I wasn’t sure if I should break into my queue.  Or, when I should break into my queue.  Because I wasn’t even sure where I should begin…

Should I begin with Forest City?  With the Cautiaux and the Barbers?

Or with the Germans in the 1930s and 1940s, along with the Poles?

With France and Dreyfus?

Or with Queen Isabella and Spain?

You see, anti-Semitism is an old, old hate.  It started with those who thought that they could convert the world to a new religion, blaming the old one- the one to which their founder adhered, for all the ills they perceived in the world.  Reaching its first pinnacle in 386 CE when the church clearly labeled Jews as the killer of their god.

Since that time, ant-Semitism has served as a barometer of societal health.  When society breaks down, a convenient bogey man is needed- and we Jews are it.  All of its forms- spewed by White Supremacists, Polish and German citizens, Islamic radicals, leftist activists- involve blaming Jews for the failings of their own lives.

Back when I was a kid, the Cautiaux and the Barbers rallied all the other kids in the neighborhood to beat me and my brother up.  To break our bow windows.  Blaming us for killing their savior.  (I still wonder how a god can die, but that’s for philosophers smarter than I to ponder.)

I felt that same hatred when working for social justice and voting rights in the South. Except those folks generally hated the Black folks as much as- or perhaps even more than- they hated me.

Those same attitudes pervaded Charlottesville. What was then a quaint little Southern city, surrounded by a sea of rednecks. Not that the attitudes of many of the denizens of Charlottesville differed all that much from the folks in the surrounding counties.

When Lech Walesa lost his election in Poland, he, of course, blamed the Jews for his loss.  Yup.  All thousand of them.  (He predated the idiocy of TheDonald that it just takes one or two folks to “steal” an election.)

When I moved to Alexandria, my next door neighbor wanted to see where our horns were.  Called the police when we built a suka, claiming we erected a structure without a permit. Calling immigration and the city police about our nanny.

When I visited Vienna for an international medical conference, I was shocked and taken aback when we meandered to the Jewish section of town.  Because at both ends of the street, there were paramilitary police with machine guns, protecting the inhabitants.  Who examined and inspected us before we could eat at the kosher restaurant there.

Then came 9-11.  And, my synagogue became a target of radical Islamists who belong to a nearby mosque.  So, police were needed to protect us and our building.

All of a sudden, we were like those Jews living in Vienna.  Which opens up an important discussion.  How do we want to see our synagogues, yeshivot, and community centers?  Shall we adopt the European standard, with heavily fortified structures, constricted by armed paramilitary or police?  Or shouldn’t our congregations be open and welcoming to anyone who wishes to enter?

But after I chose to affiliate to a new synagogue, it was clear that American Jews would have to operate closer to the European model.  Or, maybe worse.

Because folks decided to destroy our building (or at least the mikveh, the ritual bath, we were building).  Because David Duke considered our synagogue (The National Synagogue) and our rabbi one of his prime enemies.  (It was in reaction to the spewed hatred of David Duke and his “friends” that our synagogue elected to re-enact the Selma to Montgomery march.)

And, our synagogue still has two (or more) armed police standing guard, protecting us and our building.

But, more to the point, we are an Orthodox synagogue. Meaning our belief that electricity cannot be used on holidays (which, of course, includes the Sabbath) is pervasive.

Yet, we have trained our members for security measures.  To identify each and every visitor (read members) before they can enter the building.  Where our doors are locked, requiring the use of a security card (which is provided to all members who routinely enter the building.)  Where members of our security carry walkie-talkies to be in contact with one another and the police- and can’t pray with us, since they are “on patrol”.

Yes, they are using electricity, in contravention of long established Jewish law. Because pikuach nefesh (פקוח נפש), the preservation of life, trumps the rules about using electricity.

That’s what it’s like being Jewish in America.

But, it’s worse than that.

When Richard Spencer led his Nazi friends to march in Charlottesville, his “friends” kept a macine-gun vigil at Congregation Beth Israel (the synagogue I helped bring back to life when I lived in the town).  Ensuring that the Jews who were praying on Shabat would feel terror.  (Whose members left through the back door- about which the terrorists knew nothing- to escape the potential attack.)

When a White Nationalist, Robert Bowers, marched into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 folks and injuring six.  Blaming that synagogue for all the immigrants coming to America.  To where my synagogue members and leaders- two bus-loads full– traveled to demonstrate solidarity and to help those mourning the loss of loved ones.

When yet another anti-Semite killed one and injured three others in an Orthodox shul in Poway, California on the sacred holiday of Passover.

When a British terrorist took folks hostage in a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas last weekend.  Only to be foiled by the actions of Rabbi Cytron-Walker, who threw a chair at Malik Akram so the other hostages (and the rabbi himself) could flee the building.

That attack at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Tex., demonstrates, once again, that the trident of antisemitism can ravage anywhere.

That’s what it’s like to be a Jewish person in America.  Or Poland.  Or France.  Almost anywhere in the world where our small minority exists among the larger population.

Because the world rarely confronts its discriminatory behavior.  Not just against the Jews, but towards the Blacks, the Browns, the immigrants of the world.

Until that happens, you can be sure that folks like me will have armed guards around our places of worship, our religious schools, even our community centers.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Actually- are you are a good person if you do nothing?  Or, are you just like those who perpetrate evil?