TheRealNetTechNerd

I remember this speech by Shylock, the Jew in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, every single day: “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” I was 19 when I first read those lines. It was in Dr. Refaat Alareer’s @itranslate123 English Literature class in Gaza. He spent more time analyzing that one speech than any other part of the play. At the time, I didn’t know the difference between a Jew and a Zionist. None of us did. My classmates and I hated Shylock. He was the “Jewish” moneylender who lent 3,000 ducats to Antonio, a Christian merchant, on the condition that if Antonio failed to repay the loan on time, Shylock would be entitled to a pound of his flesh. Antonio agreed, certain he could repay it. But when his ships were lost at sea, Shylock demanded what the contract promised. Around the same time, Shylock’s daughter Jessica ran away with a Christian and stole his money. Then he learned that Antonio’s fortunes had collapsed. And while he was still grieving, still reeling, two Christian men mocked him. That’s when he said those words. That’s when he stood up and defended his humanity. Dr. Refaat made us listen. He made us feel every word. And somehow, by the end of that class, we all sympathized with Shylock. We stopped seeing him as the villain and started seeing him as a man crushed by the world around him. That moment stayed with me. Dr. Refaat inspired me to write my research paper on how my Palestinian classmates responded to Shylock. Most of them said the same thing. They understood him. They sympathized with him. The world needs to know more about Dr. Refaat. May he rest in peace.

@LauraLoomer @LoomerUnleashed @WhiteHouse @DHSgov Israelis training to speak Persian to impersonate Iranians.