I Am Jewish and Proud

A poem and more…

I’m from the earth, a long time ago My roots go deep and far You could say I’m part of the problem right now The population right at the the heart.

Generation after generation of Jew in my blood Hebrew scholars, rabbis, World War II spies, Miners in Wales turned gold-dealers up north, Passing on values of strength and love-ties.

In Portugal, in the fifteenth century They were told they must convert or flee. My ancestors chose to leave their homes And in Morocco they found a life more free.

Like Jews for millennia, they sought more And, in pursuit, they travelled across lands Eventually arriving in Ireland, then Liverpool Finding family, standing hand-in-hand.

Some hailed from Eastern Europe, forced into ghettos, so hated were they. Others were escapees of the pogroms of Russia whence to The Levant they made their way.

Four generations now, born in Palestine and Israel, there is nowhere else they belong. When you say they must go back to their country — they are already there, they are home.

They may not agree with their country’s leaders; indeed, they are fighting for change. Neither do they want the death of their neighbours but they are hurting from the attacks so deranged.

They believe in a world fair and peaceful but they need their neighbours to share. Once a possibility but now merely a dream they were fooled by…with absolutely disastrously, horribly, miserably, unimaginable consequences…

One thing’s for sure, they and I share the same values Together, we believe in our innate goodness of hearts. We’re smart, we’re strong, We go on and on Because we’re Jews; we love life, and it’s the best place to start!

Like many Jews, I have family history that spreads far across the planet, for that has been the destiny of Jews since our first known history back in the Levant, all those years ago. When people here in England question where I am from with my olive skin, dark eyes and European hair, I tell them my eyes are from Portugal, my skin from Israel, and my hair from Poland. But I have also formed a connection with the Celtic lands of Britain and Ireland, my grandmother having been born in Dublin and my grandfather in Wales, and having lived and loved these lands for most of my life. I am as British as I am international.

Not forgetting that an unknown number of generations of my grandmother’s ancestors, before she was born, lived in north Africa.

In my own life, I have lived in East Africa, West Africa and Malaysia, and have spent countless months in other parts of Asia. For, like most Jews around the world, we travel easily and we love to do so. With thousands of years of having to move regularly under our belts, we have internalised the ability to do so easily and with joy in our hearts, even through the direst of circumstances.

While I was not born in Israel, both my mother and sister were. It was all my mother knew until she was 20, and it was my parents’ home for the first few years of their marriage.

Right now, at a moment so precarious on our collective timeline, it’s more important than ever to stand strong and proud as Jews across the world. Not only that but I must stand strong with my aunts, uncles and cousins in Israel. One member of my own family was present in the massacre of October 7th, being shot at by Hamas terrorists. Another lost many friends, all of whom were murdered by Hamas.

Grief for Israelis right now is immense, and Jews across the planet are sharing in it. The popular narrative has overwhelmingly turned against us. So many voices across the world are trying to tell us we are wrong for grieving our fellow Jews and Israelis, that we are in the wrong.

But we are not wrong.

We grieve because we are humans and we love our fellow humans.

Not only Jews. We love all of our fellow humans who simply understand humanity and the individual pain that each and every human being experiences, regardless of religion, skin colour, gender or sexual orientation. We don’t want the death of Palestinians but we don’t want people who only want to kill us to have the freedom to do so. And the harsh reality is that Jew-hatred has been indoctrinated into Palestinian society for many years.

I still hold out hope that the organisations working hard to create peaceful co-operative communities of Jews and Arabs throughout Israel will be able to shout the loudest through all the noise. I believe it’s the only possible solution to a world that demands equality and peace.

Israel has extremists, like everywhere else on the planet. But Israel is not its governments or its aggressors.

There also lives a society of people who want to change the status quo and create peace and loving relations. In the past, many new movements and ideas began in Israel.

Israel loves life more than it loves death.

I stand with Israel, with its right to exist, and its ability to instil peace where others only want war. And I believe that we can all choose to stand with progressive change, with Israel, and with the members of the Arab world who want a world governed by peace, kindness, and equality over war.