{"id":104579,"date":"2023-05-26T17:05:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T15:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=104579"},"modified":"2023-05-26T13:59:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T11:59:26","slug":"02-05-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=104579","title":{"rendered":"Mount Sinai at West Point"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Mount Sinai at West Point<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n


\nDARA HORN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Remarks from Dara Horn to the 18 graduating Jewish cadets of the class of 2023 United States Military Academy.<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

.
\n\u2018The West Point Jewish community is the greatest story of Jewish life on a college campus that nobody knows about\u2019MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO\/GETTY IMAGES<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

On Wednesday, Tablet contributor Dara Horn<\/em> delivered the following remarks at the United States Military Academy at West Point to a gathering of about 100 Jewish West Point cadets, faculty, officers, alumni, veterans, and families and friends, celebrating the 18 Jewish graduating cadets of the West Point class of 2023.<\/em><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

It is an enormous honor to be here today to wish you Mazal Tov on this beautiful moment in your lives, and in the shared life of our country. Normally a graduation speaker is supposed to offer new graduates a dose of wisdom and guidance. I\u2019m supposed to advise you all to wear sunscreen, make mistakes, and live life to the fullest.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

But the truth is that looking at all of you graduates, along with all the alumni, officers, faculty, veterans, and the families and friends gathered here who have poured their hearts into supporting you during these challenging years and the even more challenging years ahead, during which you have all dedicated your lives to defending our democracy, I feel completely outclassed by every person in this room. What can I possibly say to you that you don\u2019t already know?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

You are all already deeply aware of what many other college graduates only learn after years of aimlessly stumbling through life, which is that a life of meaning only comes from service to others. Compared to your peers graduating from other colleges around the country, you have all spent the last four years being extremely focused and extremely devoted. And to say something less graduation-worthy, you\u2019ve also spent these years being extremely uncomfortable, and extremely uncool.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

I can\u2019t pretend to understand your experience, but I do know the profound value of being uncool and uncomfortable\u2014and so does every Jew who has ever lived during the last 3,000 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

Growing up in our pluralistic American society, many of us were taught a clunky lesson by well-meaning people who wanted us to respect our neighbors. The way we were often taught this important value was by someone essentially telling us, \u201cSee this group of people over here that you might be prejudiced against? You shouldn\u2019t hate those people, because they\u2019re just like you and me. They\u2019re just like everybody else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

But the problem is that Jews have spent the past 3,000 years not being like everyone else. Uncoolness is Judaism\u2019s brand, going back to the ancient Near East, where everyone else was worshiping a Marvel Cinematic Universe of sexy deities, and the Jews were like the losers in the school cafeteria, praying to their bossy, unsexy invisible God. And over many centuries as a minority in places around the world, Jews have made the choice over and over again to remain uncomfortable: to distinguish themselves from their neighbors in any number of ways, to cling to those distinctions and, over the course of their lives, to learn and understand what those distinctions really mean. They made that choice even when they had easier options, and even when it meant risking their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I do know the profound value of being uncool and uncomfortable\u2014and so does every Jew who has ever lived during the last 3,000 years.