Here is an anti-Semitic letter published yesterday in the Concord Monitor decrying the presence of a "monstrosity," a menorah at the New Hampshire state house. The writer, a New Hampshire woman, expresses outrage at the Israeli occupation, and Israeli support in the United States. I call it anti-Semitic because this creeps me out: "The last thing we need to see is any sense of Jewishness at this time of year." But you attack Jewishness, too, Phil. Well, not quite: I am engaged in a passionate critique of Jewish identity construction. And yes, I am trying to end the Zionist ideology inside Jewish life. I love my Jewishness, it made me. That’s different!
Foxman do you got my back?
Sorry. Got distracted. My tipster Felson says that this letter is getting airtime on the web, and that it is precisely the type of statement that will help disqualify the Palestinian cause in mainstream eyes. You can find the signer’s name at the Monitor site.
The Dec. 11 letter from Kelsey Wrye of Pittsfield, "Christmas only," prompts me to write. Indeed Christmas does seem to preempt all the other cultural events this time of year. Perhaps that is a bad thing. For Christmas especially so, perhaps, due to the extreme commercialization of the religious event.
The one offense that annoys me every year is the construction in front of the New Hampshire State House of that Jewish monstrosity, the menorah. I though there was a separation of church and state in our U.S. Constitution under the 1st Amendment. When I see that Jewish menorah this year, it reminds me of the Bernie Madoff rip-off, the occupation of Palestinian lands, the illegal Jewish settlements expansion, and trillions of American tax dollars wasted in scams over many years and into the future. The last thing we need to see is any sense of Jewishness at this time of year. We see it so much in the negative the rest of the year.
