I was really shocked when I read Gawker yesterday about the comments from the head (whose name escapes me – I am writing this 50 feet underground!) of the Anti-Defamation League about Bernie Madoff. Now, yesterday also coincided with me finding out about a close friend and her entire family of mine having been raped by Madoff, personally, for 30 years. They knew him and did business with him.
But the comments of the fellow from ADL were startling. In a nutshell he said that despite what other Jews may think, they are just like everybody else. In other words, there are all sorts of Jews – good, bad, thieves, saints, sinners, you name it. Even guys like Bernie Madoff, who strikes me as particularly evil.
More than anything, I guess I was surprised that this was even a story. I mean, it was like running a headline like, ‘People Need To Breathe!’ But it did give me some pause. I wondered why this was a story. I think part of it stems from the fact that it was the head of the ADL, whose job – it would seem – it is to cast an ever-positive light on Judaism, with him saying ‘eh, we’re nothing special.’ On top of that, and trust me, I do not hear my Jewish friends ever say this, so it seems more lore than anything, ‘we’re the chosen people.’. The guy from the ADL’s comment makes Jews look like everybody else…and if I (as one of ‘everybody else’) am the chosen people, well, we should have a lot more choices.
For me, where this resonates is that I am nothing. I am a mutt of mixed western European background (and I was calling myself a mutt long before Mr. Obama was). I align myself with no real political party and I don’t believe in god. So, it’s difficult for me to get bent out of shape over what someone says they are.
In sum, I have known some good Jews, some bad Jews. Just like I have known some bad Italians, good Italians, good Greeks, bad Greeks…and on down the line. My point is, no one is better than anyone else…and to think that may make you worse than most.