Unease, not yet fear, seized American Jewish community when the news of the mass murder in the Tree of Life synagogue was published. The murderer thought he was defending the White Race against the Jews that were murdering them. And HIAS that was promoting the Honduran would-be immigrant/murderers column. Nonsense, but reflects the sentiment in the racist circles. He was a lone wolf, no organization behind him. This phenomenon of a lonely individual working up himself and taking up automatic weapons and gunning down anyone in a school, a synagogue, a marathon, a homosexual club, a Socialist youth camp in an island, etc. is not typically American. It has happened in France and Denmark and even in the Grand Mosque of Mecca.
Regarding antisemitism, I don't think this attack means much. What is surprising is that there is no one under 55 among the killed, they are all old people. The absence of active adults and youth says a lot about the calamitous state of Reform/Conservative Jewry. In five or ten years, there will be no
minian on Saturday morning in Squirrel Hill. Sad.
The attack will strengthen temporarily Jewish identity in America, but not increase
Aliyah to Israel.
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