What will happen tomorrow?

How will the anarchists/progressives in my neighborhood commemorate that terrible day?

What, I wonder, will the anarchist graffiti masters of my wacko neighborhood scrawl tonight and tomorrow? “Glory to our martyrs?” “Globalize the Intifada?” Why not get to the point and write, “Kill the Jews and all those Jew-lovers too! And take anyone who didn’t vote Democrat with them!”

This is what they came up with last week:

In case you’re confused, the charge that we are all racist is supposed to scare us, shut us up, and convince us not to show any outward symbols of being Jewish or supporting Israel.

I can’t wait until it gets cold enough to wear my Israel soccer scarf.

In New York there are signs that say “Flood NYC on October 7.” In case that’s not clear, that refers to the “Al Aqsa Flood” - the massacre, torture, rape and kidnapping of Israelis and others of many nationalities on that horrific day two years ago.

It’s been two years and it’s still hard for me to believe that people I once considered friends or at least allies are celebrating Hamas terrorists. The same people for the most part are the ones who cheered the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Do my Jewish friends think that even one of these people would come to the defense of a synagogue that is attacked on a high holy day or any other day? Would the people who now make hanging out at Home Depot to intercept ICE officers a hobby spend one moment of energy or risk their safety to defend a synagogue, Jewish school or community center? Jewish students on campus?

Please find me one who would. I’ll buy them a lassi at the lassi shop three blocks away. That’s a $10 value with tip, and there are 22 flavors. I honestly want to believe that there are some on the Left who care about violence against Jews even one tenth as much as they care about anyone whose skin they see as brown.

I don’t like rounding up people who have done nothing illegal and dragging them off into captivity… I don’t like separating children and parents… or tying them together with wires and burning them alive. Oh wait… that’s what happened on October 7, 2023.

How is it that through all that has happened: the antisemitic attacks, watching our friends act like they have rabies in their bloodthirsty hatred of the people who are literal family to many of us, observing the gruesome spectacle of the hostage releases, learning how the Bibas boys were strangled with bare hands and their bodies mutilated, watching our “Bring them home!” posters get torn down, watching our friends’ children be afraid to go back to college, making a dangerous decision every day of whether or not to wear our Star of David necklaces… how have we managed to have peaceful vigils, marches where not one police officer is assaulted and not one arrest takes place? Is it perhaps because we are law-abiding citizens?

It is almost the two year anniversary of that massacre that is beyond description. Please note who of your “Friends” does anything to acknowledge it.

The vigil in my town is not in the city, it’s in a suburb pretty far away, so I won’t be going. I have cat shelter shift so I’ll be petting cats who need love, food and homes. I’ll come home and watch the livestream of a memorial service.

I’m checking on my friends… there are so many things that happen that make me worry for their safety, especially those in New York, that I don’t always send a text or a note just because it would get annoying at once or twice a week. But I’m here. I’m thinking of you. I’m with you, and I’m not shutting up or going away.

The blessing that has come out of all this is the new friends I’ve made, not just Jewish friends but Zionists of all religions and no religion, as well as just plain nice people whom I’ve met on the journey. Friends of Celia, FP readers, Aeon Chronicle readers, Tablet readers, fans of Gadi Taub (I think he’s not married!), all my new friends all over the world.

For those of you who are following it, what do you think of the news from Bari Weiss? I think it’s a good sign, actually. I can see why a lot of people are accusing her of selling out, but let’s see what happens. If CBS news can become a counterweight to NBC and CNN… I might even get a cable subscription on my computer! But I will never have a television.

I hope you can sleep tonight. So many of us are haunted by waking nightmares of October 7 and the ongoing torment of the hostages. For months I would try to close my eyes and immediately see the women dragged into Gaza with blood on their pants, or remember the woman whose breast they cut off with box cutters. Israel can never forget and neither can I.

Sending love, worldwide family. I am with you, always.