Writing about antisemitism on this day is like riding about sports during the Olympics. So many events competing for attention.
Let’s start in Poland, where a Member of Parliament decided to use a fire extinguisher and communal menorah https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/europe/poland-lawmaker-extinguishes-hanukkah-candles-parliament-intl?cid=ios_app
The lawmaker referred to the candle lighting as “satanic”, and was later sanctioned. Other public commemorations of Hanukkah went on in the country, and this lawmaker was sanctioned by the Sejm (Polish Parliament), but also congratulated by members of right wing parties.
Time to move to Turkiye, where a Turkish parliamentarian had what appeared to be a heart attack after condemning Israel, and saying that Allah would bring wrath upon it.
Of course, in the United States, we are dealing with the issue of of universities and how antisemitism is treated. here is a link to an interesting article about Harvard: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/opinions/harvard-university-israel-antisemitic-history-golinkin?cid=ios_app
Finally, Volodomyr Zelenskyy was in the US today, trying desperately to get additional aid for Ukraine. I’ve already written a bit about the underlying tropes of antisemitism in the Ukrainian War.
Now that we’ve come through a tour of our international smorgasbord, time to return to my own personal tour of America and to provide a bit of a different kind of smorgasbord. They proved a bit of a surprise for me. As usual, I travel with food on my mind. I started the day in Oklahoma, and finished in Arkansas. To lighten things up, I will provide some pictures of some of the “Road food“ places I ate. to my surprise, although “traveling while Jewish“, I felt sort and warmth and friendliness that I did not expect. Per example of the large man in the bib overalls in Oklahoma questioning me about my Frito pie. For those of you who don’t know, there is nothing as quintessentially American as Frito pie so here are some photos and then some more serious thoughts.
On November 4, 2023, there was a pro-Palestinian march in Washington DC. I was on my way to a wedding. After an hour and a half attempting to get to the locale — hours after the March was to have ended, I gave up. Marchers were in the street, waving Palestinian flags, wrapped in Palestine, flags and darting through traffic. It occurred to me that any kind of encounter or accidental traffic incident might be misinterpreted. The next day, in Westlake Village, California, Paul Kessler was killed on a street corner during a pro Israel/pro Palestinian demonstration.
I suppose I was trying to prove to myself that all of America is a dangerous place for Jews. The two places I live — DC and Westlake Village — seem to be spots of proven danger. I did not feel unsafe today, in places where I thought I might I have felt unsafe. It is both comforting and frightening to know that antisemitism may be not located in “obvious” places.
Wandering Jew 
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