A video sent to me by my former rebbetzin. This would have been perfect to show my fourth graders.
One of the ways we discussed “looking Jewish” was by my going from student to student, and telling them which ones I think would have been able to hide in Nazi Germany, and which would have been taken by the Nazis. It really hit home to them that people would judge them so much by simple appearance.
I don’t look Jewish, either. And when my Star of David is not standing out from my shirt, that’s when I hear the unchecked anti-Semitism of the world.
Whenever I visit Europe I always get asked where I’m from – I’m blue-eyed, brown-haired and white, and my nose doesn’t fit the stereotype. I speak English fluently, but with a slight accent that, while it’s impossible to miss, is also very hard to pin down for those not in the know.
I tell the people asking me to guess. So far they always guessed German. I then laugh in their faces, because I couldn’t ask for a better validation that their prejudices on what a Jew looks like are utter BS.
Awesome video. Thanks.
I don’t look especially Jewish either-and my late father could have been a model for an SS recruiting poster. I tease my half-Jewish son that he looks much more ‘Jewish’ than I do. I feel ashamed. He should be proud of that.