8 | JULY 15 • 2021 

PURELY COMMENTARY

back helps educate the person 
making the comment, who 
may not even realize it is an 
antisemitic comment.
What we all must do is 
practice how to answer such 
comments calmly and in a way 
that educates the other person. 
In the case of the statement 
about Jews only caring about 
money, perhaps an appropriate 
answer could be: “You may not 
realize that what you said is 
an antisemitic statement said 
for hundreds of years to harm 
Jews. I know you wouldn’t say 
such a statement about Blacks 
or Asian Americans. I hope in 
the future you won’t say such 
statements about Jews.”
Is this a tall order to learn 

to say such calm replies? Yes! 
And we all must learn to do 
it — to educate one person at 
a time.
I attended Michigan State 
University in the late 1960s. In 
my hometown of Elgin, Ill., I 
had been the only Jewish stu-
dent in my classes, and I had 
so looked forward to being 
among Jews at college.
Fall 1966 — I am assigned 
to be roommates in Rather 
Hall with a young woman 
from Grosse Pointe and 
a young woman from 
Hamtramck. They were the 
opposite of welcoming. 
The next quarter, I changed 
roommates to share with a 
young woman from a farm 

in Michigan. She had never 
before met a Jew.
Third quarter — I shared 
with a young woman from 
Oak Park, who I heard tell 
someone on the dorm hall 
phone that she now had a 
Jewish friend.
Then I joined the Jewish 
sorority AEPhi and moved to 
the house the following year.
In September 1970, I 
would find myself stationed 
in Munich, Germany, with 
my Jewish U.S. Army officer 
husband (ROTC at MSU) who 
I met on the State News edi-
torial staff. Being stationed in 
Germany only 25 years after 
the end of WWII changed 
my life and my husband’s life 

forever.
And this brings me to 
launching the Never Again Is 
Now podcast about antisem-
itism in 2021. You can sub-
scribe (for free) and listen 
to the podcasts at b.link/
NeverAgainIsNowpodcast.
And whenever you can 
(without exposing yourself to 
physical danger) — speak up 
against antisemitism and all 
hate. 

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the co-author 

of the Jewish holiday book Seasons 

for Celebration, the founder of the 

free nonfiction Holocaust theater 

project www.ThinEdgeOfTheWedge.

com and the co-host of Never Again Is 

Now, a podcast about antisemitism on 

YouTube.

continued from page 6

D

o you remember 
where you were when 
you heard about the 
deadly synagogue attacks on 
Jews in Pittsburgh? In Poway, 
Calif.? Remember the emo-
tions you went 
through? Did 
you feel outrage? 
Were you sick 
watching the 
news coverage? 
If you’re like me, 
you wanted to 
do something to 
support those communities.
Do you have the Red Alert 
app on your phone? If your 
response is, “I don’t even 
know what that is,” then I 
implore you to download it. 
It’s an Israeli app that sends 
notifications every time a ter-
rorist rocket, mortar or mis-
sile is launched into Israel.

Between May 10-18 more 
than 3,440 rockets were fired 
toward Israel from Hamas-
controlled Gaza in a terrorist 
effort to murder Jews. Not 
all of them landed in empty 
fields; that 
miraculous Iron 
Dome that saves 
so many lives 
isn’t infallible. 
I’m a Jewish 
mom of two 
teenagers 
living in a 
Philadelphia 
suburb. I grew 
up in a Connecticut town 
with very few Jews, and I was 
raised in a secular Jewish 
home with no connection to 
Judaism; however, Israel and 
Zionism were an integral part 
of my upbringing.
L’dor v’dor: I am raising 

my children to be unapolo-
getic Zionists and Jews. I’m 
proud that my daughter, who 
just graduated high school, 
is taking a gap year living 
in Tel Aviv and volunteer-
ing through 
the Maslool 
program. My 
son, a rising 
high school 
sophomore, 
will attend the 
Alexander Muss 
High School in 
Israel (AMHSI) 
program in 
February 2022.
My best friend’s son, who 
used to babysit my children, 
is a Lone Soldier in the Israeli 
Defense Forces (IDF). At 
18, he left his comfortable, 
upper-middle class home and 
family and enlisted in the 

Israeli army. This past August, 
his parents also made aliyah. 
Now my best friend is an offi-
cial Israeli mom; she attended 
the funeral of 1st Sgt. Omer 
Tabib z”l, not just because it’s 
the Israeli thing to do, but also 
because 1st Sgt. Tabib was in 
her son’s unit and a friend.
Have you downloaded the 
Red Alert app yet?
Each notification of an 
incoming rocket translates 
to Israelis having mere sec-
onds to run to take cover 
in bomb shelters or stair-
ways. Knowing this, would 
you be willing to send your 
child(ren) to Israel to study or 
to take a gap year? Would you 
support your child(ren), who 
insists on becoming a Lone 
Soldier, enlisting in the IDF 
knowing it’s inevitable that 
he/she will be in the direct 

Lisa Koenig

essay

Dear American Jewish Moms …

continued on page 10

