The Cantor

Last night I met up with my grandfather and went to the Gershman Y building to see “A Cantor’s Tale”. The documentary covered the life of a famous Jewish cantor, Jackie Mendelson. It was probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. It felt good to laugh at something no one else my age would find remotely entertaining. I realized that I’m proud to be Jewish and that I really can’t stand anti-Semitism at all. There was comfort being in a room full of people who share the same ethnicity. “Ethnic” has become a bad word in our society of equality and civil rights. People forget the difference between equality and uniformity. If everyone were to forget their heritage, forget their race and religion, all in the name of ensuring equality the world would look like Nazi Germany. The idea that everyone should try to be the same is no better than the idea that different people should be exterminated. One is a slow curve into a meaningless world; the other is a quick dive into a dictatorship that, after every opposing race was eliminated, would become that same meaningless world we’re in.