Expectations

 

 

I remember a wise man once told me – it’s all about expectations.

 

Sadly, he is right.

 

I recently read the story of Shimon Eisen, a Jew endowed with incredible strength – at fourteen he single handedly saved his town from a pogrom, beating up the ruffians – though he suffered, he was heroically recalled as the one who saved their town.

 

He later emigrated to America and became a star for bending iron bars and eventually returned to Europe for shows, only to be invited by the main family whose lives he saved and eventually married their daughter – to make a long story short, the sic Germans were impressed by his incredible strength and put him in charge of the most notorious ward 11 which was basically a holding cell for those they designated fo execution – he saved many Jews lives.

 

Fast forward to after liberation, he started performing in Israel – but some Jews who thought he was a Nazi collaborator, started to spread false rumors and newspapers eager for sensationalism quickly tarnished his name and then of course the few who knew him and his libel lawsuits against them didn’t change much.

 

He died a man, whose hands could break iron, whose loyalty to his people saved tens (AT LEAST, IF NOT HUNDREDS) of lives! but the shame ultimately caused him into a depression and he dies of a broken heart.

 

Now contrast this with his behavior on the way to the concentration camp, were the sic Nazis herded Jews into cattle cars – he broke the iron bars off the windows and hurled those young stronger males who sought to, as far as he could, so they could survive, but afterwards, he broke down and cried for the fate which befell his wife and two children.

 

Now why could such a robust powerful man mourn the loss of his innocent wife and children, in fact European Jewry, have the emotional fortitude to begin his career again in Israel and yet succumb to public humiliation by newspapers in Israel?

 

The answer is all about expectation.

 

Jews (no one take offence, it’s just a three or make that four thousand year history experience for us) don’t have high expectations of gentiles – so holocausts which were not new to Jews (in fact if you contrast the Jewish reaction to the holocaust, mainly move on and Jews everywhere rebuilt, and in fact within 60 years started a country which is the envy of the word) so they had a mentality of very low expectations from gentiles – contrast that with our expectations of our fellow Jews which is obviously high and suddenly we are demoralized – this is the essence of trauma, when the brain cannot understand!