I hope the title I have given myself makes you sit up. I hope it jolts you a little. I have stolen this moniker idea from the British comedian and author David Baddiel who’s book “Jews Don’t Count” is an important read. Why have I written that? Because “Jew” is my identity. At LM, I’m “the British guy”, the teacher with the funny accent who can talk endlessly about cricket and tea. But I am a Jew. That is my primary identity.

I speak as an individual, but I also speak as someone with deep roots in the Jewish community. What I say is how I feel, but it may or not speak to other Jews in the district. I am not attempting to speak for everyone. That burden is too much.

What I can say for sure is that the Jewish community is reeling. We witnessed the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Please read that sentence again. And again. Everyone in the Jewish community knows someone affected. 

And this Jew is done. I am done with niceties and apologies. I’m done with the passive Jew who doesn’t want to rock the boat. I’m done with not having antisemitism recognized. I don’t yet know how to do this properly but it needs to be done. I know I have done and said things since the massacre that may well have been “unprofessional”. My emotions are still raw. I wake every morning and cry. Either because I read about another lost family, or I see crowds in Sydney chanting “gas the Jews” and “f*** the Jews”. Or I see people who laugh and cheer when a speaker at a rally in Manhattan described how some “hipsters” were partying in the desert until Hamas showed up and murdered them…Or I witness beautiful acts of support such as the mass singing of the prayer for peace in Hebrew in Tokyo or the Hatikvah in Buenos Aires. I cry.

The district has good people in its leadership. We really do. But when exceptionally well-meaning statements came out after the massacre and did not say “Jews” or “Jewish community” I was angry. Maybe others were not, maybe others did not notice. But I did. And it hurt. However, the district leadership has been prompt in talking to me and listening and they have now shown support to the students and I thank them for hearing me. They care. 

I want to thank the colleagues that have asked me or other Jewish teachers if we are ok. I want to thank the students who have noticed I have been “off” and have just stopped at the end of class and said “Mr. Levy, are you ok?”. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. 

To the student leadership in the Jewish Students Union and Israeli Culture Club, I am in awe of you. I should be helping you, I should be your rock. It has been the other way around.

To my other colleagues. If you haven’t asked your Jewish students how they are doing I would ask you to ask yourself why you haven’t. Such a question isn’t taking sides in the Middle East, it’s looking after the welfare of our students. Our job. Students have told me that your silence hurts. I tell you this –  “War crimes and murdered toddlers are not a “complex political situation” with “arguments on both sides”.You can support Palestinian statehood (I do – Mr Levy) —in fact, you can have any opinion you want about the regional politics of the Middle East—and still believe that jihadist terrorists abducting 85-year-old Holocaust survivors should be condemned.” (Wilcenski and De Castro, Tablet Magazine) 

I am not particularly religious. My Jewishness is more cultural and ethnic. I don’t really “pray” in the traditional sense. When I say “pray for” I probably mean “hope for” or “desire”. I pray for peace. I pray for the end of antisemitism and all forms of hate. I pray for two states living alongside each other. I pray for voices to be heard.