Stolen Words, Stolen Truth |
I Called My Sister the N-Word
I was seven years old, and we were tasked with folding all the family laundry. My older sister called “underwear!” the easiest piece to fold. I was infuriated at her since she always did this, leaving all the harder pieces to us, the younger sisters. Really, I was angry she called it before me, since that was my plan, so in essence, she beat me to it, and that’s what made me angry.
Fuming and without restraint, I called her the worst thing I could think of, the worst curse word I had ever heard, without any understanding of what the word meant: the “N-Word.”
It was as if time stood still: everyone’s mouths dropped, a deafening silence fell, and finally, my mother spoke in her quiet voice, which can be more dreadful than an angry, loud voice, because it means you are in extra trouble. She was beyond words, shocked, she said, “You can wait for your father to get home, and he will punish you.”
I don’t remember if I ever got the promised punishment, but the wait made up for it. While I sat in silence on a chair, waiting for my father, I remember feeling so ashamed. I didn’t know what the word meant, but I knew I had acted wrongly. I knew I said it to be mean and to upset her. When Dad came home, he quietly asked me why I said that. I told him. He asked what does it mean. I told him I didn’t know. In the simplest language, he explained, telling me was a hateful way to talk about black people, and that it’s a way to make them feel lower and make them remember when they were slaves. Mistreated, abused, sold. I felt so embarrassed and ashamed as my very best friend was black. I would never think such a thing! I whimpered my sorrow. He hugged me.
Why do I tell this story? Because words matter. Words carry meanings, memories, agendas, and, as the writings tell us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue; Those who love it will eat its fruit” (Prov 18:21). I didn’t know what the word meant, but I knew it had the power to inflict harm. In a society where research has been dwindled to social media posts, Holocaust denial, and revisionism, and the BDS movement indoctrinating universities, many young adults parrot clips from these resources. The outcome is becoming blaringly evident: Israel and Jews have lost the “war of words.”
The weaponization of words is done in two main ways:
The willful ignorance and/or lack of knowing history, context, or use of a word can be used to inflict harm, simply because the person knows it’s “bad.” This is more of an immature attack, much like the one in my story above, and it’s done without restraint, in anger. We are experiencing the pro-Palestinians yelling things outside of synagogues, at anti-Israel protests, or Jewish events or places, calling us “baby killers and Nazis.”
The purposeful use of words known to elicit a meaning that one is trying to convey, and use it deceptively to elicit that same feeling, but to a new people, group, or situation. This is a sly propaganda tool used to rewrite the narrative.
Stealing words pregnant with deep, historical, and emotional meaning is incredibly powerful. As Jews/Israel are marginalized, the language shifts. Once the language shifts, memory shifts. Once memory shifts, beliefs follow, beliefs that rewrite history. Or in the special case of the Jew, revive antisemitism, branded with old and new strategies.
The diabolical exchange of words to promote the annihilation of Jews and of Israel appears over time and history like this:
Jews become (new) Nazis
Biblical Israel became Palestine
Judea and Samaria become the West Bank
Zionism becomes Genocidal Colonialism
These aren’t harmless. These switch-ups are politically planned and motivated to affect the masses, to villainize Israel and her supporters, to make Israel and Jews an evil that must be stopped by the “moral” warriors who care about humanity. They are used to plan for a future that is being manipulated in the present, which will cause the majority to stand against Israel.
An interesting dichotomy arises when we are attacked, threatened with annihilation, marginalized, and accused. After October 7th, we have shifted. When antisemitism rises, we rise in unity. While they pour efforts and money into erasing our biblical Jewish history, we will reclaim our history. When they boycott us, we will use our genius and create. When they degrade us as “baby killers”, we will feed our “enemies.” The clashing moves aren’t wearing us down; they’re causing us to rise up. Jews recalling their Jewishness just as we are reclaiming the names of our ancestral land. We will not sit back and allow our truth be stolen by the stealing of our words.
In this week’s parsha, Mishpatim, we see the justice system being established, along with its laws and ordinances. We are warned, “you shall not follow the majority for evil, and you shall not respond concerning a lawsuit to follow many to pervert [justice]” (Ex. 23:2). This is not just a command; it is a warning. We are being told that a majority will follow after evil, and we are to be part of the minority that doesn’t. Later, we see this idea expanded in Vayikra and Devarim, in the calibration of scales as God commands justice. He warns of corrupt measurements that cheat people. Too long we have allowed the world to deal with us in dishonest scales that are without equality and standards that exist for Israel, that don’t exist in practice for any other nation. Too long we have known, and yet we have tried appeasement because the war of words has been too powerful.
What the enemy hasn’t figured out yet is that the Judge who calibrates the eternal scales isn’t nations, isn’t popular opinions, isn’t false testimonies. It’s God. He has already spoken, and deep within many is an unrelenting fervency to answer His prophetic call by action.
Sometimes we have to war to create peace; this is that time.
Our eyes are opening to the fact that we can’t “try harder” to be seen through the right lens. No, instead, we need to shine brighter in the darkness. We have to move forward in the truth of what God says about us, our nation, and our future. We have to expect that our enemies will continue their lies and attempts at our destruction, and understand we already know how this turns out. Though many have attempted to steal not only our past but also our future with stolen words, we must act. We will continue to plant the vineyards in Judea and Samaria (Jer. 31:5). The children will continue to play in the streets of our perpetual holy city, Jerusalem (Zech. 8:5). We can be assured and courageously move forward because when He said He would bring us back, He has. When He says we will flourish and live in peace within the boundaries He has said, we will.