Every Saturday morning, my very small synagogue, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, gets a drive-by visit from two uniformed police officers. Some Saturdays, the officers do a walk through.
Why?
Their presence is to check on us.
To make sure we are safe.
To insure that should there be an incident, we know what to do.
We, the members of our congregation, would be grateful for their visits on any occasion. All the more so since the massacre perpetrated against us — against Jews, on Oct.7, 2023.
And even more so, since the election that voted-in Zohran Mamdani as the next mayor of our city, the greatest city in the world, the city with the largest Jewish population in the world.
The Jews who come to pray in our synagogue are not just "Jews," we are "Jewish Jews." We stand out. The men wear kippot. While most people walking up and down the block are dressed for jogging or for a stroll in the park, we are dressed in what was once called our "Sunday's best." Suits and hats are our formal Saturday Sabbath attire.
We are targets.
Our prayer room is small, on the ground floor of a non-descript brownstone.
Prior to Oct. 7, 2023, in Hebrew letters, which read House of Study.
The tenants who share our building, a co-op, knew from the moment they bought in that we were there. They chose the lower cost of their apartments because we were there, accepting the presumed nuisance of having a synagogue as a neighbor, over the cost of a more expensive home elsewhere in Manhattan.
On Oct. 7,2023, their lives changed as well.
Out of fear, they lobbied — or rather firmly insisted, that we take down the 12-inch by12-inch Hebrew sign, arguing that the building is already a target.
They wanted to minimize the obvious, to make it less obvious.
They were scared that they, too, might be the victims of an attack.
I was against the decision to remove the sign.
I don't believe one should cower in fear in the face of bullies and haters.
I believe that, as Jews, we should be proud.
I also believe that we should set up proper defenses and protections.
Yet, I was overruled.
The fear is justified.
Immediately following Oct. 7, as posters with the faces of those Israelis taken hostage by Hamas were hung all over the world, many of the posters in our neighborhood — a beautiful, tree lined, residential oasis in the big city, were defaced, others were ripped down.
On a Saturday night, following the prayer service signaling the end of the Sabbath, two men, members of the congregation, were attacked.
As the two, dressed in identifiably Jewish garb, approached the corner, a white Honda Odessey threw open its side door shot, pelted them with a pellet-gun and sped away. The two victims were rushed to the hospital.
And in a story that is making headline news, a large historic synagogue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan became the target of a loud pro-Hamas rally, in the middle of a private evening event.
Inside, the synagogue was hosting the group Nefesh B'Nefesh, which translates to, "Soul to Soul."Outside were rowdy and raucous Jew Haters/Lovers of Hamas shouting awful slurs. Most egregiously, they shouted that the event was a violation of the law. Ironically, they blocked that synagogue’s entrance, preventing people from entering – and that is against the law.
Their shouts consisted of what have now become the common tirades against Jews, heard across campuses and on street corners. "From the River to the Sea." “From New York to Gaza Globalize the Intifada."
And then there were a few variations on those themes. “Resistance, You Make us Proud, Take Another Settler Out." And "We need to make them scared! We need to make them scared! We need to make them scared!"
One of the leaders of the protest is quoted as saying "We need to make them [Jews] think twice before holding events like this." And, prior to the eagerly anticipated meeting between Zohran Mamdani and
President Trump, the spokesperson for the mayor-elect is quoted as saying: "these sacred places should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law."
Why did they choose this venue?
Nefesh B'Nefesh was not founded in response to Oct. 7, 2023.
In fact, it was founded twenty-four years ago. It is an organization that helps Jews move to Israel. And moving to Israel is not a violation of international law. Actually Israel is one of the few countries that has a dual citizenship arrangement with the United States.
Moreover, it is a religious obligation, as clearly articulated by Jewish law and grounded in dozens of Biblical versus, for a Jew to move to Israel. An obligation that is, in many ways, akin to the obligation of Muslims to visit the Haj.
The inanity — the absurdity, the ignorance, propelling this demonstration was, inadvertently, articulated by the group’s spokesperson who was quoted as saying the event was recruiting Jews to displace
Palestinians from their lands.
The spokesperson later walked back that statement, qualifying it by saying only those who would move to the West Bank would be violating international law.
Excuse me?!
Who do they think they're fooling?!
It's beyond common knowledge that these Hamas supporters firmly and wholeheartedly believe that Israel in its entirety is occupied by Jews and that they, the Jews, in their entirety must be removed.
That was the motivation of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
That is their foundation of their support for Hamas and their lack of condemnation of the horrific massacre.
The hatred runs deep.
It's visceral and has been given license to grow.
It's not merely a hatred of Israel.
For them, Israel is a metaphor for all Jews.
Micah Halpern is a political and foreign affairs commentator. He founded "The Micah Report" and hosts "Thinking Out Loud with Micah Halpern," a weekly TV program, and "My Chopp," a daily radio spot. Follow him on Twitter @MicahHalpern. Read Micah Halpern's Reports — More Here.
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