“There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”
The logic of antisemitism
Is the very same logic in witch ducking
When the only way the accused can prove her innocence
As she is dunked under water
Is by sinking;
If she floats she’s dead–
Of course, if she sinks she’s sunk
Another word for which is dead
So, when Mark Twain marvels at Jewish survival–
Which was already a marvel to behold
In his day before the Holocaust–
And when he asks
“What is the secret of his immortality?”
Our answer–
“It is a Tree of Life for those who hold fast to it”
(It, of course, being the Torah)–
Spotlights our Jewish conundrum
(I say conundrum because
While antisemites speak of “the Jewish Question”
Us Jews have a puzzle to solve
Like we always have
As with, for example, the Talmud)
That conundrum–
So long as Jews hold fast to the Tree of Life
They shall prove the Eternal People–
Crystallizes when we also grasp
The corollary logic of antisemitism
Which, when taken to its logical conclusion
Results in the Holocaust
Because what terrifies the anti-Semite
Is exactly what dazes Twain:
It’s the knockout combination
Of Jews believing in God by holding fast to the Tree of Life–
Bam! The impossible–
Always followed by–
Wham! The unthinkable–
God’s belief in His people
A combination exemplified in Twain’s beffudlement
Which bears repeating:
“What is the secret of his immortality?”
It is, as we said, no secret: Hold fast!
Nor is the logic of antisemitism a secret:
The only way for those accused of seeking and finding God
To prove their innocence when led to slaughter
Is by being slaughtered;
If Jews survive it can only be by the grace of God
In which case they are guilty
And must be slaughtered–
Of course, if Jews would ever give up
And demonstrate their innocence by succumbing to slaughter
They could finally be welcomed with open arms
Into the family of United Nations
If, that is, they weren’t already dead
The greatest tragedy in all of this
Is the antisemites’ failure to believe
That God believes in His people, the Jews
Because we are all His people
Every last one of us
And God will keep the light unto the nations
Alight
Until every last one of us
Follows that light home
Alighting to Him
It is our job as Jews to hold fast
Come hell or the ducking chair’s high water
Until at long last
All of every last one of us
Holds fast to one another
Within God’s embrace
