A Chanukah Message from Marcia Caller Jaffe
For our annual Chanukah issue, we asked members of our community to share why they think it is so important for our Jewish community to, "Shine Our Light Bold and Bright."
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
Not So Bright
I’m on the fence about bright light shining. With the advent of social media and the vacuum made by today’s heroes, a.k.a. villains and questionable values, I’d like to lower the temperature of seeing the likes of Kayne West and Nick Fuentes, Nick Cannon and other antisemites who are getting “mega-enhanced” name recognition and building followers for their misdeeds.
Before Fuentes had his infamous dinner, most didn’t even know who he was. Now, he’s a household name, building followers, being quoted about “Jews being cookies in ovens.” Weigh that image in the mind of one who is already mentally unbalanced. Fuentes is probably shopping publishers to get a seven-figure deposit on a “tell us more” book.
“Cool” Dave Chappelle crossed the line and got away with it. “Fall in line to cross the line” makes it much easier for the next person to do the same. Did “Saturday Night Live” apologize?
Does anyone doubt that school shooters are a result of the copy cat ideas started by the Columbine and early press stories? Have you ever looked around at your friends, your employees, of all races and creeds, and hypothetically asked,” If “they” (whoever “they” are as in Nazi Germany), come after Jews, would he/she participate or stand up for me?”
With Atlanta being “the city too busy to hate,” I’d like to see more bright light come from our local government officials and non-Jewish business owners speaking out more loudly and frequently. Let their tweets dominate social media. Maybe then we won’t need the disingenuous apologies like, “If anyone was offended, I sorta don’t care. But someone told me to apologize.”
On Dec. 4, “CBS Sunday Morning” featured Rabbi Steve Leder, of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, who queried why other marginalized communities often get on the Jew hatred bandwagon. He ended with “All roads do not lead to Auschwitz, but we are on the wrong road heading in the wrong direction.”
I’m still putting my menorah in the window as colorful, unusual and bright as the aurora borealis, but…
Marcia Caller Jaffe is a contributor for Atlanta Jewish Times.
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