Anyone with an ounce of observation skills, interested to take the pulse of the daily life on the streets of Berlin may have notice that in the last two years a different mood is growing. Yeah, Berlin remains a party city and people love to dance on the street, but this time they do it in the monotonous pace of screams to ´globalize the Intifada!´ I give the benefit of doubt that many of those in trance when hearing it were not even born during the time of the Intifada, and some really don´t have anything to do with the Middle East - except some T-shirt they got for free with the bold Palestine word on their chest - preferably red. But there are many who actually know it very well, and they may fantasize about playing its game. Those who may produce the T-shirts and may hand some financial support to those in need, laying idly near the Shisha bars of Neukölln.
Jüdische Allgemeine editor-in-chief Philipp Peyman Engel wrote recently a book about Germany´s Existential Lies - Deutsche Lebenslüge in original, the English version of the translation belongs to me - which sums up facts and figures, experiences shared and lived. In Berlin, in Israel, in Ruhrgebiet - where he was born. Experiences from his mother´s country of birth, Iran.
I don´t think this book is for the German Jews, they may know and see by themselves, no matter how distant from the daily practice may be. But the Germans themselves, they may want to read about the duplicity - those...´yes...but´ just for the sake of playing right while hiding the truth (it is just me or the practice of taroof is taking too much over our public lives, no matter where - hint, see the current ceasefire between Iran´s mullahs and Israel).
Instead of creating a debate, a dispute, some truths on the table, due to some cacophonic screams that will make the most aggressive bazaari hide of shame - bazaari people are lovely and hardworkers, don´t take me wrong - that diverted the discussion into a direction that really do not matter for the discussion - if Payman Engel´s mother was or was not member of Baha´i when for most of the people heating the debate this name says much less than a Mai Tai they order to drown their existential self-doubts - we may be skipping the chore of the book. Is that true? Is life for Jews in Germany becoming more threatening after 7th of October? Is it fair to expect the Jewish citizens of Germany to enjoy life or only if you screem ´Free, Free´ waving the flag of a country murdering its own citizens you have the right to breath without fear?
What about reading the book, taking notes, create some bullet points, read some history books or hire some people to do it for you, bring your friends from all over the river and seas and discuss. Use arguments, examples, counter-argument, you name it. Instead, we are missing another occasion of self-reflection and all we are left with are the loud screams of mediocrity.