You don't have to be a Jew to appreciate civilization

Go Israel! Go Israel! Go Israel!

Yeah, I love it. Israel is fighting back. The strongest, smartest people on earth are defending themselves.

Of course the anti-American, anti-civilization forces are crying that it’s totally unfair to strike specifically at the terrorists. The same people who said that it was wrong for Israel to bomb Gaza because civilians are now mad at a strike against those who self-identify as terrorists. You can’t please these people without Jews disappearing from the face of the earth.

I’m not sure if I’m converting or not. I am going to services tonight, I think, especially because last week my uncle passed away very suddenly, and while I could not go to services the night I found out, I can go now and grieve with the people who know how to do grief. No sweeping it under the carpet. I can say his name and people will hug me. I can cry. The Jewish community at my synagogue accepts me, Jewish or not.

It is almost the one year anniversary of October 7. The world has shown its true colors. We know who our friends are, and we know who our enemies are. We know who flies the American flag and who burns it.

A Jewish friend and I were talking while I was on a business trip. We chatted about Bari Weiss’ Free Press. I mentioned that I often comment and have interesting conversations with other readers. He asked me if I am to the left or the right of The Free Press. I said it depends on the issue. I think they go overboard on their coverage of trans issues. I very much disagree with them on the topic of harm reduction, and have offered to write about it to present an alternative perspective. On Israel, I’m right there with them.

“It’s hard to be to the right of me on Israel unless you’re Netanyahu,” I said. I was somewhat joking.

Later in that trip I met up with a man in Pittsburgh who grew up in the synagogue I now attend and is an active member of his Reform Jewish community in Pittsburgh. He asked if I was converting. I said I was not sure if I am really a Jew or if I am in the long standing category of “friend.”

He thought about it for awhile then said, “I think we need friends.”

When I met with an Orthodox rabbi, he talked about how those who were not born Jewish stand outside of Jewish law, yet can earn a place in the Kingdom of Heaven or something like that by living a good life and being a friend of the Jews. Most of my friends are not Orthodox and hold no such beliefs. But it resonated with me.

As a person who is not Jewish, I try to live a moral life but I have no anxiety about eating shrimp. I also lack the ambivalence about Israel that seems to plague my liberal Jewish friends. If Ireland were being attacked by terrorists who want to destroy Western civilization, I would be just as active in opposing that. (Oh wait, Ireland is being overrun by antisemites and terrorists, as is the UK! Hate when that happens.)

I feel no need whatsoever to apologize for my support for Israel and her right to defend herself. What other country’s right to even exist has been questioned since the Nazis told countries they no longer existed in World War II?

I need to touch base with my Jewish and Israeli friends. Expect a text or a call. When I feel lost or confused or frustrated by my American life, my Israeli friends bring me back to what matters.

“There is only one fight,” said Maz Kanata in The Force Awakens. The fight for civilization.