A Dictionary for our Times
Dictionary for Our Times
Since the massacre of Israelis on October 7th, the conflict between Israel and Hamas has occupied a lot of my head space and soul force. Sending out Backwards and Forwards has helped me focus my energy on keeping myself sane and focused. Fifty years ago, I spent half a year doing farm work after the Yom Kippur War in 1973. In the intervening years, I have lost some of my skill and physical strength. In 2023, nobody wants to see me schlepping banana stalks across the fields.
Fortunately, I am still pretty good with words, so I have this newsletter to help you make sense of what comes across our screens every day. With this newsletter I can contribute to the efforts of my people to defend itself in the wake of the physical and spiritual assaults on Jews, Judaism, and Jewish legitimacy.
Words . . . many of them are so confused today. So I have put together this primer of nine commonly bandied about words to help you understand today’s zeitgeist (the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era), with the help of Merriam Webster’s on-line dictionary.
Below are nine terms you hear a lot in the news, among the punditry, and in conversation. I share with you their definitions and follow up with phrases and sentences you might find useful. And if you detect a significant measure of snark (an attitude of mocking irreverance and sarcasm), please know that it is intended.
Occupation (noun)
the holding and control of an area by a foreign military force
Israel ended its occupation of Gaza in 2005
Indigenous (adjective) people
of or relating to the earliest known inhabitants of a place and especially of a place that was colonized by a now-dominant group
The Israelites conquered the indigenous Canaanites in the second millennium BCE (Before the Common Era);
King David captured Jerusalem from the indigenous Jebusites
White (noun)
a person belonging to any of various population groups considered as having light pigmentation of the skin
Jews are the epitome of white;
Jews from Yemen, Ethiopia, Baghdad, Morocco, and India are relieved to learn their parents are white.
Intersectionality (noun—modern day phenomenon)
the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups, the theory of intersectionality, the idea that when it comes to thinking about how inequalities persist, categories like gender, race, and class are best understood as overlapping and mutually constitutive rather than isolated and distinct.
Committed acts of hatred against Jews in America constitute more than half of religious hate crimes but do not intersect with any other acts of hatred against groups;
Jews who make up two percent of the American population are numerically insignificant and cannot intersect with the suffering of larger oppressed groups;
Jews cannot intersect with suffering people because they are white.
Colonization (noun)
subjugation of a people or area especially as an extension of state power
Jews came to the Ottoman Empire (British Mandate Palestine—Pick your empire) to colonize and extend state power to benefit Russia, Poland, Iraq, France, England, Canada—never mind, that is ridiculous;
Jews who returned from exile to live in the land of Israel are colonizers for—never mind.
Free Palestine (verb)
Any act taken to make sure that no Jews can live anywhere in the area of the British Mandate (1918-1948)
Raping women frees Palestine.
Kidnapping children frees Palestine.
Holding hostages frees Palestine.
Boycotting WAZE frees Palestine.
Free Palestine (noun)
Devoid of Jews, no Jewish presence on maps
In a free Palestine, Jews will not live in their ancient homeland.
If there should be a free Palestine, many Jews will not live anywhere, at all.
Anti-semitism (noun)
Any and all actions and attitudes opposed to the flourishing and well-being of semites.
The synagogue’s religious school meets during the week to train young children to be semites;
Albert Einstein, Leonard Bernstein, Jonas Salk, and Martin Buber are among the twentieth century’s most prominent and influential semites.
Oppress (verb)
burden by abuse of power or authority
The citizens of Gaza welcome the presence of fighters in their schools, mosques, hospitals and bedrooms so they can destroy the lives of the against the inhabitants of Kibbutz Beeri, Sderot and Ashkelon who oppress them;
Dancers at the Re’im music festival oppress the people of Palestine.
I hope this helps you understand many of the words you encounter today. Today we learned more about Occupation, Indigenous People, White, Intersectionality, Colonization, Free Palestine (verb), Free Palestine (noun), Anti-semitism, and Oppress. Now when you hear these terms, you might have a better understanding of the sentiments which belie these commonly used terms.
Frankly, the words themselves are benign. The sentiments of the people who misuse them; well, these sentiments scare me.