The pity of us all

I have a pocket full of delayed blog posts, but I do not want to hurry up and write them all at once, only a couple of hours before Shabbat. As the experience of the last months taught me, I better focus on the essential and let the things flow in their own rhythm - sometimes even against my disciplined will.

I want to finish this week and start the Shabbos with a couple of thoughts about a very good and documented book that made me very sad: The Pity of It All, by Amos Alon. It is a long and detailed story of the Germany Jewry from the arrival of Moses Mendelssohn in Berlin till the departure of Hannah Arendt from the beloved country of the German Jews. Two moments important for the past and future of the Jews in Germany. In-between you have a strong fight for not surviving and not resisting the assimilation. Rather the opposite, in many cases the German culture offered the identity basis that will not be denied even in the middle of the persecutions. Very often, it is said that if you want to evaluate the degree of anti-Semitism in a society you should check the percentage of intermarriages. It was - and still is - the case in France, Germany and almost all the Eastern European countries, but also in America. Of course, the manifestations are different and the reasons may differ from a couple of another. Very often, when you accept to intermarry, the simple message delivered to the worried audience is 'So what, G-d is the same everywhere' or 'It is not G-d at all'. And you will end up educating your children that Hanukka is, in fact, a Jewish Xmas. I am sure there are many intermarried couples that could be very happy even after and so could be their children. 

But you cannot live without roots and sooner or later, you will want to return, even though you might deny it. Many people simply prefer to avoid looking back because they know it is not easy. Fighting the habits, including the cultural ones it is not easy and trying to ignore and deny and even despise your religion and culture and identity. 

Does it matter what the others are saying about you? Very often, the encouragement to assimilation starts with the following message: "How do you expect to integrate, to be part of the society and at the end of the process, to be an outperforming individual as long as you keep yourself blocked in a 'Middle Age' mentality"? Long time ago, I was very enthusiastic after reading Moses Mendelssohn's works, as I considered that he found the golden path that could offer the chance of keeping your identity while interacting with the culture in the middle of whom you are living. But the problem that I had from a certain moment on was what is the advantage of this interaction, as long as what I was ready to share was completely disregarded. I gave up the wonderful chance of being the humble acculturated subject of the big cultures I flirted with. French culture is impressive, and German literature might be interesting - even though I do not taste at all the sweet Romanticism that stole the heart of so many German Jews, and so is the Russian culture or the Anglo-American culture or any other culture of the world. But, I have my own identity and culture and a lot to share with the world. 

The Pity of It All succeeded to show the whole diversity of denial and assimilation. It is a defeat of the reason and the wonderful world of culture that did not stop the same fine intellectuals to accept or ignore the slaughtering the next door. Haskala was an ugly illusion and the variety of situations described in the book made me very sad. It was like watching a sad movie when everything is wrong and you know the ending but you cannot do anything to help them to see where it is the biggest mistake.


For me, the weakest part of the book was the lack of a personal insight. The facts selected by the author are talking by themselves and it is not the role of the historian to lecture but still I was craving for some strong conclusion. Or maybe we should start thinking about ourselves and refuse the sweet song of the mermaids whispering successful recipes of assimilation.