Too Close to Home

I feel sick. This Shabbat morning, as L looked out of our bathroom window and down at the car we've borrowed from her mother, she saw this graffiti carved in the dust on the bonnet. I've been watching too much CSI, because my first thought before cleaning it off was whether I might get a good fingerprint from the hand if I put some sellotape over it. 

Some of the symbols and meanings are clear, the cross, the swastika, and the imprecation (possibly the worst thing one may say in Italian) for sure. Not so sure about "adesso" or the hand. (and, as L said, even if I'd got a print from the hand, there's not necessarily proof that this same hand was responsible for the rest of the graffiti!)

On my way back upstairs, I stopped by Max the barber, a fixture in this neighbourhood for several years, with whom we are reasonably friendly. I showed him the photo, and asked if anything like this had happened before. He said no, and that if he ever saw anyone doing something like that they wouldn't arrive home in one piece! I reminded him that L & I are Jewish, so something like this is particularly disturbing, but he was adamant that it was a massive coincidence and that we were not being targeted.

L & I have discussed this from every angle. The few people who know we are Jewish, and know that is the car we use, seem utterly unlikely to behave in this way. In fact, we cannot imagine any way for someone to connect that car and our being Jewish. It may well be just a horrible coincidence. But it hurts, and I have to admit that I am feeling it even more when it has happened to us than the anger and sympathy I have felt when it happens to others. I hate to admit to such egotism, but it is so. 

This may also have something to do with the fact that just a few minutes earlier we were studying the weekly Torah portion, Balak. This is the one with the talking donkey (eat your heart out Shrek fans), and we got into a bit of a discussion about the power of words. I remembered that when I was little and somebody said something mean, you were supposed to throw back at them "sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me!" It was a good attempt to reduce the influence such words - fatso, four-eyes, Christ-killer - might have had on my psyche, at least I had a comeback, but I don't remember that it really helped much. 

In Judaism, words have great power - God used them to create the world ... throughout the Torah there are consequences for what people say as well as what they do ... lashon ha-ra was and is considered akin to murder (of the soul if not the body) - we are taught, and should understand that words - in written or pictorial form - can really hurt. Immediately after our Or 'Ammim discussion on this topic, real life bit us on the bottom. Funny how that worked out.

Nu, what now? Perhaps we will inform the local police, just for it to be on the record. As I write these words I am singing along with my favourite NFTY songs (starting with the first and second albums), trying to salve my soul. Will I develop an improved empathy that translates into a proactive response next time others are hurt? I hope so.

Dahl Was an Antisemite But His Family is Sorry

An article by Gabriel Pogrund in the Sunday Times today reveals (in a somewhat caustic tone) that although Roald Dahl died an unrepentant antisemite, his family members are a bit embarrassed about that and have put an apology up on the Dahl website.

Pogrund quotes such gems of Dahl's as:

"There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it's a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean there's always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere ... Even a stinker like Hitler didn't just pick on them for no reason." (Roald Dahl in 1983 in an interview with the New Statesman quoted in the Sunday Times - original article not available online)

The article suggests that the apology may have been made in order to protect the Dahl brand, which makes millions of pounds in profits each year. I was also rather distressed to read that some people believe the Child Catcher character added to Ian Fleming's original story of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reputedly by screenwriter Dahl expressed antisemitic themes and stereotypes in its representation.

Dahl is dead. His descendants have made an apology. I don't think this means we should or can forgive Dahl - that's impossible since he is definitely dead. It is good to know that his family is embarrassed by the prejudice that clearly existed in their famous relative. 

What then might the purpose of the apology be? Why should it not be sincere? Could it be a marketing ploy, as Pogrund suggests? If not, perhaps the family needs to do a little more than bury a brief message on their website (you may find it here). Some kind of visible involvement in the fight against hate speech? Public donations to organisations that teach tolerance? Or maybe even sponsorship of an initiative within the Jewish community. What would Miss Honey say?!