Tag Archives: Jews

December 15, 2025

Why Sydney is not just a terrorist attack. It’s 6:45 AM

By davidgroen1

It’s 6:30 AM and the alarm goes off. As you are prone to do, you hit the snooze button. At 6:35, the alarm sounds again. You are sleepy this morning, so you hit it again. Knowing it is as far as you can push it, you hit it one more time at 6:40. At 6:45, when the alarm sounds one more time, you finally jump out of bed, knowing that if you let it go any further, it will be too late.

That is how the attack against Jews celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, needs to be understood. It is the equivalent of that last alarm in the morning. It is that final alarm before it is too late.

Any time there is a terrorist attack on innocent people, it pains me. Any time it is on my fellow Jews in particular, I take it personally. This time, however, still felt different. This time, more than any other time, it felt like evil took aim at all of us, and the victims just happened to live in Sydney. As I write this, there are 16 dead and over 40 injured, six of them critically. This attack should teach every Jew one critical lesson: we are all vulnerable.

Hanukkah celebrations are not pro-Israel rallies. They are not limited to the very observant. There is no exclusivity in the community when it comes to these events. Maybe most importantly, they come in all shapes and sizes and take place all over the world. An attack on any size group, in any location, and in any denomination of Judaism anywhere in the world on Hanukkah is the most blatant statement of Jew-hatred possible. It cannot be spun as an attack on Zionists, or the religious, or the wealthy or privileged. It is, simply put, an attack on any Jew the target can find. This is why it speaks to our vulnerability. More so than any attack on a large group of Jews that I can remember, this one felt like it could just as easily have been any one of us, and if we ignore that fact and do not do everything in our power to fight against this scourge of Jew-hatred, led by Muslim extremism, we will ultimately find ourselves in the kind of trouble we have not seen since 1945.

So, what do we do? If we look at things honestly, we will conclude that often, people who do what needs to be done do not know that what they are doing will work at the time they are acting. We all know what our capabilities are, and we can all do something—be it on the spiritual, financial, influential, or even the physically defensive front.

To the Jews who consciously turn away and disassociate themselves from the community, read your history. The only difference between you and the rest of us is that you will be in for a terrible shock when you find out that you were not smarter than the rest of us after all.

So, whatever it is you can do, realize that as a Jew—or any other decent human being who cares about the future of mankind—if your vulnerability does not motivate you to take some sort of action now, 6:46 is approaching, and then it will be too late.

Am Yisrael Chai

Never Again Is Now!

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August 10, 2025

How Dare you Germany!

By davidgroen1

While I’ve had a problem from the start with the nations of the world that have pressured Israel regarding their response to October 7th, I have, for the most part, kept quiet. However, as someone who has committed, and intends to continue committing, much of my life to telling the story of the Holocaust, I must address the following. Everything I do—everything I believe in as a Jew and the son of Holocaust survivors—is put to the test when a German government has the unmitigated gall to take a stand against the Jewish state.

I will share two important points with you, not because I am being apologetic, but merely because they are part of the calculus that brought me to think as I do today. My first point is that while there should never, ever be forgiveness for what the German Nazi Party did to the Jewish people, until recently I at least tepidly gave post-war Germany some credit. Nothing can make up for what was done, and nothing can ever truly be enough to make amends for atrocities so recent that there are still Jews alive today who lived through that horrific time. But where I took a somewhat moderate approach was in recognizing that German laws and actions since 1945 did not ignore accountability and responsibility for the actions of the country. Simply put, I felt there was little more a people and its government could have done to express remorse and apply preventative laws against this ever happening again.

My second point is that many of these countries taking a stance against Israel are doing so because they are frightened by the dynamics created by certain elements within the Muslim populations in their own country. Their policies are rooted in neither common sense nor decency. They are rooted in a cowardice that overshadows any moral clarity. To go after every country guilty of this would be a futile waste of anyone’s time.

But Germany is a different story. Germany, of all countries, should not get away with its recent actions. This is more than a matter of taking a hardline approach toward the war in Gaza. This is about the timing and the message it sends. Above you see two pictures: one is taken from a bunker in the concentration camp Buchenwald, showing the conditions of the prisoners; the second is a recent picture of Israeli hostage Evyatar David, taken on October 7th, looking hauntingly similar to the prisoners in Buchenwald.

In response to numerous attempts to have a ceasefire contingent mainly on the release of all hostages, Hamas has repeatedly put roadblocks in the path of peace—not surprising when you understand that they do not want peace; they want the death of every Jew on the planet. After the release of the video and the continuing collapse of peace talks, Israel’s government declared its intention to occupy Gaza.

