May it be that the times in which we live are a small rise into the extremes humans have been known to go to, and that a return to knowing good, wonder, and awe return in full force.
I came to your blog because of music. Perhaps it's what is in the music which we, and survivors of unspeakable traumas, live for. Deep beauty, some resonance of what it means to be fully alive. Live your life.
While I have real sympathy for your concerns, I have to say that you come off in this column as no less hysterical than Gene Wilder's character Leopold Bloom in the movie "The Producers." (Can we find Mr. Goldfine his blue-blanket - please?) The current U.S. President seems to have made his feelings for Jews and the state of Israel - in some instances measured by the ton if not megaton - sufficiently clear to most people, though obviously not to you.
Is the march of the tiki wielding crowd in Charlottesville worse than the American Nazi party's march through Skokie? (And did that march usher in a tidal-wave of horrifying violence against American Jews? Did it cause Jews to be herded into camps. as you now suggest may be just around the corner?)
Vigilance about this perennial hatred against Jews is always appropriate. But paranoia is not. Remember: yes, paranoids may have actual enemies. But paranoids also create enemies.
And I have seen, with my own eyes, many American citizens stand against this and other forms hate.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...
The ACLU (loaded with Jewish attorneys) fought to protect the KKK's right to march through Skokie. And we were fortunate that the country laughed them off. We have been lucky to not have experience catastrophic internal religious violence (I'm excepting 9/11 here), though the demons have been creeping back. The guy who shot up the Pittsburgh synagogue was animated by Soros conspiracies. The attempted mass murderer of a Jewish nursery school in Michigan this year is not a great sign. And it's a worse sign that one of the state's senate candidates tried to contextualize away that violence.
Yes, I've got my passport and not a blankie, but acting like Pollyanna is not a great strategy either.
I can see this was written with respect, despite your poking at me. Be well.
It was good of you to respond to my post in such detail. Thank you.
To other, musical matters. I just received as a present the studio recordings of the complete Mahler symphonies with the London Philharmonic, conducted by Klaus Tennstedt. (I have all of Uncle Lenny's recordings, and many other sets besides.) What are your feelings about the Mahler symphonies? And do you have a favorite set?
I don’t know the Tennstedt recording. I’ll check it out.
Mahler is great of course! The works that I like best are the second and fifth symphonies (normie take), and Das Lied van der Erde. Like you I know Bernsteins recordings best, and Quasthoff sings Mahler beautifully with Boulez. I’ve also listened to Solti’s set but overall I am not super deep into Mahler. Another normie take: I feel like a lot of the symphonies go on too long …)
I have a near-daily debate with myself about whether I’m being paranoid or complacent. But the trader in me thinks it’s usually right to buy cheap puts.
In this case I’d be glad to see them be nothing but rip-ups.
Everything is good down here in NC. Not sure I can make it up to NY in October unfortunately; we have a lot going on this fall. Hope all is well with you and the family.
Much of my life was lived as an Episcopal organist/choirmaster, which gave me the privilege of playing lots of Bach, and on a very few occasions shepherding the volunteer choir through cantatas, which were at the utmost reach of their capacity. But so were some of the organ works for me. I am now retired.
My parish was liberal, priding itself on being open and inclusive. Which meant in practice that my support for Israel was not acceptable. I am sorry to say that after a few bad encounters with people I thought I could share ideas with, I kept my mouth shut. I loved my work and would otherwise have lost my job. I did lose some friends.
I emphasize that these are good people. I try to be one, too.
Gratitude to the previous generation who fought to enact laws in Poland, Germany, and probably a few other places to make it possible for you to get a passport. And praise for the men and women who gave their lives so that there is a State of Israel. We are seeing in our time what Herzl saw in France, how quickly a fine civilized country can turn into something quite different.
Keep your passport up to date. I pray that you will never need it.
Andrew, this is thoughtful and kind, thanks. I am lucky to have had largely positive experiences around the world, with religious people and non-religious people. This was of course made possible by the liberal order we've all created over the past few centuries, of which I'm sincerely hoping we're not past the peak. Things feel unsteady to say the least.
And how lucky of you to have gotten to immerse your life in Bach's music with enthusiastic amateurs. What a privilege, a gift through the centuries, and even a sideways proof of the divine.
It certainly sounds to me like you're trying to justify violence against innocents. In the USA, synagogues are being burned, Jews gunned down and set afire in the streets, someone tried to run a truck into a Jewish nursery school. These things are actually happening. You seem keen to brush them all off. If that makes me insane or immoral, in your words, well, I'll take it.
May it be that the times in which we live are a small rise into the extremes humans have been known to go to, and that a return to knowing good, wonder, and awe return in full force.
I came to your blog because of music. Perhaps it's what is in the music which we, and survivors of unspeakable traumas, live for. Deep beauty, some resonance of what it means to be fully alive. Live your life.
Thank you for your moving piece.
Thank you. And yes -- music is the great consolation.
