Anytime I hear haters of Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Asians or any other group, I have this urge to rattle off a list of things they should avoid. You know, to keep their hate authentic and consistent.
Don’t like the Jews?
Then stop using your cell phone, toss your kid’s teddy bear into the trash, don’t use a laser pointer for your anti-Semitic PowerPoint presentations, sell your stainless-steel appliances, go get yourself some polio and stop using Google to search for your favorite anti-Jewish conspiracy theory.
Hate Black people?
Turn off your radio, throw away your stylish clothes, run through those traffic lights and wreck your car, stop using a microphone at your racist events, avoid all food that arrived on refrigerated trucks, and don’t ever answer “call waiting.” You deserve a good ol’ fashioned busy signal, anyway.
You think gay people are to blame for Hurricane Katrina?
Then throw away your computer. Don’t go to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. Stop buying Apple products. And let’s go back in time to Europe and reverse the use of the potato to eradicate famine that saved your ancestors. Now there’s an idea.
This brings me to bagels.
A few months ago, I asked one of my closest friends to grab bagels and lox with me. He couldn’t go that day, but his response surprised me.
“Lox? Never had it. What exactly is it?”
My friend is heavily invested in equity in education and is involved in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts throughout society. A tireless champion of positive change. How could he of all people not have tried it?
“How can one of your closest friends in the world be Jewish and you’ve never tried lox?” I demanded to know.
His response was right on target.
“That’s your fault. You never introduced it to me.”
So one morning before work, I picked up the best bagel and lox in Denver from Rosenberg’s Bagels, drove to his house, and proudly handed him my Jewish food. While it took some time for him to get used to the unique texture of cold, cured, smoked salmon, problem solved.
I reminded him of some texture-challenging foods in the Black community — can you say chiltlins — and we shared a laugh.
The history of bagels is quite interesting.
While there are competing theories on how bagels came to be, the most likely one is that they originated in Jewish communities in Poland centuries ago when Jews were banned from baking bread.
Sounds bizarre, I know, but this came from the belief that Jews were enemies of the Catholic Church and should be denied any bread because of the connection between bread, Jesus and the sacrament.
Don’t you just love when religion brings people together?
As far back as the 13th century, there are records of Polish Catholic bishops prohibiting Christians from buying anything baked by Jews.
So Jews created the bagel, which is boiled and not baked. At least the real kind. Oh, those sneaky Jews.
Its round shape was believed to bring good luck during childbirth and a long life for the baby. That magical notion was actually written into regulations in Krakow, Poland in 1610. It’s the same shape Jews use for the special Challah bread made for the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, to symbolize a full and complete year ahead.
The word bagel [beygal] itself means ring or bracelet in Yiddish.
When Jews emigrated to America, most of them in the 20th century, they brought their Jewish bagels with them.
Bagels, which Americans spend nearly $1 billion a year on, represent Jewish perseverance through hard times and tell the story of triumph over tragedy.
But they also remind us why it’s important to learn our collective histories and gain an appreciation for what we all bring to the table. Even the breakfast table.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
 White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism |
 Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box |
 The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer |
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Photo credit: Henk Op ‘t Einde on Unsplash
