LOTL..
14 January '13..
Aside from our residing in Kiryat Arba-Hevron, we do a great deal of hosting as well as taking visitors out and about our town. While enjoying this, there is a degree of awareness and responsibility that one must take when moving about with guests unfamiliar with the neighborhood and its nuances. And sometimes, while not a common occurrence, one may have to just step up to the bat, or perhaps with something similar to one.
Those familiar with the area will know that to travel between the neighborhoods of Kiryat Arba above to the the neighborhoods in Hevron below, does require on Shabbat passing through areas that at times have displayed other than a friendly face. During peak hours on Shabbat there is a fairly large security presence. During off-peak hours though you basically fend for yourself, which is also o.k., albeit a bit disconcerting to some guests. The ever present question following the realization is usually, "Do you carry a ..., bet you can fill in the blank, and no I don't. A heavy walking stick more than suffices, and is part of the apparel for the tours.
It's Shabbat, nine young ladies and a mother in tow, and a couple of young Arab men with a reasonable supply of snowballs (although potentially with ice or other material inside) in hand approaching. Aside from ourselves, a few other male residents of the Kirya passed before us and most of what was in the hands of our two approaching, fell to the ground as they understood this was not a wise course of action. Of course they reserved one for our group but which fell short as they still felt the need to put some distance between us before throwing. Wise move, as I requested from our group to stay put and took off after them. The throwers were a bit surprised, ran, momentarily thought about standing their ground, and when another local with his M-16 joined me, they departed.
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| Cartoon panel by Shira N. |
What I found interesting but disturbing was the comment from the one who came to assist,"You know they're only throwing snowballs". My reply was that I do not accept anyone, adults, teenagers, or children, throwing anything at my family, my guests, nor my people. Bottom line.
After Shabbat Shira N., our budding cartoonist, drew a panel (above) in our guestbook of what took place, a bit of an education for all.
On the other hand, to not respond and allow behaviors like this to go unchallenged, can lead very quickly to a very painful situation such as what occurred in Jerusalem earlier in the week. These two Jews were in a very difficult spot, and were not in a place where they could expect assistance. The question must be asked though, why do the attackers believe they can do this, to get away with this without any fear of consequences, zero.
The following is from Dr. Mordechai Kedar's, The State of the Jewish Brotherhood, posted earlier this week.
In the embattled region where Israel is situated, the weak individual gets beaten up: he is shot at, missiles rain down upon him, his buses are blown up, he is de-legitimized, marginalized diplomatically, sued in international courts, states are established on his back that threaten him and declare their violent struggle against him again and again, and he - the weak one - must take all of this garbage that is rained down upon him and say, "It's only words". Sometimes he issues a warning but few take him seriously because he is weak and obsequious; he "seeks peace".
His response is very clear, very strong and appropriate to the real world we live in. For those who haven't yet had the opportunity to read it, I highly recommend it. And I know it's only snowballs, but truth be told, it rarely stops there.
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.
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