Backing up momentarily, I do not live in Israel, and although much of my heart is there, I do not have to live with the actual consequences of the ongoing war. Therefore, I do not believe I have the right—certainly not publicly—to express criticism toward those protesting against the government, demanding an end to the war and the return of the hostages. If anything, it breaks my heart. I do not disagree with either of those demands. But perhaps being on the outside allows me to see that the sad part is that everything happening today is exactly what Hamas hoped for when they started this on October 7th: the anti-Israel sentiment, the rise in global antisemitism, and any internal strife in Israel are all things they see as a victory.

Hamas knows that if they released the hostages, the war would end. But that does not align with their ultimate goal. Israel’s statement about occupying Gaza has been called a serious escalation by much of the world, while those same voices stayed mostly quiet after the release of a video designed to entice escalation. It was after Israel’s recent declaration that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a halt to German military equipment that could be used in an occupation of Gaza. Barely a week after the release of a video showing a Jewish hostage in Gaza looking like a prisoner in one of the many concentration camps that killed millions of Jews, rather than seeing the picture and acknowledging the historical irony, the reaction of Merz and his government, in many ways, rewards Hamas for its continuous evil actions. How dare you, Germany!

Tolerance does not exist in a vacuum. It is measured against the views of others. But here’s the deal: if I seem intolerant right now toward a country that committed atrocities against millions of Jews so recently that they are the reason I never knew a grandparent, so be it. Jews have shown tolerance for centuries, and we find ourselves made out to be the aggressor just because we were the victim. Makes no sense? That is because everything taking place in Israel regarding wars and terrorist attacks—and every display of anti-Israel or antisemitic sentiment around the globe—is not rooted in anything that makes sense. It is all about one thing: Jew hatred. This time, more than at any other time, the country responsible for translating Jew hatred into action more successfully than any other country in history has a moral obligation to show support. Instead, it is holding its tools for Israel’s self-defense hostage.

How dare you, Germany!

Am Yisrael Chai

Never Again is Now!

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November 7, 2023

As a Jew, I am sorry

By davidgroen1

As someone who is contact with many of my fellow Jews, I believe that many share the following overall sentiment when I say, I am sorry, but….

As a Jew, I am sorry you do not realize that their is no moral equivalency between a terrorist organization and a sovereign, democratic country.

I am sorry that you can not distinguish between an organization calling for the extermination of 16 million people and a country wiping out that organization for the sake of their very existence.

I am sorry you are so ignorant that you protest without knowing any facts, or that you are so stupid that when you read them you are so clueless that all remains is your ability to follow a mob.

I am sorry that you feel that just because you got into a school with a reputation for having a high intellectual standard, that somehow makes you smarter than everyone else, and that instead all your actions do is highlight your lack of understanding of history and morality and lower the overall standard of your institution.

I am sorry that you do not know the true history of what has taken place in the Middle East in any version of recorded history. You clearly are ignorant to the fact that the Jewish people are the true indigenous people of the region and that what we call Palestinians today is phony construct, a people made up of displaced Jordanians and the closest thing to Arab gypsies.

I am sorry that you do not know that the plight of those people you refer to as Palestinians is a plight caused by decades of corruption, abuse, manipulation, oppression, and exploitation of their leadership. A leadership that has used them as tool in the advancement of their business plan, a plan that provided Yasser Arafat the means to own hotels in the Swiss Alps and Hamas leadership to lead lavish lifestyles in Qatar. A leadership in Gaza that has one use for its people, and that is as soldiers or pawns.

I am sorry that you are too biased or too stupid to realize that the only way Palestinians are ever free is for Israel to be victorious, even though I am fairly certain that a large number of you protesting and shouting Free Palestine are doing so more out of a deficiency in your own lives than out of a real concern for the well-being of anyone else.

I am sorry you do not know what genocide means. If Israel truly wanted to commit genocide, Gaza would be leveled by now, and rather than 10,000 deaths, a number that reflects Israel’s restraint as opposed to debunking it, their would be at least hundreds of thousands of deaths and this war would be over.

I am sorry that you do not have the intellectual or moral wherewithal to look at the events of October 7th till today and see the difference between the depraved barbarity of Hamas and the calculated and careful self-defense tactics of the State of Israel.

I am sorry that you have no clue that there are 16 million Jews and 1.9 billion Muslims in the world, and that Arabs live and work in Israel, are members of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, and are even members of the military, while in the majority of Arab countries Jews have virtually no rights, and yet you call Israel an Apartheid state.

I am sorry you do not realize that those people you are supporting, will come for you when they are done with us.

I am sorry you hate Jews and do not think we have the right to survive.

I am sorry you do not realize that when we say Never Again, we mean it.

I am sorry if you thought this was an apology, but in case you did, let me be crystal clear. As a Jew, I am sorry you feel the way that you do, but frankly, I don’t give a damn.

