I am the Exception, Not the Rule

2024 Reflection #1: The November Amsterdam Riots

The Amsterdam Riots shocked me to my core; a dysfunctional act in a functional country. Jews being beaten and stabbed in the streets, being run over by cars, and police doing nothing to stop it? This must be an exception; a functional society would never allow this; a government that professes equal rights would dispatch its police force to protect innocent citizens. A world that professes equality would demand arrests; a world that cares for the victim would hear an outcry; a world that recognizes violence would finally call for an immigration ban against those who believe in violence.

But the silence was threatening, the hypocrisy deafening, and the lack of reporting speaking volumes louder than any published headline could have. Protesting is a virtue until we can protest violence against Jews. Minorities are a virtue until the minority is Jewish. Victimhood is legitimate unless you are a Jew run over by a car driven by a terrorist.

This must be a blip in history, a red in the radar, a horrifying exception to normal life. This was a disturbance in the wave of normalcy, a dysfunctional act in a relatively functional society. It was an exception to the calm waves of life, not the rule.

And then I pursued Jewish history: the Roman massacres in 1021, the Paris book burning in 1242, the English expulsion in 1290, the French expulsion of 1291, the Italian expulsion of 1292, the Jews burnt alive in 1308, the mass slaughters of 1328, the Spanish expulsion of 1492, the Astorga public tortures of 1491, the Austrian expulsion of 1422, the stake burnings of 1400, the Cracow mob attacks of 1407, and the Toledo public tortures and burnings in 1499: and I realized, this Amsterdam riot was the rule. Jews were always beaten, burned, tortured, killed, and experienced rampages throughout the streets that made it likely a sibling or parent would be lost. Read history, and come to know that the riots in Amsterdam are the rule, not the exception.

I had never experienced persecution as such. I had a golden peace living in the West for 23 years, an era where there were no pogroms, no organized massacres, and no fear of public torture and execution.

I had a stolen moment of quiet Jewish history….I lived in peaceful times.
I am the exception, not the rule.
I am the exception, not the rule.