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 …

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