Am Yisrael Chai

Never Again is Now!

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November 2, 2023

Free Palestine you say?

By davidgroen1

So you say you want Palestine to be free, do you? Ask yourself what that means. See if you can come up with an answer other than the packaged lines being fed to you. Let me guess. “Israel’s committing genocide”. “The Israelis are occupiers and colonizers”. “Israel targets babies”. “Israel is an Apartheid State”. And of course this week number 1 hit on the charts, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. Having fun marching in the streets? Found something to be part of have you? You might be in for a surprise. That’s if you even have the intellectual capacity to realize it when it happens. That’s if you are even smart enough to know what the term intellectual capacity means.

If this sounds like you are being ridiculed, that’s English for being made fun of, maybe you are not completely mindless. But if you are part of the group of people doing this in a Harvard or Penn, you certainly are nowhere close to as smart as you think you are. Your “cause” is actually calling for a true genocide. You are marching in support of a group that is calling for the death of 16 million Jews. For those who march but know nothing, which I suppose is most of you, 16 million Jews is not the number of Jews in Gaza, there are actually none(unless you count the Israeli military taking out the trash). It’s not even the amount of Jews in Israel. There are a little over 7 million Jews in what your puppet masters refer to as occupied land. 16 million Jews is actually the number of Jews on the planet. That is the number of people the group you are supporting wants to see killed.

Trying to debunk your logic, that is English for showing you why you are full of crap, would be a waste of time. You hear a lie once or twice, maybe it takes three times, and you decide it to be true. You make no effort to verify it-doubt you’ll even find the word verify on Tiktok-make no effort to determine if what you are marching for is harmful, and you have no concern for the consequences for yourself, let alone others. To say you are stupid is insulting to stupid.

So let me help you make some sense of it all.

“Israel’s committing genocide”. In a genocide the population becomes less. The population of Gaza has consistently increased (that means gotten bigger).

“The Israelis are occupiers and colonizers”. There were no Israelis in Gaza till Hamas invited us in to wipe them off the face of the earth.

“Israel targets babies”. Israel warns families with babies to get out of the way but Hamas doesn’t let them.

“Israel is an Apartheid State” You have no clue what Apartheid is anyway so why bother.

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. As far as this one is concerned, if you can name the river or the sea, we’ll talk then. But I’m not worried.

While your behavior deserves this mockery, it is also pitiful and scary. In gravitating to an evil, cause just because that cause sees you as fresh meat and sucks you in, is all it takes to make you part of something, you either have a life of misery or come from a sad and pathetic past, and for this I pity you. But looking at your numbers is the scary part, not just because you are attacking me as a Jew, but because of what it bodes for the history of the planet. And as far as the consequences are concerned, if what the people you are marching for and for whom you are tearing down the pictures of babies being held hostage for, ultimately get what they want, I suspect they will give you 2 choices. Become one of them or die. But hey, your friends are doing it, so why not?

Am Yisrael Chai

Never Again is Now!

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October 24, 2023

It’s all about survival, stupid

By davidgroen1

For those mindless, cowardly hypocrites protesting in favor of sadistic terrorists, it is time you learned what it means to be Jewish. Despite the propaganda you so willingly accept, it is not about making money or controlling the media, and certainly not about occupation or genocide. It is about something far more basic than that. It is all about survival, stupid.

For Jews it goes way back to the time when we were slaves in Egypt. We learn about it and remember it every year on Passover. In fact, we are taught to approach it as though it happened directly to us in every generation. Seems the Rabbis somehow knew it would be a good idea to teach the Jewish people from the start how to suffer. We were oppressed and enslaved in Egypt, and as a result of our resistance we fled to the desert, and somehow managed to resist without raping any little girls or chopping of babies heads.

Then there were the 2 temples in Jerusalem, part of the land believed to be given to the Children of Israel by God as opposed to taken by an occupying force. The temples were both destroyed by the Romans, and in a way that targeted innocent civilians, as opposed to avoiding them as much as possible. Too bad the BBC wasn’t around back then to report on the mistreatment of the Romans.

Let’s not forget the blood libels, when the claim was made that Jews killed Christian children in order to use their blood for Jewish rituals, including the making of Matzah for the Passover feast. These blood libels led to pogroms and yes, you guessed it, a lot more dead Jews. For those of you who might not understand the concept, it’s a lot like bombing a parking lot of a hospital in your territory, killing a few dozen, and then telling everyone that the Jews killed hundreds in indiscriminate bombing. Like that would ever happen, right?

Then, at the end of what was seen as a Golden Age for Jews in Spain, there was the Inquisition, in which Jews were tortured, killed and ultimately completely expelled for that heinous recurring crime of, you guessed it once again, being Jewish.

