I Hide

By: Jeffrey Farek

Sports and Health Editor

I Hide

      I will often tell someone I am Jewish.

      Just as often, I decide against it.

     

      I hide my faith when I don’t feel like bringing it up.

      I hide my faith so I won’t feel uncomfortable or scared.

     

      I hide my faith because I’m not very religious.

      I hide my faith because my temple was bombed by white supremacists in       the 1950’s.

     

      I hide my faith from people I don’t know very well.

      I hide my faith because Jews were the victims of 54% of hate crimes in       2016.

 

5    I hide my faith from people wearing a Confederate flag.

      I hide my faith because that flag marched through Charlottesville, Virginia      in 2017.

     

      I hide my faith because 11 Jews were murdered for their faith in        Pittsburgh in 2018.

      I hide my faith because I don’t want that to happen to me.

     

      I hide my faith when someone makes a joke about Hitler.

      I hide my faith because Holocaust deniers still exist.

     

      I hide my faith because I don’t have to share.

      I hide my faith because I wish I didn’t have to worry about it.

     

      I hide my faith when the person I’m talking to is anti-Israel.

      I hide my faith because I care about my people.

 

10   I hide my faith when the person I’m talking to is pro-Israel.

       I hide my faith because I care about their people, too.

     

      I hide my faith because I don’t want to distract from the problems facing other minorities.

      I hide my faith because I’m unwilling to admit my people also have problems that need to be addressed.

     

      I hide my faith because it’s not important.

      I hide my faith because a white man is more privileged than a Jew.

     

      I hide my faith.

      I hide my faith because on the first day of high school, a classmate told me he hates  Jews.

     

      I hid my faith.

      I hid my faith at Dachau because I didn’t want their sympathy.

 

15  I feel guilty for hiding my faith.

      I feel guilty because my ancestors had to hide, and I’m lucky to have the choice.

     

      I will hide my faith again.

      I will hide my faith again because I learned not to announce my presence.

     

      I refuse to let history repeat itself.

      And I’m afraid because it already has.

     

      Next, they’ll come for you –

      And who will be left to speak out for you?

 

If you would like to know more about each couplet, please look below for context:

1 https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/6577/jewish/Text-of-Al-Chet.htm

3 https://www.the-temple.org/bombing

4 https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/statistics-on-religious-hate-crimes

5 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/nazis-racism-charlottesville/536928/

6 https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/28/us/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-victims/index.html

7 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/05/the-world-is-full-of-holocaust-deniers

9 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/anti-israel-behavior-is-anti-semitic-vandalized

10 https://www.jta.org/2018/10/19/news-opinion/the-telegraph/majority-american-jews-say-can

11 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/us/migrant-children-detention.html

14 https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-overview-of-dachau

15 https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-9/survival-hiding

17 http://www2.philly.com/philly/news/refugees-ship-st-louis-1939-germany-nazis-cuba-trump

18 https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the