Realitatea primei zile..dupa vacanta

Ochii grei si bulbucati, de somn, de prea multe vise, de realitatea care se deschide in fata lor azi - incert. Insa un lucru este clar. M-am trezit neobisnuit de devreme si imploram somnul sa nu ma abandoneze asa de devreme, sa mai se cuibareasca putin peste gandurile de dimineata. Urechile mele se ciulesc cu incapatanare sa distinga clopotele berneze care bat cu precizie (ca si o treime din ceea ce e pur bernez) si cu vigoare, spargand de dimineata linistea firesc...berneza. Concentrarea pare in zadar, la fel ca si pledoaria mea in fata somnului - dure acorduri de scartaieli cauciucate lasa dare de benzina pe nervul cohlear, suficient cat sa ia din nou foc gandurile ghiduse. Urmeaza binecunoscuta lupta intre ratiune si dorinta de a mai prelungi inca pentru "inca un minut" la nesfarsit..cea mai dulce parte a somnului, semi-constient. Desi puteam jura ca cea dintai e mai puternica, totusi eforturile imi sunt rasplatite si pornesc in cercuri complet haotice zilnicul ritual matinal. Ma bucur ca e una dintre diminetile in care hainele pe care le aleg din prim impuls, raman trufase si scutite de umilinta de a fi lepadate fara mila in detrimentul unor compatrioate - vecine pe raft. Sfarsesc ritualul, si grabesc pasul. Alerg in  pantaloni scurti, desculta, sar  pe bolovanii fierbinti gata sa imi racorasc calcaiele in marea translucida. Cu coada ochiului observ lumina rosie, imi aranjez rochita si traversez cuminte, cand lumina coboara dupa obicei doua trepte. Marea ingheata si se preschimba in blocuri si schele, bolovanii se inalta si incep sa calce apasat in toate partile.

Cateva fete pe care le anticipam inca de dimineata si pe care vroiam sa le aman, imi zambesc prieteneste. Sute de fete straine ma privesc incapatanate, cu nepasare sau cu curiozitate. Le raspund cu curiozitate sau nepasare, si merg mai departe. Acest joc se prelungeste, se repeta, iar eu nu pot decat sa zambesc si eu prieteneste. Ma asez pe scaunul pe care sunt condamnata pentru mai bine de o jumatate de zi. Imi accept cu resemnare destinul. Degetele imi fug delirant pe aceste patratele insemnate care ghidila simtul tactil a unei intregi lumi. Intorc pagina dupa pagina, varfurile degetelor se contopesc cu celuloza. In fata ochilor se perinda fara numar nume - nume hazlii, nume familiare, nume anonime, nume de oameni, nume de companii, nume de joburi, nume de localitati, nume importante azi, si nimeni maine. Imi mijesc ochii, linii negre se risipesc, nume celebre se mazgalesc in colturi. Din cochilie de scoica se inala Venus, in timp ce vanturile amenintatoare si zeita anotimpurilor o incadreaza amenintatoare si protectoare. Primavara se dezlantuie. Chipurile austere a sfintilor nu ma privesc niciodata, suferinta lor devine suferinta mea. Imi zvacnesc tamplele, ochii uita sa clipeasca, lipiti de plasma, picioarele amortite se infig in podeaua de la etajul trei. Dar ele de fapt coboara scari de marmura si se pierd pe culoare si pe strazi obosite de un asa trecut si totusi mereu primitoare. Ma scald in lumina si in soare, si vreau sa raman aici.

Dar sunt aici.

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Fragments from a Jew Hating History

Poland, Europe

It took a world war and an approximately six million Jews lives taken to shed a light on a history of jew hating. It has been a period of more than 700 years through which the Jews have been subjected to persecution of one kind or the other - from maltreatment and anti-Jewish law inforcement to mass murder. Jews originally came to Poland to escape the persecution of the Crusades, they came from Germany, Austria and Bohemia before the sword of "holy" purification. Their original flight here was followed by different forms of persecution and false accusations. They were accused of ritual murder and witchcraft and were loathed as business competitors, they were forced to wear a yellow badge to identify themselves as a race apart, they were relocated and crammed into ghettos, walled in and consequently socially isolated. There was a Jew's tax and furthermore they were prevented by law from possessing land or belongings and from practicing dozens of trades and crafts in which they might offer significant economic competition. Periodically hysterical mobs swept into the ghettos and pounced upon Jews, whipping and killing them, smashing their homes and their belongings. Among all these occasional episodes there were some events that particularly stand out as climax of Jew hating. So is one Easter week when, after a series of tribulations, mobs ran tharough the streets dragging each jew and his family from heir homes, trying to force them into being baptised. Those who wouldn't accept were killed on the spot. Another climax was reached in 1648 (after 400 years of Jewish baiting) during a Cossack uprising, half a million Jews were slaughtered. The frenzy of the slaughterers was such that Jewish infants were often thrown into pits and burned alive. Jew beating became an accepted, if not a honorable pastime of the Poles.

