Fight Back-Matisyahu-Jerusalem-Stuff

I have got to tell you that my head is swimming. So many thoughts about so many different things. My brain just doesn’t shut down for very long, if at all. So here are a few of the things that are driving me.

The situation in France just infuriates me. Gail has a basic rundown on it. Here is a short snapshot from her blog:

The ADL reports that since 1/1/06, the following antisemitic incidents have occurred:

March 6, 2006 – Lyon – A Jewish pupil was attacked and kicked in the face by four youths. Police placed the youths in custody for violence and injury “with anti-Semitic character.”

March 4, 2006 – Sarcelles – A 28-year-old Jewish man was beaten by youths who made anti-Semitic remarks during the assault. The man suffered a dislocated shoulder. The police have arrested four suspects.

March 3, 2006 – Sarcelles – A 17-year-old Jewish man, the son of a local rabbi, was attacked by two men. The victim suffered a broken nose. The incident occurred near the synagogue of Sarcelles in a district known as “Little Jerusalem,” where there is a sizable Jewish community.

March 3, 2006 – Sarcelles – An 18-year-old Jewish man was attacked by a group of five men, who threw him to the ground while shouting insults and anti-Semitic threats. They escaped with the victim’s cellular phone.

February 13, 2006 – Bagneux – Police believe the kidnapping and murder of a young Jewish man in Paris was motivated by anti-Semitism. Ilan Halimi, 23, was found naked, tortured and burned south of Paris after being held for three weeks by a gang demanding a large ransom. He died of his injuries shortly afterwards. On February 23, French police arrested 12 of the members of the gang. Another suspect was arrested in Belgium. During the investigation police reportedly found literature linking some suspects to Muslim causes and there are indications that the torture and killing was an anti-Semitic crime. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on February 21 described the crime as anti-Semitic in nature.

January 9, 2006 – Créteil – Two Jewish boys wearing yarmulkes were attacked in front of a train station in Créteil, a Paris suburb. The 11- and 12-year-olds were approached by four men of African and Arab origin, who hurled anti-Semitic epithets at them before striking one of the boys to the ground and holding the other forcefully. One of the victims suffered a broken nose. Police arrested four suspects in the assault.

January 7, 2006 – Sarcelles – A synagogue was vandalized, with the words “Juden raus” (“Jews get out”) and “Death to Sharon” etched into the roof. A man later confessed to using an ice-pick to vandalize the building.

The French government are doing a lousy job of protecting their citizens. If Jews are going to continue to live in France the government must do a better job. In the interim they better start looking out for themselves. I am not an advocate of violence, but I am not interested in being used as a doormat either.

They may have to make like Ben Grimm (It is Clobberin Time!) There are times in which you have to make a stand, you have to let those who would take advantage of you know that they cannot do so with impunity. The whispers have started, the ones in which they suggest that within a decade all of the Jews will have left France.

Some people won’t take that seriously. More important is the question of whether the French will recognize the severity of such a statement. Do they stand by “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” or is that just propaganda.

Jerusalem

I have been listening to Matisyahu sing this song for the past 30 minutes. It just speaks to me on a number of levels. When I get really stressed out I do two things: exercise and take myself to a different place. Jerusalem is a common place for me to visit. In my mind I am back. I am walking through the city, my city, the place where I feel whole. The place that speaks to me, where the echoes of the past affect the present. Jerusalem where my life was forever changed in a most profound way.

Jerusalem, where my soul roams unfettered and free and my heart races. Jerusalem, my love, my pleasure, my home to be. It is almost eight years since I was last there. Far too long, far too long. The time is coming when I will return.

As MacArthur said, “I shall return.”

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