Moving and touching. Thank you for sharing this
While I have real sympathy for your concerns, I have to say that you come off in this column as no less hysterical than Gene Wilder's character Leopold Bloom in the movie "The Producers." (Can we find Mr. Goldfine his blue-blanket - please?) The current U.S. President seems to have made his feelings for Jews and the state of Israel - in some instances measured by the ton if not megaton - sufficiently clear to most people, though obviously not to you.
Is the march of the tiki wielding crowd in Charlottesville worse than the American Nazi party's march through Skokie? (And did that march usher in a tidal-wave of horrifying violence against American Jews? Did it cause Jews to be herded into camps. as you now suggest may be just around the corner?)
Vigilance about this perennial hatred against Jews is always appropriate. But paranoia is not. Remember: yes, paranoids may have actual enemies. But paranoids also create enemies.
And I have seen, with my own eyes, many American citizens stand against this and other forms hate.
All the best to you and yours.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...
The ACLU (loaded with Jewish attorneys) fought to protect the KKK's right to march through Skokie. And we were fortunate that the country laughed them off. We have been lucky to not have experience catastrophic internal religious violence (I'm excepting 9/11 here), though the demons have been creeping back. The guy who shot up the Pittsburgh synagogue was animated by Soros conspiracies. The attempted mass murderer of a Jewish nursery school in Michigan this year is not a great sign. And it's a worse sign that one of the state's senate candidates tried to contextualize away that violence.
Yes, I've got my passport and not a blankie, but acting like Pollyanna is not a great strategy either.
I can see this was written with respect, despite your poking at me. Be well.
It was good of you to respond to my post in such detail. Thank you.
To other, musical matters. I just received as a present the studio recordings of the complete Mahler symphonies with the London Philharmonic, conducted by Klaus Tennstedt. (I have all of Uncle Lenny's recordings, and many other sets besides.) What are your feelings about the Mahler symphonies? And do you have a favorite set?
Again, all the best to you.
I don’t know the Tennstedt recording. I’ll check it out.
Mahler is great of course! The works that I like best are the second and fifth symphonies (normie take), and Das Lied van der Erde. Like you I know Bernsteins recordings best, and Quasthoff sings Mahler beautifully with Boulez. I’ve also listened to Solti’s set but overall I am not super deep into Mahler. Another normie take: I feel like a lot of the symphonies go on too long …)
I have a near-daily debate with myself about whether I’m being paranoid or complacent. But the trader in me thinks it’s usually right to buy cheap puts.
Yes, and may they expire worthless.
Hope you're doing well! (I hear from people on Facebook that there's a reunion in NYC in October...)
In this case I’d be glad to see them be nothing but rip-ups.
Everything is good down here in NC. Not sure I can make it up to NY in October unfortunately; we have a lot going on this fall. Hope all is well with you and the family.
Very moving.
Great writing and clear thinking. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
I had a great great grandmother named Bluma Ressler (never met her - probably died around 1930 if not before). I wonder if we are related.
Wow - related by marriage, probably! My cousin just put together the story of Murray Ressler's family: https://hershelsbunker.org/hb_alpha/
I am also here for the music.
Much of my life was lived as an Episcopal organist/choirmaster, which gave me the privilege of playing lots of Bach, and on a very few occasions shepherding the volunteer choir through cantatas, which were at the utmost reach of their capacity. But so were some of the organ works for me. I am now retired.
My parish was liberal, priding itself on being open and inclusive. Which meant in practice that my support for Israel was not acceptable. I am sorry to say that after a few bad encounters with people I thought I could share ideas with, I kept my mouth shut. I loved my work and would otherwise have lost my job. I did lose some friends.
I emphasize that these are good people. I try to be one, too.
Gratitude to the previous generation who fought to enact laws in Poland, Germany, and probably a few other places to make it possible for you to get a passport. And praise for the men and women who gave their lives so that there is a State of Israel. We are seeing in our time what Herzl saw in France, how quickly a fine civilized country can turn into something quite different.
Keep your passport up to date. I pray that you will never need it.
Andrew, this is thoughtful and kind, thanks. I am lucky to have had largely positive experiences around the world, with religious people and non-religious people. This was of course made possible by the liberal order we've all created over the past few centuries, of which I'm sincerely hoping we're not past the peak. Things feel unsteady to say the least.
And how lucky of you to have gotten to immerse your life in Bach's music with enthusiastic amateurs. What a privilege, a gift through the centuries, and even a sideways proof of the divine.
I'm sorry Evan. I have similar worries as a Jew and as the mother of a Latino child.
Thank you. You and I, I imagine, especially don't care for masked enforcers demanding people to show their papers.
Take a deep breath and read what I wrote.
(Nothing about Israel, ICE, Muslims, etc.)
Jews are being targeted, too. Why can’t you acknowledge that?
It certainly sounds to me like you're trying to justify violence against innocents. In the USA, synagogues are being burned, Jews gunned down and set afire in the streets, someone tried to run a truck into a Jewish nursery school. These things are actually happening. You seem keen to brush them all off. If that makes me insane or immoral, in your words, well, I'll take it.
Guitars are awesome, though!
Dude. With your anger (which I’m not saying is unjust), you’re kinda helping make his point.