Anti-YEmitisim

We have actual work to do today, it’s the end of the semester grading is coming out of our ears, and yet here we are sitting down to write a follow-up note to yesterday’s post. Why? Because Aviv Alush is wackier than we estimated. Yesterday, in our first post, we discussed actor Aviv Alush’s wacky Instagram feed. Today Aviv posted his weekly reflection on the Torah portion accompanied by a picture of him in a Purim costume from a few years ago, dressed as Kanye West. Which means, if you haven’t already figured it out by now, that Aviv just posted a photograph of himself on Instagram in blackface. Israeli comedy uses blackface with troubling regularity and no real self-reflection - it appears now and again on the popular sketch comedy show Eretz Nehederet, as well as other venues, without critique or comment. But that’s not enough for our Aviv! His blackface costume becomes the starting point for a reflection on the parsha, which features a reconciliation between Jacob and his brother Esau, and the subject of hatred. This leads him to consider the continued prevalence of antisemitism, including Ye’s, and his hope that it will bring the world’s Jews together, since, as he claims, “the enemy unites us.” One of the unfortunate side-effects of prominent American celebrities like Ye spouting antisemitic conspiracy theories is that it has inspired a number of Israeli celebrities, who like most Israelis know little about diaspora Jewish life and have an incomplete understanding of antisemitism and its impact on diaspora Jews, to respond to this perceived threat in a variety of unhelpful ways. The superstar singer and Eurovision 2023 representative Noa Kirel recently appeared at the European MTV Image Awards in an outfit printed with Kanye West’s face, adorned with Stars of David dangling from gold chains, in an apparent statement of protest. Yet many observers, most of whom had no idea who Noa Kirel was, were confused by the outfit. Some even read it as a statement of support for Ye. 

Aviv’s post confirms how little Israeli concern about diaspora antisemitism is about the welfare of actual diaspora Jews with a not-so-subtle dig at us (he doesn’t like the diaspora in general, but no worries, because moshiach will take care of it), asserting that 80% of Jews outside of Israel are assimilated (no, he does not define the term “assimilated” or provide sources, unsurprisingly). All very strange from a man who signs all of his posts “hashtag ve’ahavta.” Sigh. That etrog jam better be really tasty.