I’ll just kind of skip over the pogroms in Russia in which it was considered righteous and necessary to brutalize and murder Jews en masse, (boy does that sound familiar), and jump to that really big thing called the Holocaust. You know, the thing many out there say never happened and it was just made up by the Jews to garnish sympathy? Kind of like claiming that more than 1400 people were murdered in a half a day, and realizing less than a week later that it must have been made up. After all, look around. Everyone clearly loves the Jews. There’s no way that could have happened. That thing called the Holocaust, that did actually happen, just as the killing of the 1400 plus, led to the decimation of European Jewry and the murder of 6 millions Jews. A genocide perpetrated by a government that came to power in the wake of a failed state and a society in decay, which of course had to be the Jews fault. After all, if a murderous dictator tells you that the Jews control the banks and the media it must be true.

Out of the ashes of the Holocaust the modern State of Israel declared its independence in 1948. But the Jews had the gall to think they had the right to live in peace. Even worse, they felt they could do so in the land given to them by God. But what the Jewish people did that was most appalling was that they had the audacity to fight back and win against the countries attacking them on every border. After all, they had committed the greatest crime of all. They had survived.

Left with no alternative, since we just wouldn’t go away, our Arab neighbors tried again in 1956, but rather than being killed, the Jewish nation once again fought back and won. When another attempt failed in 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan, the Sinai from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. A move which of course would ultimately make us the oppressors and occupiers, since we started the war after all. Oh wait! No we didn’t. We once again showed how evil we were by not letting every Jew in Israel get thrown into the Mediterranean Sea. In 1973 they tried once again, but this time they decided to fight fair and attack us on the holiest day in our calendar, Yom Kippur. This finally took away the Jewish nations unfair advantage of being prepared to defend itself. But guess what? That didn’t work either. Starting to see a trend here?

When Yasser Arafat founded his multi billion dollar enterprise known as terrorism, the groundwork was laid for a steady diet of attacks against innocent men, women and children. Lucky for him he had the United Nations in his corner from the get go, so that not only could he begin to once again normalize the killing of Jewish women and children, he had a worldwide organization telling everyone that he was doing it in the name of justice and peace, and that the Jewish people were the violators of human rights.

Despite every effort to make peace with the unwanted Jordanians in the West Bank, and the Arab gypsies in Gaza, the 2 groups the world now refers to as Palestinians, every effort at peace has had one unforgiveable obstacle put in the way by us Jews. We refuse to die. But I get it, if we don’t make peace with people that don’t believe we have a right to exist, obviously it is our fault.

So to all those those mindless, cowardly hypocrites protesting in favor of sadistic terrorists who believe they are on the right side of history because of what was done to us in the past, know this. There has never been a more powerful Jewish army than there is today, militarily, intellectually, and spiritually, and now we have a battle cry that encompasses centuries of persecution and murder, most notably and most recently, the Holocaust and the mass murder of 6 million Jews. That battle cry is Never Again, and believe me when I tell you, we mean it. Because, after all, it’s all about survival, stupid.

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October 23, 2023

The world’s ongoing obsession with the Jewish people

By davidgroen1

There are some things people know their entire life. Those things that define you as a person. It might be the language you speak or the country you were born in. It might be financial status of your family or the influence your family has on society. For many there is the one thing that may define you over all other things, answering that one question not only to others but more importantly to yourself. What are you? To me that one thing that defines me over everything else is that I am proudly and unapologetically Jewish. So for Jews and the Jewish religion to be the focus of my existence makes sense. What is not as easy to explain or understand is why the rest of the world seems to have an almost equal focus, dare I say obsession.

There were 17 million Jews in the world in 1939, estimated to be the highest the number ever reached. At that time there were about 2 billion people worldwide. Today there are an estimated 16 million of a worldwide population of over 8 billion. We are, by every account a very small percentage and certainly on paper at least, a very unthreatening number. And yet, the obsession the rest of the world has towards my people is one of life’s greatest mysteries. Whether we are better or worse, contributors or not, powerful or not, there is no question that compared to the rest of the world, the amount of attention that comes our way is disproportionate almost to the point of being bizarre. So the question I am putting out there, is why?

Secular Jews in Israel and the Diaspora might find it hard to accept, but the root of all the attention and focus is religious, and regardless of whether you embrace it or disassociate from it, you are seen by the rest of the world as a Jew, be it for good or for bad. In 1933 and beyond, Hitler managed to convince Germany that a people comprising 0.85% of the world’s population was the reason for all their problems. In 2023, Islamic terrorist groups and their sponsor nation Iran, have convinced millions of their fellow Muslims that a people that comprises .2% of the world’s population and a mere .88% of their number, are the biggest danger the world faces today. The numbers alone are enough to speak to the bizarre nature of this obsession and to the inevitable inaccuracy of their concern. Could it be that we are that bad of a people? Or dare I say it, could it be that we are that special?

