To Me You're Beautiful

December 25, 2023. Brooklyn, NY

My body aches as I write about this. Why must I feel the need to dive into the dark depths of hateful, mass movements?  My intentions are to process the sadness I feel when witnessing the division among the Jewish people, their perspectives warped by the toxic guidance of malevolent leaders. I yearn to fill my pages with poems of flowers and sunsets, a much brighter activity than excavating the ruins of hate. But the world I inhabit, and the powerful forces that aid to its destruction, demands acknowledgement. 

The truth is, I live in an imperfect world, and I imagine you do as well. I believe that I have a role in creating a better world, one nurtured by the insights that come from my experiences. Often, those insights are centered around dreadful distortions of truth, and cultural manipulation. These powers infest our minds, sowing seeds of division and destruction. So I try to comprehend these terrible movements of life, hoping to loosen its grip, even as it leaves my heart shattered. I can only imagine that your heart is shattered too. Perhaps together, we can pick up the pieces. 

The Nazis, notorious masters of twisting symbols, manipulated cultural icons to control minds. Their propaganda machines took familiar icons of comfort cherished by European hearts and minds, twisting them for destructive ends. This way, they lured people into their movement with a false sense of security and familiarity, enabling easier manipulation and devastation. 

A striking example of this manipulation lies in the distortion of one of my favorite songs, “Mir Bist Du Shein.” Originally crafted by two Jewish Eastern Europeans in the 1930s, they created a  lovely anthem of a romantic couple sharing admiration for one another. Its popularity soared, resonating across Europe’s radio waves. So when the Nazis ascended to power, they seized this Yiddish love song, and twisted it into an anti-semetic anthem to add to their repertoire of propaganda. Leveraging its familiarity among the European Jewish people, the song was aimed to deceive, offering a manipulative comfort intended to facilitate mind control. 

My stumble into this dark chapter occurred unintentionally during the beginning of my spiritual quest into Yiddish culture. Moving to America from Israel, I felt a deep pull to uncover my ancestors’ lives in Eastern Europe.  What were their experience like? This question ignited a deep curiosity inside of me to learn more. I started learning Yiddish at a weekly beginners class, an endeavor I absolutely adored. And I felt truly ecstatic going down the rabbit hole of Klezmer and Yiddish music.  And upon stumbling down that particular rabbit hole I found “Mir Bist Du Shein.”

At first, it was just another cherished tune on my playlists of Yiddish music that I enjoyed. However, as I delved deeper into its history during my research, I faced the haunting revelation. It’s truly terrible, to feel a sense of innocent joy and love for a cultural symbol that resonates so strongly within me, and to have it forever be distorted by evil. 

The exploration of Jewish history and roots can often feel like a strong duality. There is profound light; joy; miracles; and mystical understandings, intertwined with profound darkness, misery and despair. 

My quest led me to a community of Yiddish enthusiasts, which initially filled me with joy. It felt ecstatic to connect passionately about our shared ancestry and our deeper understanding of Judaism. I loved connecting on the wisdom of our diasporic religion, fostering understanding of resilience and creativity as we navigated dominant cultures, and created intimately divine worlds of shared connection through Torah study. I found a deep sense of familiarity and understanding with my fellow Jewish explorers, and it resonated warmly in my heart. So of course, it was extremely disturbing to discover that this community harbored deep-seated hatred towards Israel. 

I found that a lot of the conversation about diasporic Jewish philosophy was actually just a disguised critic and hatred of Israel. And don't get me wrong, as an Israeli, I often criticize Israel. It’s one of our favorite pastimes, asides for eating hummus and going on hikes. But I criticize Israel because I think that we can do better, and hope that we will continue to grow as a people. I intend on working on building a better society, and a better life for our people, and for all people.

 I don’t think this is the intention of the people who host the conversation of diasporic Judaism when they criticize zionism. I feel like they are denying the need for Israel, and what having a country does for our collective safety. We are existentially threatened by other nations, to the point of extinction. I can’t romanticize the shtetl and forget about the pogroms.

 I feel like the community that fetishizes the diaspora, intending on contextualizing their hate for zionism, is only doing so to fit the role of political-social motives of a performative progressive culture. What stung even deeper, was their manipulative onboarding tactics. I felt like they often expressed the diaspora and Yiddish culture as a source of comfort to lure open minded people in. Once the sense of familiarity and comfort is fostered, then they deliver anti-Israel ideology, masked as diasporic Jewish philosophy. It’s a repulsive method of cultural manipulation. They are using a false sense of comfort to lure people into mind control. Unfortunately, it’s all too familiar to the student of history.

I can almost hear Mir Bist Du Shein echoing in the background.