Dylan Shore
Times of Israel, Apr. 15, 2025
“Why are we so ignorant to think that this does not include us?”
For thousands of years, the Jewish people gathered around their Seder tables and recounted the story of Exodus. The story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery to their promised land of Israel. A story that had been told for thousands of years before simply saying the name of the country became a hot-button issue. While every year I contemplate the story and the broader history, trials, and tribulations of Jewish history, This year, I have found myself unable to focus on anything but the present and the future. It is hard to read the cliff notes for Exodus and the past year and a half and not see similarities. The revival of the phrase “let my people go” brings a stark reminder that whether we are referring to the desert landscape of the Sinai and Negev or the forests around Treblinka, we as a people are never out of the woods quite yet.
Growing up in Ottawa, I had quite a normal childhood. Just as most Jewish Canadian children in the 90s experienced, I would spend my time watching cartoons, playing road hockey, and biking around the neighbourhood with my friends, oblivious to the understanding amongst the adults about the large asterisk beside the Canadian portion of my identity. As is normal in the coming of age of every Jew, I eventually learned of the history of my people and about the asterisk. The asterisk that indicates while the Canadian portion of my identity is very real, the Jewish portion is what is written in a bold font and underlined. That this is the portion of my identity that will stand out amongst the populace. That this is the portion of my identity which can provide me with both immense pride and, simultaneously, an unbelievably heavy burden to carry. A burden that will be dismissed as imaginary, as paranoia, and as a way of keeping oneself on the outside of society looking in rather than integrating. A burden that only a fellow Jew will comprehend and meet with a silent nod of understanding.
During my childhood, I grew up in an extremely culturally diverse environment. During my tenure at my elementary school, I met people from all cultures across the world and was taught that this was our strength as Canadians. A belief that our country is a collective of all the strengths of the world, and while we had our own cultures, religions, and beliefs, we shared the commonality of the red maple leaf and an understanding that our identity was Canadian first, and then where we were from or what we believe, and not the other way around…..SOURCE