I may be bordering on claiming Jewish exceptionalism, but if I am going to experience or learn about hate towards me and my people my entire life, for reasons that are not even close to proportionate, there is no reason for me to hold back. But because of the part of my Jewish teachings that focus on modesty, gratitude, but mostly the power of the Almighty, I will temper any desire I may have to speak to how exceptional we are as a people. Besides, of all you out there whose hate toward us defies logic and rationality, whether you like it or not, you are making that case without my help.

It is true that Jews have excelled in medicine, the arts, in business, and throughout many other elements of society. But what the rational and ethical people know, is that it generally does not stand in the way of others reaching the same heights. Yes there are Jews who are bad people, but that is one of the realities of humanity, that every group has its good and bad. But so much of what we are is a result of our value system. A value system that includes love of family, hard work, study, and worship. Could it be that the basis of all of this is the Torah, the Jewish teachings that are comprised of the Old Testament and all Rabbinical interpretations. When you look at it honestly, even for those who have chosen to live a secular life, it often appears as though their values are what was taught to them directly or indirectly through these teachings. The value for human life is so paramount that we are taught that saving a life supersedes all other laws.

That being said, good people come from all walks of life. All religions, races, nationalities produce high quality people. I have known too many and heard of too many great people from other faiths to think we Jews are the only ones who reach great heights. Thinking that way would be ludicrous. But we are still faced with that gnawing question. Why the obsession towards the Jewish people? The importance of Judaism within Christianity is obvious, and the evolution of Christian society has reached new heights in its embrace of the Jewish people, creating a growing friendship and alliance. And yet, although I am grateful for that alliance, it still fascinates me that a religion of 2.4 billion people is as fascinated by us as Christians are as a whole.

Ultimately I think the fascination and obsessive hatred do not come from the same origin. The fascination I believe comes from the Biblical teachings that the Jews are the Chosen People. I believe that due to Christian enlightenment, in past years far more than today, instead of leading towards a path of hatred, Christianity has embraced its Jewish roots and seen the importance Judaism holds in their beliefs for an ideal future.

So now to those who hate us. I believe that hatred is based on 2 things. The first being a more obvious and less original concept. Pure and blatant jealousy. Maybe it is because we are God’s Chosen People. Maybe it is because we excel in so many areas of society and often live lives filled with joy and meaning. Or maybe it is based in something even more profound. In the movie Tombstone, the movie about Wyatt Earp, the Doc Holliday character played by Val Kilmer had the following interaction with the Wyatt Earp character played by Kurt Russell when discussing a developing confrontation with an adversary.

Wyatt Earp: What does he need? Doc Holliday: Revenge. Wyatt Earp: For what? Doc Holliday: Bein’ born.

The amount of hate in the world today for the Jewish people is excessive. Hate is either a result of actions that cause hate, or indoctrination that breeds it. The amount of hate today is very clearly more of a result of indoctrination. But indoctrination requires fertile ground, and what ground is more fertile than that of misery. If you are happy you do not want to hate. You search for reasons not to hate. You seek the truth. But if one lives a life of misery and one with no meaning or direction, one sees no future, and one wants revenge for being born, that leads one to attempt to fill all those voids with the one emotion they can harness and hold on to. And the evil people with the money, power and ambition, exploit that for their selfish and devious means. I wish I could ask all those who hate me for being Jewish the following question? For what, if not to make this world better, are you put on this earth? I guarantee you, despite what you are being taught, it is not to hate and kill Jews. Sadly the chances of you ever seeing this is next to none, but if you ever do I also want you to ask yourself a question. Has the hate you’ve been taught done anything to make your life better? Has it made you happier? I know the answer, and if you were given the freedom to think for yourself you would as well.

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October 25, 2022

Open Letter to Kanye (Ye) West regarding his continuing attacks on the Jewish people

By davidgroen1

Dear Ye,

I am actually writing this letter more to those within the Black community who believe they should be listening to you in regard to your stance towards Jewish people than I am to you directly.  I am writing this because it is my hope that people will begin to understand that not only are your words hateful lies, but they also do a disservice to the community you claim to represent.  You see, not only should Jews not be seen as the enemy, to anyone truly looking to help people of color, they would recognize that Blacks and Jews are natural allies.

