Current:Home > MyJulianna Margulies: My non-Jewish friends, your silence on antisemitism is loud -VisionFunds
Julianna Margulies: My non-Jewish friends, your silence on antisemitism is loud
SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center View
Date:2025-04-08 13:58:08
I want to start by saying that I love you. I think you know that I would go to any lengths to help you in a time of need, that I am fiercely loyal, and that you can always count on me. I take great pride in that because, aside from my son and husband, friendships are the most important thing to me.
The events in Israel have shone a light on something I never realized: You, my loving, non-Jewish friends, have no idea of the Jewish experience, of living in our shoes, of learning from the stories of our parents and grandparents. We grew up hearing about the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were deliberately and methodically slaughtered. And so we grew up knowing that we were lucky to be alive. This fact – a miracle in itself – was drilled into us from the day we were born. We are lucky to be here! And truly that is how I feel today.
Did you know that the Jews account for only 0.2% of the world’s population? Think about that for a minute, New York City has 8 million people in it, there are only 15 million Jews worldwide.
We are a tiny community. In 2011, the Israelis exchanged 1,027 Hamas prisoners for one Israeli soldier. I don’t pretend to be an expert on the Middle East conflict – I am not, it’s complicated and has been going on for years – but I just want to give you a picture of how valuable one Jewish life is, because there are so few of us.
'It’s 2023! How is this still happening?'
I am writing this letter because I feel strongly that this is a teaching moment. You just don’t know, so let me try to explain from my perspective about how I am feeling.
Since this tragedy in Israel happened on Oct. 7, only two of my many non-Jewish friends reached out to me to see if I was OK, and let me know they were thinking of me after hearing that more than 1,200 Jews were killed. Babies, children, mothers, Holocaust survivors and civilian men were slaughtered, raped, kidnapped and tortured by the TERRORIST group Hamas.
UN letting Hamas get away with murder:The United Nations fails again. It gives cover to Hamas while abandoning Israel.
By your inaction to reach out, I immediately thought about the Jews of the Holocaust and what that must have felt like when no one spoke out, or stood up to protect them. Perhaps that is why I jump at the chance to march in Black Lives Matter protests, rally everyone I know to fight for LGBTQ+ right and sound the siren when I hear that immigrant children are being held in cages. I will always fight for the human cause because I know how valuable life is.
In the week following this horrific event, the silence on your end was deafening. My Jewish girlfriends and I huddled together, crying and trying to make sense of a world gone mad. “It’s 2023!” We said to one another, “How is this still happening?” I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I felt sick to my stomach.
The silence continued. That’s when we all began to wonder if we were safe.
Who will hide us when they come for us?
Then people all over the world started weighing in and taking sides.
Sides???? There are no sides. This isn’t about sides; this was a terrorist act against Jews by Hamas. Just like the Nazis, Hamas’ main goal: to cleanse the world of Jews.
Spreading antisemitism is alarming:Jewish students are being vilified on campus. Will our allies stand up to antisemitism?
So perhaps you can understand our fear when we hear nothing. We think to ourselves: Who will hide us when they come for us? We ask ourselves: If we have to flee, where could we go?
I know that sounds dramatic, but we wonder these things sincerely, even urgently. The PTSDs of the Holocaust haunt us. We were taught “never to forget.”
Antisemitism has risen at an alarming pace in this country. In 2021, when I learned that only 19 out of 50 states in the United States teach Holocaust education (now there are 26 states), I started a program called HESP (Holocaust Educator School Partnership) with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, thinking that perhaps if we could educate our young about the atrocities of World War II we might begin to stop this hate.
Children aren’t born with hate in their hearts, they are taught.
You, my friends, have no hate in your hearts: that is why I love you. So when I showed up at an event the other night to do a reading of short stories and saw so many people I knew and loved there, friends and colleagues of mine whom I adore, I was shocked to see that no one seemed to be carrying the weight of what took place in Israel: a weight that is hanging heavily on every Jewish person I know.
And then I realized: This isn’t your reality, it is ours. You mean no harm, you simply don’t have the full picture.
As this understanding settled on me, my anxiety turned to hope – that perhaps, in friendship, I can say to you: We are hurting and we are terrified, because history has shown us that this won’t end well for the Jewish people if you don’t hear our cries for help.
Julianna Margulies is an award-winning actor, producer and activist. She is the author of “Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life” and founded the Holocaust Educator School Partnership (HESP) in partnership with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.
veryGood! (11)
Related
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Manhunt ends after Cavalcante capture, Biden's polling low on economy: 5 Things podcast
- Israel’s Netanyahu is to meet Elon Musk. Their sit-down comes as X faces antisemitism controversy
- Appeals court pauses removal of incarcerated youths from Louisiana’s maximum-security adult prison
- Small twin
- Nobel Foundation raises the amount for this year’s Nobel Prize awards to 11 million kronor
- Why are so many people behaving badly? 5 Things podcast
- College football Week 3 picks: Predictions for Florida-Tennessee and every Top 25 matchup
- How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
- Internet service cost too high? Look up your address to see if you're overpaying
Ranking
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Ukrainian forces reclaim a village in the east as part of counteroffensive
- NASA UFO press conference livestream: Watch scientists discuss findings of UAP report
- Slovakia expels one Russian diplomat, but doesn’t explain why
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Why Demi Lovato Felt She Was in Walking Coma Years After Her Near-Fatal 2018 Overdose
- In an effort to make rides safer, Lyft launches Women+ Connect
- Leaders in India and Seattle demand action over video of cop joking about woman's death
Recommendation
SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
Fossils reveal gnarly-looking predators who roamed Earth long before dinosaurs
Role in capture of escaped Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante puts spotlight on K-9 Yoda
Internet service cost too high? Look up your address to see if you're overpaying
The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
Artworks believed stolen during Holocaust seized from museums in 3 states
Earth has experienced its warmest August on record, says NOAA
Israel’s Netanyahu is to meet Elon Musk. Their sit-down comes as X faces antisemitism controversy
Tags
Like
- North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
- An eye in the sky nabbed escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante. It's sure to be used more in US
- Father of Kaylee Goncalves, one of four murdered University of Idaho students, says there is evidence his daughter fought back