The Bat Mitzvah girl and Rabbi Lee Diamond
Lee Diamond – M.O.T. And Tribalism & Never Again
M.O.T. And Tribalism
We called ourselves
MOTs
We were the in-group
“Members of the tribe”
A self complement
An awareness
Of our uniqueness
Of Our differences
To be tribal
gave us Pride
Every one of us
Declared
“I’m proud to be a Jew!”
Of course an American
But not melted
In the melting pot
Of empty unanimity
Our friends were MOTs
Our relatives were MOTs
Our schools largely MOTs
Our summer camps for MOTs
Our food, our holidays
Our jokes
Hollywood
Steeped in tribalism
And it was only good
And it was evening and it was morning in culturally pluralistic
America.
But we wanted to be like them
Not different nor unique
But the same in all—
Americans in essence
Jews by belief
Americans of Tikun Olam Persuasion!
Tribalism became
A denigrating Term:
“the behavior and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one’s own tribe or social group, became our undoing.”
And the MOTs
Ceased to be
And we disintegrated
And became politically
Correct
And no longer
“Proud Jews.”
And it was evening
And it was morning
And Jewish ethnicity
Ended
Never Again
Those days are gone, I’m told!
The “Never Again” Israeli Jew
Has ceased to be.
The Shoah complex
No longer guides us.
We have outgrown
The fear of annihilation.
I’m told
The new Israeli carries
No such burden.
S/He Is liberated
From a tragic past.
Unburdened , confident
Of a secure future
In the old new land.
I’m told .
So That makes me an
antique, a remnant of
A former, frightful Jewish past.
I’m told
“Only politicians building
Themselves upon fear” declare
The phrase “Never Again”
Only those who still remember
Auchwitz declare “ Never Again “
I’m told
The new NORMAL Jew sees only
A brave new Israel.
And yet
Despite it all, I’m burdened.
Weighed down
Hunched over
With sobriety
Fearful that forgetting
Will be our undoing.
Why do we mention
The exodus from Egypt
At every occasion ?
“We were slaves
And the Lord
redeemed us”
Why not just bless
Our freedom
And reject the burden
Of a tragic past?
Why mention Egypt
The splitting of a sea
Wandering In an empty
Desert?
Why not Forget:
“Never Again”
No longer dwell
On slavery
But on the phrase
“Now we are Free.”
I declare to the New Israeli:
It’s time to be Jews
Burdens SET US FREE
Abandoning our historical
Experiences— leave us weakened
Perhaps unburdened
But too empty
To stand erectly.
Israel without memory
Need not Be!
Jews without
Egypt or Auchwitz
Cease to be Jews!
