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THE NARRATIVE ARC
My Jewish Teens Shrugged Off Musk’s Nazi Salute — I Wish They Didn’t
Three generations of my family carry different scars from the same hatred
I watch my eighteen-year-old twins under the neon glow of Chicago’s 8 Crazy Nights, a Hanukkah pop-up bar. Charlie’s voice rises above the festive music, “You have to try these,” he insists, sliding a plate of latkes toward his non-Jewish friends with the kind of ease that I never had. Next to him, Thomas points at a staff T-shirt, laughing at its “This is how we Jew it!” slogan without a hint of self-consciousness.
I am beaming with pride as they embrace their Jewish identity.
I remember being their age, carefully hiding my Jewish identity in Melbourne’s elite Christian schools. While they were comfortable with their heritage, I hid mine like a secret, afraid that it could spill out at any moment. Every casual reference to their faith makes me hold my breath, waiting for the reaction that never comes.
Three weeks later, back home in Australia, my morning coffee turns bitter as I scroll through my feed. Elon Musk is standing at Capital One Arena, attending President Trump’s inauguration, his arm raised in what many saw as a Nazi salute. “This was a fork in the road of human…
