Scan barcode
A review by sharonrosenbergscholl
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Noa Tishby, Emmanuel Acho
5.0
I have been waiting for this book and even as I started reading it, I didn’t know it was the book I’d been waiting for.
With the rise of anti-semitism over the last year and watching otherwise progressive minded people exuse, or even advocate for and celebrate the slaughter of Jews, I had been wishing there was a book that could make visible the antisemitism that is baked into so much of our world and cultures, the way some pivotal books have make visible the racism that is all around us.
This is that book. Through their conversations, asking and answering uncomfortable questions, and not always agreeing, this book can do for non-Jews what The New Jim Crow, White Fragility, What It Means to be White and How to be an Antiracist did for me and so many other white folks. It can help folks see what is happening around them and help them to do less harm, if they choose to do so.
I have one complaint only about the book:
In the section where they discuss an incident in which Jamie Foxx posted something that seemed antisemitic but that wasn’t his intention, I was just wishing they would have made the needed connections between intention and impact, which are so important for white people to understand, but so often set aside when we talk about antisemitism.
When learning about my own racism I found it really important to understand that my intention does not matter more than my impact. If I were to post something that was not intended to be racist but that caused racist pain to people of color I would expect that I should listen and learn about the impact of my actions, and apologize for the impact of my actions. I would hope I would understand that the pain I caused is real even if I had no intention to do so.
That seems missing when people say or do antisemitic things and cause pain and harm. I would like that same concept to be a part of the conversation because I think it’s important here too. When someone causes pain through antisemitic words or actions, that matters. And if that was not their intention, that does not give them a pass or mean that they did not cause pain.
And I think it goes both ways. I also appreciate understanding that as a white person in the US I have breathed in racism and that I will think, say and do racist things. And also that I can keep learning and do better. I found it a relief to learn to think about racism not as a binary that I am or am not, but as something I can’t avoid having absorbed, living in the racism society I do. And so it is my responsibility to learn and keep working to do better. It’s not my fault but it is my responsibility.
I feel like as Jews we don’t take that long view too often and someone who does or says one antisemitic thing is labeled an antisemite as a static unchanging thing, in a way we would not want to be labeled as a racist as a static unchanging thing. I wish the book had talked about that. Especially in that part about the Jamie Foxx posting.
But that is my one complaint. This book does so much good and explains so much and is not long, dense or hard to read.
I hope this book is read far and wide and helps people to feel changed the way other books mentioned above have had a similarly huge impact on me and so many others
With the rise of anti-semitism over the last year and watching otherwise progressive minded people exuse, or even advocate for and celebrate the slaughter of Jews, I had been wishing there was a book that could make visible the antisemitism that is baked into so much of our world and cultures, the way some pivotal books have make visible the racism that is all around us.
This is that book. Through their conversations, asking and answering uncomfortable questions, and not always agreeing, this book can do for non-Jews what The New Jim Crow, White Fragility, What It Means to be White and How to be an Antiracist did for me and so many other white folks. It can help folks see what is happening around them and help them to do less harm, if they choose to do so.
I have one complaint only about the book:
In the section where they discuss an incident in which Jamie Foxx posted something that seemed antisemitic but that wasn’t his intention, I was just wishing they would have made the needed connections between intention and impact, which are so important for white people to understand, but so often set aside when we talk about antisemitism.
When learning about my own racism I found it really important to understand that my intention does not matter more than my impact. If I were to post something that was not intended to be racist but that caused racist pain to people of color I would expect that I should listen and learn about the impact of my actions, and apologize for the impact of my actions. I would hope I would understand that the pain I caused is real even if I had no intention to do so.
That seems missing when people say or do antisemitic things and cause pain and harm. I would like that same concept to be a part of the conversation because I think it’s important here too. When someone causes pain through antisemitic words or actions, that matters. And if that was not their intention, that does not give them a pass or mean that they did not cause pain.
And I think it goes both ways. I also appreciate understanding that as a white person in the US I have breathed in racism and that I will think, say and do racist things. And also that I can keep learning and do better. I found it a relief to learn to think about racism not as a binary that I am or am not, but as something I can’t avoid having absorbed, living in the racism society I do. And so it is my responsibility to learn and keep working to do better. It’s not my fault but it is my responsibility.
I feel like as Jews we don’t take that long view too often and someone who does or says one antisemitic thing is labeled an antisemite as a static unchanging thing, in a way we would not want to be labeled as a racist as a static unchanging thing. I wish the book had talked about that. Especially in that part about the Jamie Foxx posting.
But that is my one complaint. This book does so much good and explains so much and is not long, dense or hard to read.
I hope this book is read far and wide and helps people to feel changed the way other books mentioned above have had a similarly huge impact on me and so many others