I just got back from the morning prayer service. As I was leaving the synagogue, a drunk man and woman were walking by.
Drunk woman: You wouldn’t happen to have a mobile phone we could borrow?
Aussie Dave: No, sorry (I really didn’t).
Drunk woman: What about in there (pointing to synagogue). Is there a phone we could use?
Aussie Dave: I really don’t know. I am just visiting, but I haven’t seen a phone in there (I really hadn’t, and I wasn’t going to bring a drunk man and woman in to look around for obvious reasons).
Drunk woman: Bullsh**! I’m a Christian you know, and I would help a stranger in need.
Aussie Dave: No need to curse! I would like to help. I really don’t have a phone and I don’t think there is a phone in there (pointing to synagogue).
Drunk man: What do you expect? He’s a f****** Jew (as the two walk off).
Aussie Dave: Hey. WATCH IT.
Drunk man and woman: [Cursing]
Aussie Dave: (sarcastically) Yeah, you’re REAL GOOD Christians.
You are probably almost as shocked at my brazenness as you are with the ease in which the anti-Semitism raised its ugly head. But you have to understand I was so infuriated that part of me actually wanted a fight. Bear in mind that this was the same area of Perth in which some Jewish teenagers were physically and verbally assaulted by a group of youths who shouted anti-Semitic slurs about a month and a half ago. I guess part of me wanted to show these cretins that we are capable of fighting back. Which was, of course, stupid, because:
1) for all I know, the man (or woman) had a knife, glass bottle, or black belt in Karate.
2) I live in a Jewish state which has shown the world we are more than capable of fighting back.
But I was so angry, I would have turned in to the Incredible Hulk (had I also been exposed to gamma rays as a child).
This was my first first-hand experience with anti-Semitism in a very long time, and while I read about it frequently, it both shocked and angered me.
Have I mentioned I am glad I live in Israel?