It’s ironic.  I am someone who usually is most disgusted in situations such as these because of the unwarranted attack on my people.  As a proud Jew and Zionist, I see the world as a melting pot of people of all races and colors.  Every person I meet, regardless of color, race, nationality, sexual identity, or social status, starts off exactly at the same place with me.  I once met a woman who when I told her that I do not see color, responded to me by saying that she felt my statement was the epitome of white privilege.  While I chose to remain silent, I generally tend to avoid wasting my breath on idiots, I did think to myself that a white woman deciding what is right and wrong for the Black community is actually the epitome of white privilege.  Remembering what I thought that day, and always making every attempt to not be a hypocrite, I will not sit here today and claim to know what choices black people should make.  I will however say that to portray another community as the enemy of your community solely for the purpose of garnishing attention, and with so little merit that it is of detriment to your ability to work positively with that community, is cynical and selfish.

I want black people to know that about 50 percent of civil rights lawyers in the south in the 1960s were Jewish.  I want them to know that about 50 percent of the whites that marched in Mississippi in 1964 against the Jim Crow laws were Jewish. I want them to know that Colin Powell, the first African American Secretary of State spoke Yiddish, having learned it from a shopkeeper that employed him at a young age.

Do these points I make mean that everything Jewish people do towards people of color has always been correct and even decent? Of course, it doesn’t.  But within every community there are the good and the bad people.  What is important to know is that over the years Jews and Blacks have suffered similar attacks of hate, often fought for the same causes, and often worked their way from the bottom to the top.  Barack Obama’s first Chief of Staff was the son of a man who fought for Israel’s independence as a member of the Irgun, an underground Jewish organization battling the resistance of Jew haters to the creation of the Jewish state.

So, to any of you in the Black community reading this who want to know the truth, you should know that there is not one group in the entire United States of America more of a natural ally than the Jewish people.  And if you choose to believe otherwise because an attention seeking, self-serving, money hungry man who happens to be the same color and was once somewhat talented tells you otherwise, you are not only hurting me, but you are also hurting yourself.

I urge you to not let anyone tell you how to think, least of all someone hiding behind similar skin color claiming to be your advocate.

Sincerely,

David Groen

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November 13, 2020

The critical question for Jews who voted for Joe Biden

By davidgroen1

While questions about the outcome of the election may or may not need to get worked out in the courts, Democrats celebrate a win by Joe Biden in the 2020 US Presidential race. Unlike the hundreds of thousands of experts on social media, I make no claim to know much about voter fraud and election rules. I am at the mercy of the news media to tell me what happens.  Unless I see evidence to the contrary, I am neither qualified nor irresponsible enough to question the legitimacy of the outcome. I do however have the ability to observe and read the reactions of people, and as I see many of my fellow Jews declare their joy over the election of Biden, what I have not seen in many of their statements are the words “the Jewish people” or “the State of Israel”.  While  I do not sit in judgment over what makes someone a good Jew or a bad Jew, as it is not my place to do so, I do find this to be curious, and can’t help but examine and indeed question, why this might be the case.

Everyone of course has their reasons for feeling as they do and saying what they do. I know many people who have done a lot for Jews worldwide that fall into that group that voted for Biden, and I recognize that, but the appearance it gives is that for many Jewish people in America, the best interests of the Jews and Israel were just not an issue of major importance to them in this election. To be clear, I am not merely coming to this conclusion based on reactions to the result, but also from discussions or debates I had in person, on the phone or in social media prior to the election. If anything it appears as though one issue was more important to them than anything else. Their hatred for Donald Trump. 

Some make the argument that Trump is bad for Israel and stokes the flames of anti-Semitism in the United States. The debate has been conducted ad nauseum and I have no intention of restarting it, but I will say that this reminds me of something an old friend once said to me when we worked together as salespeople.   People buy with emotion, and justify it with logic. I present this concept here because I have to wonder if the hatred for the sitting president is so great that Jews around the country just convinced themselves he was bad for Israel and the Jews in order to justify their vote against him. Or do they really believe that a man that moved the embassy to Jerusalem, something promised by administrations for decades, recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, ripped up a deal that paved the way for Iran to have a nuclear bomb, and made peace treaties increasing security and prosperity for the Jewish state is actually an anti-Semite who is bad for Israel, or as many of his haters call him, another Hitler?

I don’t presume to know anyone’s motivation for what they say or do not say, but when one of my fellow American Jews goes on a rant about all the reasons they chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump, and the issue of Israel and the Jewish people is either an afterthought or an omission, I can’t help but get the impression that those issues were just lower on their list of priorities, if there at all.  I know the responses many will give is either a list of all the reasons they see Donald Trump as an awful human being, as an existential threat to American democracy and all the reasons they feel the things he has done do not actually make him good for the State of Israel. I’ve heard and read them all. What I have not heard from my fellow Jews and Zionists is why, as part of one or two of those groups they are happy that Joe Biden looks to be their next president. I, as both a Jew and a Zionist am not, and it mattered enough to me to be reason alone to vote for Donald Trump.

