How leftism and ignorance in the world of books help anti-Semitism

The massacre in Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue almost three months ago reverberated through all layers of society and brought to life protests and demonstrations denouncing the white supremacists’ ideology, racial hatred, anti-Semitism, and heated political rhetoric considered some of the factors that triggered the horrible event.

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Photo: V. Dunaevsky

The public and media also debated other potential motives and mechanisms for seemingly low-key truck driver R. Bowers to commit his violent actions. Rightfully noted among these were unfettered internet access to the vitriolic anti-Jewish propaganda that is disseminated by hate groups, ease of their communication in cyberspace, and the relative ease of obtaining the high-speed rifle that was used in a commission of the crime. The city legislature is also looking for ways to strengthen local gun laws and restrict the use of semi-automatic weapons within the city limits.

In this article, I would like to highlight an information tool more mundane than internet but still very potent, one that affects the thinking and behavior of an individual.

I am talking about a traditional source of information, books. Responsible demonstration, dissemination, publishing, sale, and discussion of relevant books could, undoubtedly, be reviewed as a remedy to hatred and violence. It is a weighty topic. Here, I will merely draw attention to a couple of instances where the said responsibility has not been, in my opinion, demonstrated. One of those instances is associated with an improper selection of books by one local library for a display to commemorate the victims of the Tree of Life massacre, and another one is related to the sale of Hitler’s infamous “Mein Kampf (My Struggle)” in bookstores and online.

A few weeks after the synagogue shootings, as an expression of both grief and condolence to the relatives of the victims, one Pittsburgh library organized a commemorative display of books. Several books were designated to provide psychological assistance during the tribulation, and several other books were intended to talk about the Jewish experience and the life knowledge of the Jewish people.

At the time I visited the library and viewed the display, I immediately realized that the books about the Jewish experience did not match the theme of the event. I felt that, although Jewish authors wrote the featured books, their style and substance were, at best, suited for a different kind of event, and, at worst, may sow or exacerbate anti-Semitism. To reduce the potentially malicious impact of the literature, I removed from a display and checked out the book that struck me as the most inappropriate example of the displayed books, written by Israeli jazz musician and novelist Gilad Atzmon, who lived in London.

After reading the book and confirming that I had done the right thing by removing it from the display to avoid provoking simple-minded readers, I decided to write a letter to the library to explain why their selection of books about the Jewish experience was not entirely suitable.

In the letter, I opined that these books do not provide any substantial knowledge about the twists and turns of Jewish existence. Instead, they demean and dehumanize Jews and are offensive to me, as a former refugee from Soviet Union anti-Semitism.

It is noteworthy that one of the display books, “Maus” by Art Spigelman, received the Pulitzer Prize (1992). It is a graphic novel about the Holocaust in comic form, wherein Jews are presented as mice hunted by Nazi cats. The New Yorker called it “the most accurate and shrill story about the Holocaust” (https://mostmag.ru/art/komiks-maus). According to the same site, the comic is studied in schools and universities in the West. The site expresses regret that in April 2015, in Moscow, “Maus” was withdrawn from shelves for having “such a big topic presented in the form of comics.”

Hats off to this decision. Sometimes those in Moscow, in my view, are doing something right. It is precisely for the use of comics to transmit such a weighty topic as the Holocaust that the book received a Pulitzer. I think readers will agree with me that displaying a comic in a collection associated with the expression of grief for the murdered parishioners of the synagogue is utterly inadequate.

A similar statement can be made about another book presented on display, “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union,” (2007) by Michael Chabon. This is an ironic detective novel in the genre of alternate history, based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Sitka, Alaska, and that Israel lost the 1948 war for independence. In the novel, Jewish stereotypes are widely used.

The fitness of these two mentioned books for the commemorative display was limited mainly by their inadequacy to address the tragic theme of the event, due to their sardonic and satirical representation of the Jewish experience. The third book was not only inadequate but also openly hostile to Jews of many lifestyles. This book, “The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics” (2011) by far-left-leaning Atzmon, contains some interesting observations and criticism on Jewish identity politics and ethics. In general, however, it is a farce that entertains various half-truths and downplays the tragedy of the Holocaust, thus downgrading the threat of its recurrence. Also, with the obvious anti-Israeli, anti-American and anti-Western bias, the book significantly distorts known facts, concepts, and political actions associated with Israel and Jews.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Southern Poverty Law Center, which watches in particular for extremism, considers Atzmon anti-Semitic. He, however, has rejected the accusation of anti-Semitism, coyly saying that he is merely a “proud self-hating Jew.” Atzmon reserves the most vitriol for assimilated nonreligious Jews, who, to his view, retain the tribal mentality and do not demonstrate a universal humanistic worldview.

