I have been admonishing my friends and others to stop politicizing this tragedy. Let’s not use this terrible murder to push a political agenda. No blaming Trump. No pushing gun control. Mourn for the dead. Pray for the wounded. Thank the heroes. Thank G-d we are safe. Try to use this as a learning moment. Teach our kids about our Jewish history replete with antisemitism. Many of our younger generation have thankfully never experienced it and therefore unfortunately don’t believe it’s real. It’s real all right. Ask the families of the dead and injured. Ask the rest of the congregants who saw and heard the whole thing unfold. A nightmare they will surely never forget.
It’s right out of the Holocaust book. Ask Israelis who face it every single day from their Muslim neighbours.
Sadly I continue to see so many disgusting articles attacking Trump for this antisemitic attack. It’s all over the mainstream media. Even my local TV channels here in Canada manage to put this on Trump. Often they do it overtly and sometimes they do it subliminally. He never condemned the white supremacists enough. He didn’t distance himself from the KKK enough. His bombastic and rude style of leadership encouraged the divisiveness that prompted this terrible murder. He’s a racist. A misogynist. A nazi. An antisemite. Some have said that he took his time condemning this tragedy. You might have heard that some of the victims family members have disinvited Trump from visiting. Thankfully the rabbi got it right when he stated: Of course he’s welcome. He’s the president of the United States.
Enough! What’s really insulting to me as a Jew, his behaviour toward our small nation has been far better than any previous president. I was no fan of Obama but had this tragedy happened under his watch I would never blame him for it. Antisemitism has been around forever. Get used to it. Learn how to deal with it. Figure out who our real friends are and who are enemies are. Today this was perpetrated by someone from the far right but tomorrow it could come from the far left.
We must also do much more to secure our synagogues (and not just on high holidays) and other Jewish events and places. There are excellent organizations who do a wonderful job providing security like the JDL who would be happy to do so. It’s a mitzvah after all. So many individuals have security systems (camera based) for their houses that cost no more than a couple thousand dollars! Certainly a synagogue can afford that.
Last night I attended a vigil in Toronto in support of the tragedy in Pittsburgh. My daughters attended as well as thousands of others. Beautiful words were spoken. Despite the cold, it was heartwarming to be surrounded with like minded regular folk, most Jewish but some not. I tried to get as many of my Jewish friends and family to attend. This vigil was all about antisemitism today. If we don’t support its message in taking a stand against it, why should anyone else care about us?
I was pleasantly surprised to receive beautiful condolence letters for this tragedy from many of my righteous Gentile friends (most I’ve yet to meet) who often read my blog and various posts. Despite this ongoing scourge of antisemitism which is the very reason that I am a Jewish activist, I continue to have faith in humanity!
G-d Bless!
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