The Dark Ages which came to an end in Western Europe seemed to linger on over the Polish ghettos. The terrible tragedy of 1648 along with continuos hundred years of persecutions derived in strange phenomena within the ghetto walls: the so "self-styled messiahs", the Jewish mystics (Cabala) - a cult dedicated to finding Biblical explanations for the prolonged centuries of suffering through mystical interpretations and numerology, the Hasidim - who withdrew from the rigors of normal life and lived only for study and prayer. Through different methods they were actually lifting themselves from the agony of reality and loosing themselves into religious ecstasy.

There were also periods of enlightenment when the burden eased and laws relaxed. It was not the case of 1939. Poland is now a republic and 3 million Jews live inside its borders. Still there are unequal taxation and economic strangulation. Jews are still blamed by the Poles for causing floods when rained and drought when dry. Since 1936 there have been anti-Jewish rioting - hoodlums specialized in smashing Jews' shops and cutting Jews beards. Same year, Germany invades Poland and rips it to shreds in 26 days. New german laws are levied against the Jews. Worship is forbidden, travel limited, taxation excessive, participation to public offices, public areas and education institutions interdicted. With the restrictive laws Germany fostered a campaign of "enlightenment" for the Poles. Germans claimed that the German invasion was designed to save the Poles from "Jewish Bolsheviks"(this way the Jews were seen responsible for the war). There was also anti-Jewish propaganda as posters depicting Jews raping nuns and others scenes of Jewish "depravity". Beard cutting, profaning synagogues and public indignities against the Jews were encouraged.

Different nazi theories of how to solve the jewish problem were advanced. Ghettos were revived along with the resettlement program. Germans organised for the final solution in different units: SD and SS troops; Action Commandos; Special Action Groups. The well known Einsatzgruppen (The Special Action Groups) swept into Poland, the Baltics and Rusia on their mission. First they acted under a certain standard pattern - they rounded up Jews, took them to isolated area, forced them to dig their own pits, dictated them to kneel and shot them. The climax of their activity took place in Kiev, in BabiYar suburb, where 33 000 were shot over immense pits in just 2 days. Strangely, no opposition was met among the local population, who particularly shared Germans' feelings toward the Jewish population. 

Soon these methods were considered insufficient - too slow and clumsy for the overall plan of genocide. The next methods consisted of gas vans and gas chambers in concentration camps, more efficient in mass extermination. Poland is known for the first concentration camp Treblinka the forerunner of later more masterly models. 

Day of Tisha B'Ab - annual holiday commemorating the destruction of the Temples by the Babylonians and Romans in Jerusalem. Tisha B'Ab 1994 coincided with a major step in the final solution of the "Jewish problem", when there was organized the first deportation to Treblinka from the Warsow Ghetto. Here no uprising was staged because of Polish apathy and lack of support outside the ghetto, a contrastant image in comparison with other states. In France, the Vichy Government refused to turn over the French Jews to Germans. In Holland, unanimous feeling of the citizens was to hide and protect Jews. In Denmark, an exceptional, impressive case, the King Christian openly defied German edicts and Danes evacuated their entire Jewish population to safety in Sweden. There was though an effort of fighting from inside the ghetto, the ZOB - combined organizations forces of Jews in the ghetto. They fought in several rounds and defied German forces to their last men. 

Germans rounded up and sent to Treblinka more amd more Jews, until in the winter of 1943, out of 500 000 that were initially in the ghetto, there were left only 50 000.

Russia

The so called Jewish Pale of Settlement was established in 1804 as the only place where Jews could reside. The Pale of Settlement comprised the western part of Russia which included Bassarabia, Ukraine, the Crimea and parts of White Russia. It was in fact an enormous ghetto with Moscow and Petrograd off limits, except to a few wealthy Jews who could bribe into sending a son or a daughter beyond the boundaries. 

Jews firstly settled in the Crimea area in the 1st century, when the Khazars were ruling the area. They adopted Judaism as their religion and shortly the Khazars kingdom was in fact a Jewish state. By the 10th century, the Russians in the north ascended to power, swept down on the Khazars, dispersed them to oblivion and began a record against the Jews. While Russia arose to power, the "flaming sword" of Islam came from the south and Moslems held parts of Russia. During these times, Jews knew their greatest time of peace and prosperity, because Jews had been a potent factor behind the rise of Islam. 

With the final defeat of the Moslems, full power over Russia went to the Czars and the Greek Church and Jewish "heretics" were burned by the hundreds during the Middle Ages. During these times, the peasantry who was largely uneducated and ignorant was well instructed in the fable that the Jews were magicians and witches and used Christian blood in their rituals. 

