The Long View

This past Labor Day, my husband and I went to the Union Square Farmers Market in downtown New York City. After buying our corn and mushrooms and peaches, we turned the corner, only to run straight into the beginnings of a pro-Palestinian rally. People were milling about with “anti-Zionist” (read anti-Semitic) and pro-Palestinian signs. We stood at the back for a few minutes, observing. Then I saw, at the very front, in full view of the always present TV cameras, a handful of Neturei Carta chasidim, with banners in hand.

I am, by nature, one of the least confrontational people you will ever meet. Anyone who knows me will tell you that. But I couldn’t let this go. Not that it would make a difference, but for my own conscience. I walked to the front of the rally and called out that they were a shanda and a busha, an embarrassment, bringing shame to the Jewish people. I also said that they should know better, as opposed to many of the people in the larger group who were ignorant of the facts. One of the chasidim said “Thank you”. Another said “Israel is not a Jewish state”. As I argued with them, several enforcers of the larger group stepped between me and the chasidim. I laughed and said “Do you really think I’m going to do something?” I am a 72-year-old retired teacher with gray hair, a mom of three and grandmother of eight. I am the least intimidating person you will ever meet.

As other members of the group started to gather around me, I retreated, but the encounter and the fury (mine as well as the mob’s), has stayed with me. The rally went on to disrupt traffic all over the city by illegally marching through the streets of Manhattan. I didn’t get to say a lot of things that I wanted to, but they have been running through my head ever since.

My parents came from Germany. They were the lucky ones who got out before the doors closed. They remember the Nazi mobs roaming through their towns, singing and chanting about Jewish blood running in the streets. This is no different, although it is not government sanctioned, at least not by our government. It is the first step, the vilification of a group in order to galvanize the mob. My mother, who is 97-years-old, has been watching in horror as history seemingly repeats itself.

But while the comparison to the Nazis is certainly apt, and certainly terrifying, we need to take a longer view. This is also amazingly reminiscent of the Middle Ages, when Islam swept out of the Middle East, conquering half of Europe and setting off bloody wars and the Crusades for centuries. This is not just about Israel and Hamas and the Palestinians – this is truly an existential threat to the world as we know it. This is a direct threat to Western norms and values and democracy.

In history, half the known world was Christian and half Muslim – it was a holy war. In this day and age, it is a philosophical war, a war about our way of life, our belief systems and about how they are implemented. During the Middle Ages, Jews suffered much more under Christian rule than Muslim. The Crusaders slaughtered and tortured thousands of Jews on the way to the Holy Land, while Islam accepted us (or at least tolerated us). The Christians were the “infidels”.

Now it is flipped. We are reviled by the pro-Palestinians, because we embrace the democratic values of the West (besides because we are Jews). Make no mistake – they may be coming for us now, but Europe and the U.S. are well within their sights. And because the world is so global, there are embedded supporters in every country, able to recruit those who don’t know any better.

I do not have any great solutions, other than to sound the alarm. We have to continue to speak up, to keep yelling and calling out and raising our voices to everyone who will listen and especially those who are not. We must speak truth to power, keeping our governments accountable. This is not just a Jewish or Middle Eastern issue – it is literally a fight for our lives, and will be for generations to come. We have to take the long view, so our grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren will never have to see mobs in the street calling for their blood.

And to the Neturei Carta, I say, if you are trying to bring Moshiach tzeiten, the end of days, by supporting this, go ahead. You will have no part of Olam Habah, the World to Come, when Moshiach finally shows up.