4 | NOVEMBER 4 • 2021
PURELY COMMENTARY
essay
Over and Done With
I
n 1917, many an ear
caught the bars of “Over
There,” a highly patriotic
song by George M. Cohan.
It was hard to overlook its
popularity. It was
never considered
overdone;
however, we
can easily make
a case for the
overuse of “over”
in our everyday
speech.
We are desirous of having
roofs over our heads; but to
purchase the same, we may get
in over our heads. Home costs
are often over the top. Buying
without doing due diligence
may find you crying over spilt
milk.
Don’t get the gambling
bug; lean over backwards
to avoid it. It may lead
you into a situation where you
are asked to fork over what
you owe. If you do not, you
may get a working over, which
could then lead to you being
hung over.
Have you ever been so
surprised by an action that
you could be knocked over
with a feather? Maybe you
were the one someone else put
one over on. Well, if it is over
and done with, there is no use
in losing sleep over it.
It is no fun to be taken
advantage of; when you
realize that you have been run
roughshod over, you know
that the party’s over and vow
that such a thing will happen
again only over your dead
body!
Do not wait until you are
over the hill to fall head over
heels in love. It is nice to have
someone to make a fuss over.
If that someone can skim over
your faults rather than chew
them over, you will know that
your wait is over for the love
of your life.
Well, it is time to end this
set of observations because
I hear the zaftig woman
warbling. (That means it is
over because the fat lady is
singing. I do wish you would
remain a bit more with it!)
Over and out.
Sy Manello
Editorial
Assistant
opinion
To My Fellow Progressives:
Anti-Zionism is Antisemitism
I
’ve spent most of the
last decade focused on
grassroots organizing
and capacity building inside
the American progressive
movement.
From helping
build the largest
leadership
development
organization
on the left, to
launching a
first-of-its-kind
organization to mobilize male
allies into the fight to protect
and expand reproductive
freedom, I’ve proudly helped
elect progressive change-
makers and pass landmark
legislation.
I’ve done all of that as a Jew
who wears a kippah in public,
as someone who, statistical-
ly speaking, shouldn’t exist.
My grandfather is one of the
10% of Polish-born Jews to
survive World War II. Three
million of his Jewish neigh-
bors, and another 3 million
across Europe, were packed
into boxcars and sent to the
slaughter, to gas chambers, to
the ovens.
What I am is central to
who I am. So when I saw
the statement from the
Washington, D.C., chapter
of the Sunrise movement
explaining its refusal to
march in a voting rights rally
with Jewish groups because
they are “Zionists,” I under-
stood immediately that it
was deeply problematic. Not
only did the decision have the
potential impact of spreading
anti-Jewish bigotry, but it
also weakened our movement
more broadly at a time when
democracy, which is neces-
sary to ensure civil rights, is
under assault in America.
I also understood right
away that, for many people,
the anti-Jewish nature of the
statement wasn’t so obvious.
When moments like this
arise, I get texts and calls
from progressive peers across
the country who ask: “Is this
antisemitic?”
To answer the question, I
begin by explaining what it
means to be a Jew. Judaism
is the religion of the Jewish
people. But Jewish identity
is so much bigger and more
diverse than religion. Some of
us are deeply religious. Some
of us are totally secular. All of
us are Jews.
We’re a people, not sim-
ply a religious community.
Contrary to what most think,
antisemitism is not anti-Ju-
daism in its modern form
(several hundred years). It’s
anti-Jew. It’s not about how
Jews pray, but rather about
who they are and what they
are accused of doing.
Jews get attacked for
supposedly controlling the
world (governments, banks,
media), for being disloyal to
our home countries, for kill-
ing Jesus, for making up the
Holocaust, for being greedy,
for undermining the white
Oren
Jacobson
JTA
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