This essay was inspired by two world events. The first was conversations I’ve had with a close friend about the Middle-East. The second was the appalling state of affairs in the US. We’ll be delving into both. He lives in Oregon, and although I now live in the UK (having lived in the US for 42 years until March 2023), we are still both members of the same Jewish temple. The mind-numbing human tragedy in the Middle-East brings him a great deal of anguish, as it does the vast majority of Jews. However, an issue which brings him additional discomfort is what he considers to be a deafening silence among the Jewish community. I don’t think he means globally, as there are huge numbers of Jews, both in and out of Israel who regularly speak out about the conflict. Locally, however, his observations are fairly accurate. I think I know why this is the case and I suspect it would apply to many other Jewish communities. I’ll circle back around to this shortly. First, we need to do a little foundation building. Keep in mind that when all is said and done this is nothing more than a point of view. Secondly and more importantly, although Israel and the US were definitely the driving force that placed my hands upon this keyboard, that’s not what this essay is ultimately about. Hopefully, you’ll understand this better as we travel along.
Peter is a retired Microsoft technician. Focusing mostly on essays, his genre is observational human behavior. His essays can be either satire or serious.
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