Anti-Semitism

My sister gifted me with a book when she came to visit from New York City a month ago, and I've been reading Michael Brown's, Our Hands Are Stained With Blood,  in between my reading of Our Father Abraham, Torah portions and study.

The books copyright date is 1990.  That was 21 years ago.  And I ask myself, where have I been that so much of the information in this book is new to me.  The books subtitle is, The Tragic Story of the "Church" and the Jewish People.  What a tragic story this is.

I was reading last night on page 90, about the town of Slobodka,in Lithuania, 1941:

"On the evening of June 25, 1941, the Lithuanian fascists began

     going from house to house, from apartment to apartment
     murdering people by the most horrible deaths--men,
     women, and children--old and young.  They hacked off
     heads, sawed people through like lumber, prolonging the
     agony of their victims as long as possible.

     Finding the Rabbi of Slobodka studying Talmud in his
 home, they 'bound him to a chair, put his head on his open
[Talmud volume] and sawed his head off '--before
slaughtering the rest of the family."

Michael Brown gives so many examples of the violence perpetrated against the Jewish people.  History is rich with them.  It grieved me so much to read that many times it was those who called themselves "Christians" that committed the murderous acts. And there are so many horrific acts. The Inquisition, Pograms, Holocaust, and more. 

As I shared a portion of the book with my daughter today, I broke into tears,  In one town, during the Holocaust, babies were tossed out of windows. While below, young boys were waiting to catch them with bayonet rifles. I thought of my own precious granddaughter, barely 18 months old, and cringed.

I think about the young people today, and how desensitized they are to violence.  It breaks my heart.

What this book is bringing home is my own indifference to the suffering around me.  It is there, but what am I doing to stop it.  We get so caught up in living our own lives that we forget about our neighbor.  I know that isn't you.  Just me.

There are elements in our culture today that seek to destroy the Jewish people.  We should not be ignorant of these.  When anti-semitism rears its ugly head I need to be counted among those injured.  What about you?