While I am not writing this to argue the merits of hating or loving Trump, it strikes me that the number one reason people have grown to hate him is more because they don’t like what he says than it is what he does. I won’t litigate the various issues that people apply this to, but I will say that as a Jew and son of Holocaust survivors, nothing seems more irresponsible to me than choosing someone who sounds nice over someone who has your back. I said before the election that I felt that no matter who wins the election I believe there are dark days ahead for the Jewish people in America. As a Jewish man who is not convinced that Joe Biden will have our backs, I express no optimism over how he will be good for us in the coming years. So naturally I didn’t express any optimism. But for my fellow Jews that voted for him and also didn’t express that optimism, are you holding your breath and hoping for the best, or is it just not an issue that mattered to you enough to dictate your vote?  That is a question that each and every one of you can only answer for yourselves.

Ultimately I tend to believe people vote for what they perceive to be in their own best interests.  If any Jewish voter doesn’t see the security of Israel and the protection of their Jewish communities as being in their own best interest, then they’ve learned little to nothing from history.   

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November 6, 2017

Open Letter to Larry David

By davidgroen1

LD

Dear Larry,

I am sad to say that you have the exceptional distinction of being the first Jewish individual I have written to regarding actions or remarks damaging to the Jewish people.  Before I start allow me to make a critical point so you know who you have offended.  I am a Liberal with a sense of humor.  I am very tolerant, very accepting and I like a good laugh.  Even at my own expense.  Sometimes especially at my own expense.  If you offend a Trump supporting angry Conservative it would be hard to make a case for that to mean anything, but to offend me? Well I guess you can say to do that you really had to have made an effort.

You see Larry, there is funny, and then there is disgusting.  Your remarks this past Saturday night on SNL were disgusting.  They reflect what can only be a personal disdain for who you are where you come from.  The comments were so bad that I do not need to do any additional research on you to attack you for them.  I don’t care how much charity you may or may not have given, or kindnesses you may or may not have shown till now, the comments you made both about Jewish sexual deviants and the Holocaust were so damaging, insulting and hurtful to the Jewish people as a whole, there is nothing you can say or do to justify them.  Not to mention the fact that there was absolutely nothing funny about them.

You chose your monologue on Saturday Night Live to declare how many of the perpetrators of sexual harassment are Jewish.  Did you do it to help the victims?  Did you do it because it upsets you? No.  You did it because you felt it would get a laugh.  You decided to appeal to the lowest of the low at the expense of your own people.  Are you proud of yourself today?  I’m not blind. I see how far too many of the guilty are Jews.  But did you do this on an interview where you expressed concern in order to possibly help change things as they are? Again no.  You did it on SNL because  somehow you felt it appropriate to joke about the sexual deviants within the Jewish community.  If you had taken a moment to think about this you might have realized the last thing the Jewish world needs today is a famous Jewish comedian singling out his own people.

Your follow up to these comments just went on to prove how much of your motivation may be in self-hatred.  For anyone to make light of the death of 6 million people of his own religion indicates a dangerously sick disconnect.  I want you to take a moment, close your eyes and imagine every one you care about, all your family and closest friends suddenly murdered.  Now take it one step further and imagine how some, if not all of them were raped or tortured before they were murdered.  Stop and realize how many people could close their eyes and open them up to the same devastation. When you finish doing this I would like you to please tell me what part of this you find funny?  What part of this belongs in a comedy routine?  If you think any of it is or does, I would say you are not merely a self-hating Jew, you are a sick man as well.

I used to like you Larry. I found much of what you said to be funny.  However, after what I heard come out of your mouth I not only find you to be anything but funny, I find you to be detrimental to the Jewish people and even a little dangerous.  I can turn off the TV and never have to listen to or watch you again.  But you have to live with your self-loathing.  If I was not so angry with you I’d feel sorry for you.

Sincerely,

David Groen

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March 8, 2017

On International Woman’s Day: A Tribute to the Famous Woman I admire most. My mother

By davidgroen1

Mom2

Today is International Woman’s Day and one of my social media friends posted the question, “Which famous woman do you admire most?”  Although my initial reaction was to say Golda Meir, I chose to change my answer to Sipora Groen.  Sipora Groen is my mother, and although my book about my parents and how they survived the 4 years of Nazi occupation in Holland isn’t the bestseller I naturally hoped it would be, I think enough people know about my mother to classify her as famous.  If that’s not enough, let me tell you why how admirable she is makes up for where you may not consider her famous enough for this discussion.

