| At sundown tonight, Jews in New Jersey will be ringing in Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (Year 5771, hat/tip to sam dobermann for giving me the right year). It's one of the joyous holidays. Crisper air feels like new beginning so New Year's resolutions are made; conscious decisions to be better, try harder, be more responsible to the world. This also begins the High Holy Days, when even non-religious cultural Jews like the one I live with enter a period of self-reflection.
So, today's a bad day to find out, as I did a few minutes ago, that a woman living in Lambertville - one of the most progressive towns in NJ, despite its location in Hunterdon - found anti-Zionist stickers posted all over her car. She is Jewish, wears the Star of David and is outspoken about the religion she loves. Her car was parked on lovely North Union Street overnight. The only car stickered:
our troops are pawns of Zionists war mongering Jews
learn the truth about Zionism and Israel
The stickers reference a "veterans" website, but like most things furtive in the dark, their origin is shady. I probably have zero in common - besides, roughly, our ages - with her. She's (apparently) religious, I'm atheist. She may support Israeli foreign policy, I generally have trouble swallowing it. But our local Lambertville police chief, who I'm certain is operating within the standards of professional police conduct, is treating this as a "bias incident" but apparently not a threatening one. "The level of the act" (which was a few days ago) is not criminal, says Chief Bruce Cocuzza. I don't doubt. But intimidation is a slippery slope and I'd bet this woman has more nervous nights than her neighbors do. Flemington - Hunterdon's other big town - had KKK stickers on the courthouse flagpole when I moved here in 1984; today two cycles of candidates have run on "quality of life" anti-immigrant platforms. The little things mean big things. And this atheist gets nervous when minority religions are targeted so close to her house, or so far away as Gainesville, Florida where the numbskull "Rev." Terry Jones plans his Quran Burning Day Sept. 11.
You can burn books; that's legal. Stickers are no big whoop. But I think maybe there are some other folks who might take advantage of the arrival of a season of self-reflection. And maybe get straight with the world. Shana Tova. |
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