatever jobs he could, he survived in a foreign country.


He left holding his head high with an Israeli passport and can return free of charge with the Israeli Law of Return!

Great story! True story!  Could such a scenario work for a Black person?

In the same situation with a Black person, would he be nicely received in Italy? If he worked odd and end jobs, could he get by with the money he scratched and saved? Maybe I got it wrong but sometimes I wonder if life is a bit harder for Blacks.  Like if they had small construction, janitorial jobs that maybe people would want to make sure they stay there and not progress or save or rise -maybe not necessarily by doing anything, but by subtle means. By their expectation which comes out in their choice of words, which comes out in their actions (for example, asking them to carry something too heavy vs if it was a white guy, getting help for him because he's not expected to be able to carry such a heavy load without hurting his back). And nevermind the outside influence, there is always -for Americans- the image of slavery that has been beaten into our heads, so when we work odd or manual labor, its hard to push that imagery out!   I don't know. I am just wondering about these things.

To be fair, I was also homeless when I first came to Israel. I had to work as a cleaning lady for a while and live in a youth hostel. So I'm not saying its impossible.

As far as solutions go:  I think the Israeli army got it right. They discovered that in order for the Ethiopian soldiers in the army to be successful, they needed to have at least two Ethiopians in a brigade.  Just one surviving all by himself will drive him nuts and bring him to depression and loneliness. Even when there is no overt racism involved.

I wonder if this could be applied in regular life? Having a good buddy- a kosher buddy now, I mean a real friend who's got your back. Someone to carry the other when they start feeling the effects of subtle hurts or something?

Heavy Things on the Brain

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(I added to this post)

Its hard to blog and radiate positivity when so much heavy things are on my mind.

Baby is at his most clingy stage at the moment.

My friends were heading for the Kotel /Western Wall/ Wailing Wall a few days ago. A man told them the regular route was closed and that they had to go a different way. Turns out it was an ambush. Many young Arab men came throwing stones at their car. Their windows got smashed, they said the "final prayer" thinking it was all over. Thank God, with some fast manoeuvering, they escaped.

This has gotten me thing about survival...

Some people take the soft glove approach to all the terrorism going on in the world. No! Don't associate it with Islam! Nevermind everything, only pay attention to what the most famous of talking heads are saying!

Others are taking a very hard line approach. Its all coming from Islam, they say. Get rid of Islam and the idea of terrorism will go.

Which is right?

I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

There are alot of things that are very similar with Judaism and Islam that people don't want to talk about. Such as in Judaism, it is taught that there are 613 good deeds/commandments to be done in this world. Each part corresponds to different parts of the body. Interestingly, the deed/commandment of not falling for idolatry is at the back bone-y & ligament area at the back of the neck. That ligament there is associated with idol worship or serving God. If someone falls for idol worship, then they got problems with that part in the neck. That area is what keeps the head and the body together.

In Islam, they want to behead those they claim to be idol worshippers. (i.e. punish that part that was suppose to be for serving God, since the person is an infidel and is not serving God)

In Judaism there is a big push against promoting fear. Even as I grew up on scary movies since I was a kid, I really try not to spook my kids with stories of monsters and whatnots under the bed. Not even kids stories with suspense. The drive is more of joy. With joy there comes prophecy, with joy, there comes good health, with joy comes blessings.

Terrorism preys on people by giving them terror -and really clamps down on the fearful. I imagine this -the power of fear and terror- can be learned from Islam (or Judaism).

In Judaism, women are expected to cover themselves out of modesty. They keep their hair covered after marriage. Legs and torso are covered. Why? It is believed that tempting men with thoughts of sex can lead to a spilling of "seed". These seeds don't just die. They create children. All seeds create whether its with a physical body or not. These particular spilled seeds create bodiless beings. (you know, those things that start with a d and rhymes with semon. hehehe). Modesty does not end with clothing. How one talks, comports themselves, etc all have a modesty aspect.

In Islam, via sharia law, women who are immodest are ....hurt pretty badly.

In Judaism, there is no separation of "church" and state. Judaism is a way of life. Something many people -especially Americans can't understand. We can live in a state and follow its laws. But come Passover, even though the civil law does not state this, chances are there will probably not be any bread, flour, yeasty food in any religious Jewish home -because of Torah. There will probably not be any stores open on Friday evening, even though civil law of whatever country permits it. etc.

In Islam, also its pretty impossible to separate "church" and state. Again, this is something people can not see.

Basically what I am saying is there is an element in Islam that will cause people to be violent, mean, hurtful terrorists. And truth be told, alot of the terrorism that's happening in the world today are committed by Muslims. China, India, America (for those who are ready to understand this), and Israel, etc.

But alot of these same factors or "teachings" are embedded in various degrees in other religions and ways of life. So what gives?

A little story:

There was once a man who loved a woman. But that woman spurned him. Every chance she got, she spurned him. She ran off and danced with other men. She even offered herself for marriage to a few of them. And though they had a good time with her, in the end she was always left hurt.

Finally, she stopped fooling around and really wanted love. She looked around to see who really loved her. Who was faithful to her all along. It was the man from the beginning. So she returns to her true love and lived happily ever after.

Meanwhile there was another woman who was doing the same thing. She spurned the man who loved her and ran off after other men. But this man was able to do something about it. One by one he killed the suitors off. Finally everyone was afraid to have dealings with the woman. Left with no choice, she resigns and submits to the man.

Man1 which is the other major religions seem to not have any way of enforcing and getting what they want; whereas Man2 has a means of enforcing and thus achieving their goals faster. In the first incidence at least the woman (the goal, the mission) begins to seek out the man and is content. In the second case, the way things are going now, the woman (goal, mission) submits but is her heart in it?