If you want to learn about Judaism, PLEASE read Jewish sources
Google doesn't make this easy - or obvious
CW: Antisemitism. Christian Nationalism
My search algorithms might have been influenced by all the research on extremism I did for Some Kind of Hate. But still…as you’ll see, that kind of makes my point.
I was excited to learn that there would be an audiobook version of Some Kind of Hate coming out on January 17th, 2023 from Blackstone Publishing, because it opens up the audience of people who like to “read with their ears.”
But as I found when we were copyediting the print version of the book, when I tried to find versions of Hebrew prayers or phrases to send to my editor, more often than not, the first result returned to me was usually NOT a Jewish source, but rather a Messianic “Jewish” source. If you aren’t Jewish, it can be hard to tell the difference. In a few instances, I had to go onto the second page of search results to find a legitimately Jewish source -and I am Jewish and know what I’m looking for. Someone without my prior knowledge might not be able to discern an actual Jewish source from a Christian Nationalist or Messianic Jewish source - and that’s a serious information literacy problem, with potentially dangerous consequences.
An example: my late father used to say “Chazak” to me when I was down, and Jake, the Jewish character in SKOH uses it. He explains to a non-Jewish character that at the end of reading each book of the Torah, we say חזק חזק ונתחזק Chazak, chazak v’nitchazek!
When I tried to find video examples for the audiobook folks, this is what came up as the first result:
I find it odd, because it’s not even the most recent video.
Here’s a few videos from the website. Yeah…no.
If one just Googles “ Chazak” a Jewish site comes up as the first hit, but the second two are not Jewish
Hebrew for Christians at least alerts the searcher that it’s not a Jewish site, but Chazak Rescue is another story. I knew it wasn’t Jewish because of how it had transliterated the pronunciation of חזק. Not sure where they got Khaw-Zawk. And if you click on the site, it’s…something.
As soon as you see “Holy Spirit” you know we’re not talking about Judaism anymore, folks.
But even worse…I recognized the Eric Ludy video from another Google search, when during copy editing my editor asked me about Rak Chazak Amats as opposed to Chazak, chazak v’nitchazek.
Let’s turn to the prophets, and the Book of Joshua, chapter 1. The below is from Chabad.org - definitely Jewish! Chazak v’emetz is underlined, along with the translation - be strong and courageous.
There’s a sector of Christianity that seems to have latched onto this phrase, but in a toxic masculine, antisemitic way.
Look at how they’re interpreting this:
Not sure where the “be a man” part comes from.
But the Ludy video…that is really something, because it goes straight into antisemitic dog whistles - like this, which I’ve transcribed because I don’t want to link to it.
“Where’s our war cry? We don’t even know we’re at war! We don’t understand that we’re in hostile territory. It’s against principalities. It’s against the powers that are puppeteering the people…” RECORD SCRATCH!
Hold up there, buddy. Can you spell D-O-G W-H-I-S-T-L-E?
Whenever I hear people talking about “powers puppeteering” the antisemitism alarm goes off.
Why? Oh, just a few reasons….
Fox News cartoon from December 2021
Dutch Newspaper cartoon, April 2021
I could go on, “but wait! There’s MORE!” On his website, I found this book:
Um…okay - what is this guy who is clearly not a fan of us Jewish folks doing publishing a book with this cover? So I checked out the description:
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? He’s comparing the difficulties of marriage to SURVIVING THE HOLOCAUST?
(deep breaths)
Please. Use Jewish sources to learn about Judaism. And if you’re a teacher or media specialist, teach your students to do the same.
Shabbat Shalom.
Some Kind of Hate comes out on 11/1.