Centuries of unrelieved abuse reached a peak during the reign of Catherine I. A series of pogroms were released against those who would not accept the Greek Orthodox religion. But the sustained attempts to convert the Jews failed utterly, so Catherine I decided to expel 1 million Jews from Russia. Most fled to Poland. After this episode, it came an era of war and conquest in which Poland was conquered and reconquered, partitioned and repartitioned, so that Catherine II came to inherit 1 million Jews who had been previously expelled by her predecessor. These events lead to the establishment of the Jewish Pale. In 1827 Jews were driven from smaller villages into the overcrowded Jewish quarters in the larger cities. There was no social and very little commercial interaction between the Jewish communities and in the Pole and the Russian people. The only regular visitor from outside was the tax collector who frequently made off with anything from candlesticks to beds, pillows, shoes or other goods. Isolated from the larger sociaty, the Jews had little or no loyalty for "Mother Russia": their written and spoken language was Yiddish (a bastard German), not Russian; the language of prayer was ancient Hebrew; they dressed distinctively with long coats, black hats, side curls.

Community life pivoted around the Holy Laws, the synagogue and the Rabbi, which was a teacher, judge, spiritual leader and administrator of the community at the same time. He was a great scholar and his authority was rarely questioned. They organized their own government under the overall leadership of rabbis. They had lay offices and wardenship, Biblical and Talmudic societies, organizations taking care of orphans and poor girls, societies taking care of the sick, lame and aged, and a score of synagogue posts (psalm readers, administrator over ritual bath, summoner etc). Charity was of utmost importance between them, it was the eleventh unwritten commandment - the poor donated to the poorer. Their lives revolved around religious customs and holidays, around songs and prayers and their Holy books: the Talmud (great collection of laws and customs that contained detailed information for every aspect in a Jew's life - from social behavior to personal cleanliness); the Pentateuch or Torah - the 5 books of Moses, considered the holiest of all books and works; the oral laws of Mishnah; Midrash - folk legends, wise sayings, commentary on Bible; Cabala - the book of mystics. Great post-talmudic scholars - Moses Maimonides and Rashi were also influential through their teachings. On Sabath, a horn would be heard in the ghetto, there were candles lit and reciting of benedictions, ritual baths and the custom of sharing the meal with the poorer. 

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Exodus - by Leon Uris

For all those who flirt with history but find it a little hard to digest it from history books, there are the semi fictional historical books. In other words you get an infusion of history while you still feel the blueprint of the author who inserts through the lines episodes of trivial suspense. This is also the case of Exodus - by Leon Uris, in my opinion a book that is definitely worth reading for a series of reasons. In an uniquely precise manner it presents the evolution of the second world war, giving an overall perspective of the socio-political context and of the germing conflicts that stood at the root of its outburst. Even though it narrates the different stories of a series of fictive characters, the author manages to avoid chopping up the historical value of the book. The historic events are not presented liniarily but more intermingled, which boosts the suspense but at the same time still keeps a clear and logical pattern which enables the reader to mentally visualize the sequence of events.

The book tells the story of decades of persecution that were held against the Jewish communities in different parts of the world a long time before the outburst of the war. It locates dramas that took place in tsar-ruled Russia, Poland and the western Europe over years and Jewish migrations from one place to another in an seemingly futile struggle to find their place and their identity. It depicts the shocking climax of the jewish massacres with the rise of the fascist rule in Germany during the Second World War, the methods of extermination and the reactions of different nations to the nazi plans. The storyline goes on with the return of the Jews in the promised land, the several waves of Aliyah Beth and their strive in building up again a national identity through the redemption of land under the turkish rule and then under arab hostility. One of the most gripping parts of the book is the episode of land redemption and the establishing of the first settlements which take the form of kibutz and moshad. The rigidity of life, the unshaken determination and inhuman drill in reviving the barren lands and transforming them into blossoming, luxurious fields give the Jews little by little the right to regain their pride and autonomy. The repatriation scene reveals episodes of conflicts between arabs and new comers in the land and diplomatic international efforts or guerilla based wars sustained for attaining the ultimate scope - the reborn of the Jewish state. 

One thing though that I disliked in the author's approach is his lack of neutrality. There are passages that obviously reveal a taking side of the jews and a critical approach of the arab world, although there are fragments that tend to equilibrate the tone and to instill neutrality. There are evident writing strategies that diminish jewish flaws and magnifies arab lack of strategy, overdraws arab corruption and a sense of degradation (equally at a moral and a common sense level).

For all those who do not have the time to read the book but are interested in facts about the prolonged Jew Hating History, I wrote a few episodes that I consider relevant to it. You can find them in my Historical Pages.

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Why this BloG?

Why I create this bloG? This is a good question to start up almost everything we plan doing or start doing. Because the reason behind what we do is probably even more important than the thing we do in itself. I start writing this blog because I realized I quit writing for a long time now and I want to rediscover the many advantages of writing. I think writing defines better your ideas, gives you a more critical approach to your own ideas and basically it can make your ideas evolve. Writing is like a shot of your ideas. When you've got the image before your eyes you can detect new features about it, you can view it from different perspectives and you can involve others in observing it and coming with their impressions. Writing helps focusing on the subject at a much deeper level than just giving "it" a thought. I want to write for clarifying my ideas and also for keeping a record of the evolution of my thoughts. Welcome Ada to your own modest writing training blog! 

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