Maxim D. Shrayer found this dearth of Ukrainian solidarity with Israel both bewildering and disheartening, especially so because Israeli volunteers have been fighting for Ukraine’s freedom.
David H. Wells/Getty Images; alexis84/Getty Images
Editors’ Note:
In the weeks following the Hamas attack on Israel, Ukrainian artists and intellectuals as well as members of the Ukrainian diaspora in North America have voiced support for “the people of Palestine,” condemned Israel, and even drawn pernicious parallels between Russia’s war against Ukraine and Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Maxim D. Shrayer, author and Boston College professor who has deep roots in Ukraine, found this dearth of Ukrainian solidarity with Israel both bewildering and disheartening, especially so because Israeli volunteers have been fighting for Ukraine’s freedom. This poem is Shrayer’s way of expressing his dismay.
The war against two stubborn enemies, such as Iran and Hezbollah, has an interesting lesson to teach on obstacles created by regimes that are polar opposites.
There is something deeply cyclical about Judaism and our holidays. We return to the same story—the same words, the same questions—but we are not the same people telling it. And that changes everything.
Emma’s diary represents testimony of an America, and an American Jewish community, torn asunder during America’s strenuous effort to manifest its founding ideal of the equality of all people who were created in the image of God.
On Yom HaShoah, we speak of six million who were murdered. But I also remember the nine million who lived. Nine million Jews who got up every morning, took their children to school, and strove every day to survive, because they believed in life.
Gratitude is greatly emphasized in much of Jewish observance, from blessings before and after meals, the celebration of holidays such as Passover, a festival that celebrates liberation from slavery, and in the psalms.
The seder table itself is a model of radical welcome: we are told explicitly to invite the stranger, to make room for those who ask questions and for those who do not yet know how to ask.
The playground in Jerusalem didn’t stop antisemitism, and renovating playgrounds in New York City is not likely to stop it there, either — because antisemitism in America today is not rooted in a lack of slides or swings.
As Donald Trump continues to struggle to explain his goals there, his backers have begun casting about for scapegoats to blame for the president’s decision to enter the war. Not surprisingly, a growing number of conservative fingers are now pointing at Benjamin Netanyahu.
America’s national derangement poses myriad challenges to those not yet caught up in it. The anomie is daunting enough for the general public — if that term still makes sense in this fragmented age — and it is virtually insurmountable for the defenders of Israel.
You could despise Trump and believe he has bungled every aspect of this war and still recognize the immense value of degrading the threat of a genocidal regime that is rabidly anti-American.
The April 1 pop-up, coinciding with the first night of Passover, drew notable attendees including Princess Superstar, a Jewish rapper, singer and DJ; New York City-based Rabbi Arielle Stein; and Yiddish singer Riki Rose.
The tale of Himyar reminds us of the ongoing Jewish presence in the Middle East, its important history, but also of the danger of religion interwoven with state politics.
Israeli Soldiers in Ukraine
Maxim D. Shrayer
Editors’ Note:
In the weeks following the Hamas attack on Israel, Ukrainian artists and intellectuals as well as members of the Ukrainian diaspora in North America have voiced support for “the people of Palestine,” condemned Israel, and even drawn pernicious parallels between Russia’s war against Ukraine and Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Maxim D. Shrayer, author and Boston College professor who has deep roots in Ukraine, found this dearth of Ukrainian solidarity with Israel both bewildering and disheartening, especially so because Israeli volunteers have been fighting for Ukraine’s freedom. This poem is Shrayer’s way of expressing his dismay.
Israeli Soldiers in Ukraine
Israeli soldiers volunteering in Ukraine,
your Ukrainian accents audible in Russian
but not in Hebrew. Your faces Levantine,
your Stars of David like insignia of pain.
Israeli soldiers fighting in Ukraine,
at Soledar and Bakhmut, Kharkiv and Kherson,
in fields of ripening wheat, in valleys of stone,
in seething trenches and open terrain.
Israeli soldiers dying for Ukraine,
where your ancestors had been killed before,
could you ever imagine a Ukrainian bard
or poet crying not for Israel but for Gaza?
Maxim D. Shrayer is the author of the memoir “Immigrant Baggage” and the collection “Of Politics and Pandemics.” He teaches at Boston College.
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