Haters Gonna Hate

I’m no hip-hop maven but from what I gather Kanye West, now referred to as “Ye,” had a pretty successful music career.

Which is why it's a shame he’s given up his day job in lieu of spewing rabid antisemitism.

In case you've been living under a rock, Kanye West has taken to blaming “The Jews” for the shortcomings in his life. Today, he took it a step further and gave Hitler the thumbs up.

Sadly, word on the street is the artist-turned-nazi suffers from a mental illness. But that doesn’t minimize his ridiculous and dangerous rants.

Whether he peddles music that makes you feel your age, or hate-filled conspiracy theories, millions of people are hanging on to his every word.

In my line of work, I have the honorable job of trolling these A+ humans online. I’ve descended down one too many antisemitic rabbit holes, and I’m both tickled and disturbed by what I found.

For one, if we do indeed control the world, I want in. But considering I can barely remember my ATM pin and get blocked from withdrawing cash at least once a month, my ties to the world's banking system are dubious at best.

And the next time someone steals my parking spot I want that space laser out in full force. Full force. While we’re on it, “Ye,” I’m dreading a flight to Israel with 5 kids in economy, but your little ones sure do look cozy in that private jet of yours. Who’s ruling who now?!

Come Sukkot time, it would definitely help if we controlled the weather. But judging by the myriad of Jewish families sitting outside in their raincoats, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

But being ridiculous doesn’t make these assertions benign. On the contrary, it almost seems like the more ridiculous an idea is, the more likely the cult masses will glob onto it.

Kanye’s dangerous posts were met with disturbing affirmations. Shortly after, basketballer Kyrie Irving shared a link to a video insinuating blacks are the real Jews. Before we knew it, black Israelites were storming the streets of New York in matching purple sweatshirts.

Hateful signs were strung up like Hannukah decorations, and our frenemies broke bread at Mar-a-Lago.

Ye enlisted the services of alt-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos who similarly asserts Jews control the world (so much for originality), and uses passwords like “Kristall,” a reference to Kristallnacht. (If that's what makes you remember how to get into your PayPal, you gotta be some level of sick).

White supremacist and alt-right media personality Nick Fuentes also joined the team, and if you thought comparing Jews in gas chambers to burnt cookies was just a tad too guache, you thought wrong.

What are we supposed to make of all this? We live in a time when Jews enjoy unprecedented freedoms and blessings in America, but every time I look at the news we read about an alarming increase in antisemitism.

As a Jew, living in an obviously Jewish neighborhood, I struggle with my own feelings, my sense of absurdity and fear.

Am I scared? Yes—at times.

Does my heart break when my 10-year-old is harassed minutes from our house for wearing a yarmulke? Of course.

Have I fully recovered from wondering if my husband and kids would return from shul when the biggest antisemitic attack in American history took place around the corner from our house? No.

But honestly, what's a Jew to do?

The Israeli journalists reporting on the World Cup can shed light. They were surprised by the hate they received in Qatar. The second they mentioned they were from Israel, fans walked away, refused to comment, and, in some cases, harassed them.

One Israeli reporter said he couldn't wait to get back to our homeland, where he felt safe and welcome. It made him realize how important it was for us to be united in the face of external hate.

Perhaps there is one good thing to come from all this absurdity.

It is an ongoing reminder that we Jews are stronger together because people like Kanye West don’t care if you are an Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform Jew. They don’t care if you vote red or blue, or whether you drive a Tesla or a beat-up minivan…

The Kanyes of the world want to “go Death con 3” on all of us … whatever that means.