By David Glass, Larchmont
In medieval Europe, the small Jewish populations at times suffered great persecution. Perhaps out of these dangers, and feelings of vulnerability, there arose the wish for a powerful figure who could protect the Jews. Thus grew the legend of the Golem, a creature made from clay, possessed of super-human power, who would act at the behest of its creators to protect an endangered community from harm.
Do the Jews of today need another Golem? Unlike in medieval times, many would say that Jews in the West, and especially in the US, have, in recent years, lived relatively safe and comfortable lives. However, even before the devastating attack of October 7, many of the political and financial elite of the Jewish community saw trouble looming on the horizon. In particular, increasing numbers of young Jews were drawing away from the notion that Jewish identity is inextricably tied to an identification with “the Jewish State.” This extreme identification has been termed “Israelism” (in a recent, award-winning documentary film of that title).
America’s unconditional support for Israel is now being brought into question. Also, there has begun a small, but growing, acceptance of the findings of the major human rights groups, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as Israel’s preeminent human rights group, B’Tselem, that Israel, considered as a single entity, from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea, now meets the legal definition of an Apartheid regime. This has led to growing support for Palestinian human rights, and for movements including Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now, as well as BDS, the Palestinian-led campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
In response, the pro-Israel forces moved, well before October 7, to counter these threats, by calling on their supporters, especially politically influential mega-donors. As the journal Politico revealed, the political funding behemoth, “America Israel Public Affairs Committee” (AIPAC), vowed to spend $100 million, to defeat legislators, most notably members of “the Squad,” who have been deemed by AIPAC as insufficiently supportive of Israel.
They now stand in opposition to what many in the world see as an ongoing, US-funded genocide, being carried out by Israel. The carnage in Gaza is now being seen around the world, thanks in large part to the efforts of courageous men and women, reporting from inside Gaza, many working with the the internet broadcaster Al Jazeera. More than 100 of these dedicated journalists have now given their lives in bringing this reality to the world.
Some of the mega-donors’ early efforts were unsuccessful; two promising candidates, running for the US Senate in Michigan, were each reportedly offered $20 million for their campaigns, to drop their senatorial bids and run against outspoken Squad member Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress. As reported by Politico, both men turned down these lucrative offers.
However, AIPAC struck pay dirt closer to home, in our own CD-16. In April of last year, a group of Westchester rabbis sent an “open letter” to Congressman (and Squad member) Jamaal Bowman, expressing concern about his “damaging positions” related to Israel. Following October 7, a larger group, of 26 rabbis, wrote to Westchester County Executive George Latimer, urging him to challenge Bowman in the Democratic primary: “(W)e’re turning to you in the hope you will…restore our values” in Congress. This plea, backed up by a promised windfall from AIPAC, did the trick.
In the old days the effort of one pious rabbi was enough to ward off a dire threat; in these inflationary times, it seems it takes 26 rabbis, backed by millions in cash, to create a Golem. The original Golem went off the tracks and did much damage to the city of Prague. We can only hope that AIPAC’s Golems, here and across the country, don’t do even more damage to our increasingly fragile democracy, and the world.
David Glass Larchmont