Atzmon’s views quite fit in the words of another Israeli leftist, Israel Shahak, that were used as an epigraph to the book, “The Nazis made me afraid to be a Jew, and the Israelis make me ashamed to be a Jew.” The unbalanced and ultra-anti-Zionist rhetoric of Atzmon has been rejected even by some Palestinian organizations but is a convenient, provocative argument for Jew-haters and anti-Semites of all stripes. Alan Dershowitz from Harvard condemns several academicians who recommended the book for print and encouraged colleagues, students, and others to read the book and think about the views of Atzmon.

While marveling at the choice of the listed books, one cannot help thinking why the authors of the commemorative display did not show anything more positive from the Jewish experience. Where is the information about Baruch Spinoza? Where is the coverage of Dr. Vladimir Havkin from Odessa, creator of the anti-cholera vaccine, who tested it on himself? Where is the highlight of the revolts by the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto and Sobibor? Where is the report of the enormous achievement of tiny Israel, surrounded by enemies, in all spheres of human activity?

Where, finally, is the message that the main reason for the murderous actions of R. Bowers in the Tree of Life synagogue was not the “oppression of the Palestinians by Jews,” the subject which Atzmon discusses so flamboyantly, but rather the assistance in resettling refugees that the Tree of Life synagogue does in cooperation with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). For the raving anti-Semite Bowers, this assistance was the unforgivable “anti-white” offense. Interestingly, HIAS, which was created in the late 19th century to help Jewish refugees from pogroms in Russia, is currently involved in assisting any refugees that the U.S. Government has agreed to resettle, not only Jews.

I sent a letter with the described concerns to the library and quickly received a kind response. In it, they reported that they are happy to take into account the voice of their customers and that the discussed display was already removed. They apologized for their unfortunate compilation of material and cited a lack of experience in this field. They promised to contact me when a suitable situation had been reached. One might wonder how those with this lack of experience were given the power to select the books for this exhibit.

So goes the story about the ineptness of a library in the selection of books to commemorate a tragic event. It is also a story about satirical literature of the Jewish collective experience by several leftist authors from Israel and America, which was received uncritically and hoisted upon the public by other leftists, thus potentially inflaming the smoldering fire of anti-Semitism.

In addition to these librarians’ mishaps, some booksellers, driven apparently by the expectations of short-term profit, also carelessly lumber in this smoldering path. I have been a frequent visitor of one local Barnes & Noble bookstore and have become accustomed to seeing there two copies of “Mein Kampf” in a World History section. The edition of the book to which these copies belong has a sober cover, an introduction by the translator, and a foreword by A. Foxman, a former director of the ADL. These preambles notify a casual reader of what sort of a text he/she will be reading. Recently, I saw that along with those above two “Mein Kampf” copies sits a third one of a different publication that does not have any foreword. The manager explained to me that this copy is of the type published on demand and that it was ordered by someone but had not been picked up. This explanation somewhat calmed my worries that the store would carry poisonous material without the antidote played by the appropriate preamble. I remain alarmed after browsing through the Amazon.com pages demonstrating a large array of “Mein Kampf” versions, emblazoned with glorifying portraits of the “Fuhrer.” The majority appear to be without any introduction and are available immediately.

One wonders if there is some way to regulate the sale of the wretched book. Could it be sold, but only with an appropriate introduction? Regardless of the type of introduction, neither “Mein Kampf” nor other openly or covertly anti-Jewish books should have been presented at the commemorative display discussed above. For that purpose, other books should have been used that more adequately represent the Jewish and Israeli experience. Of those, there are plenty.

Photo: V. Dunaevsky

Valery Dunaevsky

Валерий Дунаевский
Автор статьи Валерий Дунаевский Ученый, публицист, автор книг

Валерий Дунаевский, Ph.D., ученый, автор многочисленных патентов и биографико-исторических мемуаров “A Daughter of the ‘Enemy of the People,’” о жизни в СССР в середине ХХ столетия.

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