I hate the term ‘anti-semitism’. As you may know, it was coined and popularized by the German agitator and writer, Wilhelm Marr, in 1879. He did so as a way to put a more genteel face on the venerated practice of Jew-hatred, in order that it might gain wider acceptance. It worked marvelously.

The issue I have with the term is its very greasiness and breadth. It encompasses everything from the off-color joke or the social snub, to bashing the brains of a child out on a block wall, or the mass graves of Babi Yar, and everything in between.

Jew hatred is as old as Jews, themselves. It has been seen nearly everywhere where Jews have lived, and strangely even in places where they are not.

Thankfully, since the Jacob Frank trial, REAL Jew-hatred, has been pretty rare in America. Even in Europe, after the overreach of the Nordic Supermen, and their supportive clergy, the worst of it had been tamped down… for a while.

Still, since the Holocaust, Jewish organizations have complained loudly about what, outside of the Mideast, has been fairly mild insult. Decades of complaint and fund-raising has been made on the thinnest of excuses. So much so, that they risk self-parody.

Today things are rapidly changing. But, for the worse.
A subset of the adherents of Islam is pursuing their plans with renewed fervor. They increasingly have the means and motivation to strike anywhere in the world.

Governments and their crony-capitalist sponsors, mortified at the impending collapse of their Ponzi Schemes, are becoming far more intrusive, brazen, and violent.

The victims of the latter group, impoverished, or worse, are seeing that the ‘civics class’ version of prospering through hard work and following the rules is leading to a dead-end.

All free, peace-loving men and women are today in increasing, and very real, peril.

The acceptance of the claim that Jews are conspiratorial malefactors is gaining traction again. The ‘Buford Furrows’, ‘Khmelnitsky’s’, and ‘Nosairs’ have always been among us, but they are breeding, now. Metaphorically, and actually. As always, the Jew is the natural scapegoat. It’s a tradition.

As the proverbial “Canary in the Coal Mine”, there is today, an increasing risk of physical harm to obvious Jews, and to synagogues and Jewish social facilities.

In Manhattan, the Met, in an operatic production of “The Death of Klinghoffer”,celebrates the violent hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro, and the terrorists’ murder an old Jew in a wheelchair, throwing him and his chair into the Mediterranean . Invoking “art”, the Met’s General Manager, Peter Gelb intones moral equivalence between the old Jew and his killers, while sequestering all protestors far away in a media-free “Free Speech Zone” ghetto. Incitement grows.

In Europe, Jewish leadership advises keeping a low profile. No kippot. No “Jewish” jewelry. No pro-Israel sentiments on cars, homes. Slip in to shul the back way. Go to the grocery store in groups. Otherwise gangs of violent “Asians” will beat the snot out of you, or worse. Their governments beg the public to clamp their eyes shut and deny the growing reality.

Recently, in a south Florida residential area, an old chossid walked to shul on a Saturday morning, and was gunned down. The police claimed it must be a pan-handling robbery gone wrong. The family pointed out that observant Jews do not carry wallets and money on Shabbat, and that it was common knowledge to the non-Jews in the area, from prior pan-handling approaches. No, he was killed because… well… you know.

Over the past few years many rabbis have communicated with their counterparts in foreign lands around the globe and, for once, see the problems for what they are. They have watched their counterparts murdered, their community members attacked, and worse.

All indications are that the thin veneer of society may be peeling up in a neighborhood near you.

So, I take great joy in a recent, yet still very much underground, trend: discretely armed Jews, skilled in weapons and tactics, in synagogues and community centers!

Not only is this happening without objection from the rabbis; they are taking the lead. They are seeking out certain people, (often Israeli or American veterans) and are now BLUNTLY ASKING them for help.

Moreover, to avoid carrying on Shabbat, etc., they even are arranging for guns (even shotguns!) to be readily at hand in their facilities.

Paralleling this change, I am seeing a move away from relying on police and their delayed/lackadaisical response, clipboards, and chalk outlines. As the saying goes; when seconds count, they are only minutes away.

Compared to the attitude held by these same synagogues, and their leadership, only a few years ago, this change in attitude is a huge, healthy, and most welcome development.

It is my hope that this same trend is quietly, but quickly, growing in other religious and social communities, especially in the urban areas. If it is not, it is not too late to encourage it. But, if you wait, it may soon be.