Sipora Rodrigues-Lopes was born in Amsterdam on January 1, 1922.  Sipora lost her mother when she was a young girl of only 13 and  was left with a large share of the responsibility in raising her younger brother Bram.  Prior to the war Sipora fell in love and got engaged to a young man named Hans.  At the outbreak of the war in Holland she was studying to be a nurse, and when the Nazis occupied Amsterdam and began the process of rounding up the Jews and transporting them to the death camps, Sipora was living in the nurse’s quarters of the Jewish hospital.  Her personal life was turned upside down seemingly forever when not only her father and brother fled Amsterdam to ultimately be captured and murdered by the Nazis, but the love of her life and fiance Hans was taken away to Auschwitz.  Alone and feeling hopeless, all she had was the work she had taking care of the sick patients.  If not for Nardus Groen, my father of blessed memory,  the man she would later spend her life with, she likely would have been transported to her death along with the majority of the patients.  Instead she began a journey with Nardus through the Dutch countryside that took her from place to place, through homes of righteous Dutch people who put the value of life over religious belief or personal danger.  Ultimately she ended up in the home of Lubertus & Geeske te Kiefte, the righteous and courageous couple that risked sacrificing everything in order to give her a safe home in the small town of Lemerlerveld for almost a year and a half until the war ended.

As the war ended in Europe, Nardus joined the Dutch Marines to help in the fight against the Japanese, not knowing till later that Sipora was pregnant with his child.  Part of the reason Nardus didn’t know was because originally Sipora didn’t know.  She took a job in a local hospital when upon feeling tired and worn down she was told by the Director of the hospital that she was indeed with child.  She moved back to Amsterdam only to find her home now occupied by the housekeeper who was with the family before the war.  The housekeeper pushed Sipora to leave the house despite her now advanced pregnancy, forcing her to take a very small apartment with very little heat in winter. If not for the help of her father’s childhood friend who gave money for her new home, Sipora might have found herself pregnant and homeless right right after spending 5 years running and hiding from the Nazis and losing so many of the people closest to her.  Just a few months after the birth of her son Marcel, Sipora would contract the lung disease known as pleurisy and would spend months in the hospital away from what felt like the one hope she had in life, her newborn son.

With his love for Sipora and a now a son, Nardus chose to leave the military and return to Holland where he would try to help rebuild the now decimated Jewish community.  He would be ordained as a Rabbi and start the process of building a family with Sipora who was now his wife.

Nardus and Sipora would have 5 children and would move often from place to place.  They ended up in America in the late 1950’s where they would live till 1976.  In 1976 they would move back to Holland where Nardus would take over a synagogue in the town of Arnhem while taking on responsibilities of the Jewish communities in 6 provinces throughout the country.  At the same time Sipora would become Director of the Jewish old age home in Arhem where she would be loved and respected by residents and employees alike.   After years of hard work between the 2 of the them, and setting themselves up for their senior years, Nardus and Sipora would retire, first to the Dutch seaside town of Zandvoort and later to Boynton Beach, Florida.

On June 13 of this year it will be 10 years since my father Nardus Groen passed away.  I’ve learned this about my mother during the time since his death.  This is in many ways my mother Sipora’s 5th life.  The first life, the most innocent and peaceful was the one she lived till the age of 13 when she lost her mother.  The second was the next 5 years, a time of peace in Europe but a time of both love and difficulty for Sipora.   The 3rd, and unquestionably the hardest was the 5 years of the war, a time we can try to comprehend but never fully understand.  The 4th were the relatively normal but still often very difficult years following the war, where she and Nardus worked hard and sacrificed to raise 5 children, experiencing all the trials and tribulations any family would during decades of normal life.  This was the longest of her lives to date as it would last till the death of Nardus over 60 years later.

The 5th life, and in some ways the most remarkable one is the one she is living now.  It is the life she has lived since my father’s death 10 years ago.  On January 1st Sipora Groen turned 95 years old.  This is a woman who reinvented herself upon becoming a widow while simultaneously honoring the memory of the man she still loves today.  She drives, she shops, she host Mahjong games, threw her own 95th birthday party on her own insistence, takes plane and train rides alone, is an active member of her synagogue and even has her own Facebook account. But what is most remarkable is the love of life she displays and the warmth she shows for family and friends, a warmth that can only be credited to a strength of will and character unimaginable to most of us.

In those moments when I would feel unreasonable self-pity I would sometimes ask myself, why can’t I be that guy?  The guy born into money with no worries, or the guy with incredible talent recognized by millions, or that person living the charmed life where very little ever goes wrong.  But not so long ago I realized I am that guy, because I am the son of a 95 year old mother who you just read about and who not only has gone through and achieved everything I wrote about, but has the incredible state of mind to enjoy it and share her joys with those around her.   You want to recognize someone admirable on International Woman’s Day, you need go no further than my mother, Sipora Groen.

 

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