In the ongoing mini-saga in responses to my piece comparing my experience as a Jew in Costa Rica and in Israel, University of Chicago student Jonathan Katz wrote this piece for New Voices, where my op-ed originally ran.
I was not the biggest fan of my colleague’s piece. I found the approach to be too broad-stroke, and I myself cringed at the description of San José. Admittedly, Cohen could have been more charitable. But I also found his piece to be honest, which I thought was important and refreshing.
But the response was unwarranted, cruel, and in some ways anti-Semitic. And in it, there is something interesting to examine: Underlying all of it is a subconscious narrative that, because Costa Rica has gone through certain activities to connote acceptance of Jews, Jews should then simply be happy with whatever experience happens in Costa Rica. Without critique.
Zach C. Cohen 