The Jewish bank
von zeev avrahamiOn Sunday, in one of these days that the weather in Berlin, just like a girl before an important date, didn’t decide what it wants to look like. I was alone and went out to our balcony on the fourth floor, overlooking the flatness of Mitte. My neighbor was out smoking a cigarette. I apologized for any noises that our baby Maya was making in weird hours. He told me not to worry about it. I told him where I come from and so did he. I told him that my wife is German and works as a journalist. He told me that his wife is also a journalist working in PR. I swollowed my saliva. As a journalist, lately, we have to carry a lot of insults.
He told me that they read two newspapers every day, and about his brother who went to visit Israel only to meet people with the same family name as theirs.
He asked how I like the apartment, and I answered that we really like the two balconies, and it is not as noisy as our old apartment and that we were looking for a bigger place, but we found this place OK. He asked and I answered that we didn’t have enough money to afford bigger flats that we saw.
“But you Jews always have a lot of money”, he said.
The few rays of sun were completely completely defeated by the moving clouds now. I looked down and told myself to shut up, to let it go, to take a big breath.
“And you know we are hiding it in our noses”, I said.
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24.02.2010 um 14:02 |
Kategorien: educated anti-Semitism | Tags:
I first visited Berlin in February 2002. One of the first things I saw was: one synagogue, two policemen in front of it, one armoed tank and two prostitutes in white ski suits. And I thought to myself: this is a good place to get to know yourself.
germans are putzes, you knew this.
hello Zeev
I just want to say welcome to Berlin, and remember what your mother
said…”don`t argue over anything” …but that is very difficult not to do……
shalom
Matthias Jurisch
You ought to “swollow” more then just your saliva!
funny and sad
Best of all possible answers. 4.0 for Mr. Avrahami.
Ha ha ha ha.
Your reply is all, but not funny.
>>But you Jews always have a lot of money<<
If someone tells you what you know to be true in many cases but not in yours, it leaves you feeling like a failure – especially if you usually consider yourself a clever and able person. I know this feeling all too well.
If I, for one, meant to insult you, I would most likely resort to calling you a DESERTER – while being aware that you who would wear such an insult as a badge of honour.
Z,
Sometimes I wonder what it is inside of you that causes this kind of attention to seek you out. Sure, maybe his comment was made as a joke, but you’re such a sensitive and questioning person that i wonder if you just read far too much into things. On the outside you are the most dynamic and friendly person I’ve ever met next to my Father whom I admire very much. Just like you he can walk into a shop, make a friend, and come back with an hour long story about what happened. But you on the other hand care greatly about what the other person is thinking.
I wonder, should you really be looking into his stupid remark or how you somehow have this magic to strike up a conversation with a total stranger? Most people do not have this gift. But most people also don’t ponder about the world as much as you do. Chances are he just went back inside and thought little of this conversation. Perhaps he just thought “what a nice neighbor”?
John
Tom can you be more clear? I didn’t understand what did you say about “what I know to be true” and about the deserter part.
John,
Thank you very much, I didn’t know all these things about myself.
I think that you are right, but I do have the obligation, even to myself, to write about these incidents. I think this is the curse of Journalism–that you always have to put yourself in the opposition. On the other hand I did have a nice conversation with him and I wrote about it, and actually I wish that he wouldn’t make this remark at all, even as a joke
I have to admit: a comment like that could easily have come from my mouth as well (ok, maybe not in our first conversation and of course in a way that shows it was meant as a joke). Just meaning something like “I’m aware of this stereotype and I know it’s bloody stupid”.
Sometimes jokes like that (or worse) help to bridge the “communication gap” between people. For example, a Israeli friend of mine started our first conversation ever with one of the most tasteless jokes about the Holocaust I ever heard. It was his way to say “the past shouldn’t get between us” … and of course he also wanted to see how I would react on that.
Karsten, you are absolutely right and absolutely wrong!!
I think that Jokes are a great bridge and cure for the past, but he didn’t say it in a joking way.
What was your Israeli friend joke?
I can give you one: Do you know why Hitler killed himself?
Honestly I prefer not to repeat this joke in public. You never know, maybe one day I want to become chancelor (or worse, need “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!” as a last chance to restart my career) . Let’s just say it involved Auschwitz, bereaved jewish children and a piece of soap …
However, as a joke it was bad and tasteless, as a start up for a friendship a great thing (even if this friendship from time to time involves grown up Israeli men giggling like schoolgirls because they lured the stupid German with innocent words into saying something involving the word “shower”).
But tell me … why did Hitler killed himself?
You neighbour wants to get along with you well. – Baby crying – doesn’t matter. Journalist – coincidence with Journalist wife. – From Israel – brother has a strong need to visit this country even if it is often seen as a dangerous conflict place. So I guess he enjoyed your conversation.
I think he has a way to simplify his view of live that is slightly prejudiced.
bakers are fat , women can cook, politicians lie, Jews have practice in enlarge their wealth.
Be carefull not to feel hurt just because you expect the other to hurt you.
People do communicative mistakes that aren’t heartfelt if they are unsecure and nervous about the relation to the other.
And a woman might say to her man: its not the dress that you don’t like. If you are honest you would admit that I have a fat ass and you think I’m ugly. (But thats prejudice about the woman)