Words of the Week: Dara Horn
“It’s apparently in poor taste to point out why people like Mr. Simentov wind up as ‘Last Jews’ to begin with: People decided they no longer wanted to live with those who weren’t exactly like themselves. Nostalgic stories about Last Jews mask a much larger and darker reality about societies that were once ethnic and religious mosaics, but are now home to almost no one but Arab Muslims, Lithuanian Catholics or Han Chinese. It costs little to wax nostalgic about departed Jews when one lives in a place where diversity, rather than being a living human challenge, is a fairy tale from the past.”
Source: Dara Horn, “What Happens When the Last Jew Leaves Afghanistan” (The New York Times)
Yes. I was pleased that the New York Times featured her editorial. The first part of the title of her new book, “People Love Dead Jews: Reports From a Haunted Present,” captured exactly what I’ve been feeling but couldn’t articulate until she did. I am not happy to say this, I feel sorrowful. But it’s good to have it out there.
Yes, I think she’s captured something that a lot of us have been feeling….