October 18, 2009 | 1:20 pm

Hitler, Palin & Bardwell

Posted by Ilana Angel

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After I posted my blog yesterday “GracieP” wrote to say that I was petty, close-minded, threatened by other women and disgusting while “ExWhyZee” let me know my view that Jews should marry Jews made me an elitist who was focused on only one race of people and therefore exactly like Hitler.

The comments made me laugh and by laugh of course I mean cry.  I’m not sure why I cried.  Maybe it was because I’m tired, coming off of a cold, hormonal, overly sensitive or maybe I was simply blown away by the willingness of two strangers to be so nasty.

I spent over 6 years working at Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation where I watched countless hours of Holocaust testimonies by survivors who talked about what they and their families went through simply because they were Jewish.

When I started at the Shoah Foundation my son was 3 months old and I was a secular Jew.  When I left I was reconnected to my faith and made a heartfelt and informed decision that I would embrace Judaism and teach it to my son in a way that would inspire him to embrace it and be proud.

I have a deep and meaningful relationship with God.  I have walked out of Egypt several times during my lifetime and while I don’t always understand why I am challenged, I am made better with every experience.  That I want to be with a man who shares my faith does not make me evil.

I am lucky to live in a country where I can write freely and not be censored.  I am Jewish, I work for a Jewish newspaper and Keeping the Faith is about finding love with another Jew.  No hidden agendas.  I’m sure there are other writers who write about their search for love within their faith.

I went to a birthday party last night for my friend Dawn.  It was a great party with fabulous friends and at one point our conversation was about JDate, vibrators, single person sex vs. married couple sex and using multiple orgasms as a way to treat insomnia. 

For someone who writes about being single it was a blogging gold mine.  I couldn’t wait to write about it and instead of a super funny column I’m posting this because I felt the need to defend myself.  I would never have heard from anyone if I were a Catholic wanting to marry a Catholic.

To the people who decided to make a personal attack on me you are bullies and I suggest you stop reading my articles because you just don’t get it.  You are welcome to have an opinion and I love it that you feel so deeply about my words that you want to share but there is just no need to be insulting.

At the end of the day I love my son and he loves me back.  I love being Jewish and am embraced by my faith.  I love Mike Fleiss and he got in touch!  I’m not mad at these people and would simply say that perhaps they have misunderstood my passion as some kind of fanaticism. 

I’m going to marry a Jew and guess what else?  I believe gay people and inter-racial couples should be able to marry and I hope that when my son is old enough to get married everyone will share the same rights.  I am not Hitler, Palin or Mr. Bardwell.  I’m just a writer.

I’m sorry if I offended anyone.  It is not my intention. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend and to those who have compared me to everyone from Palin to Hitler, God Bless you.  To the people who take the time to read my blog and actually get it, thanks for keeping the faith.