I realize I am a few days late to the conversation but I still want to participate. As an “ethnically” Jewish person (not a “religious” one) I first really want to thank Homma for all your thoughtful comments especially this paragraph (which actually made me cry a little):

“Jews have been hounded from country to country, pushed out and have lived in fear of pogroms for centuries. Deep within the Jewish psyche is the feeling that there is nowhere a Jew can truly call or feel at home — even Israel — without fear of being pushed out or murdered one day even if one is not religious at all or really identifies with being Jewish. This is centuries and centuries of fear that is passed down unconsciously through the generations and for good reason. Where can Jewish people really feel safe? Where? LA? Melbourne? New York? Mexico? Yes, there are communities of Jewish people where you can feel safe and tolerated but for how long and where to go when the welcome is outstayed? Because history shows us that apparently the Jews always outstay their welcome.”

I pretty much can’t say it any better than that. I recently realized that I have lived my entire life feeling shame for being Jewish. This is partially because I have a made up last name, changed by my grandfather and his siblings to something that sounds ‘white’ to avoid the stigma of our real last name and how ‘Jewy’ it sounds.

No matter what ignorant people say about anti-semitism being a thing of the past, it isn’t. I’ve personally experienced it quite a lot of it and I live in Canada. I’ve also come across this attitude that the commenter “February” displays, that since it’s 2011 and not 1936, these attitudes are gone. No, they aren’t. I had a former friend who revealed himself as an anti-semite once he learned of my ethnicity, who also veiled his hatred behind anti-Israel “political” sentiments while being completely ignorant of the situation. This was someone raised Catholic, who left the church to be an atheist but was taught by his family to be anti-semitic and so didn’t even realize he was because it was his ‘normal.’

Just my thoughts. Thanks for encouraging a dialogue about this topic that is so often discouraged.

Another thing I wanted to bring up is that

tartandtreacly- I did go to one of the Olympic torch relays- to protest, not to cheer it on. Honestly, it just makes me upset, more so because it seems so hopeless, the international community just can’t be bothered to pay attention. And there’s nothing we can do except take in the refugees and make a stink whenever a stink needs to be made (like in 2008).