Thousands of years ago, as our ancestors were enslaved and despised by Egyptian society, G!d had to send Moses and perform mighty miracles to free them from oppression. Throughout history, antisemitism has always been present but it hasn’t been as pernicious and hateful as it is nowadays since WWII. While we are fortunate to be in America, the pro- palestinian violent activism in the world makes the Jewish community feel vulnerable. Since October 7, we have experienced collective trauma and many of us believe we are unsafe. We feel that as long as Israel is the victim, the world is silent, but the moment Israel tries to defend itself against the heavily funded terrorist organization, the world turns against all of us. While we may not need a modern-day Moses to set us free, we nevertheless need a sense of support, comfort and, yes, miracles. The trauma and the pain since October 7 is so heavy, I have been looking for any source of light in our society. I am relieved -and proud- to have found it in our community. We have non-Jewish neighbors who unconditionally support the State of Israel and the Jewish community. Just as there were Righteous Gentiles who risked
their lives during the Holocaust, our beautiful neighbors who proudly, openly and courageously support us deserve the same title. To me, yes, they are righteous. Last winter, as I was walking back and forth from the synagogue, I noticed a house on Chestnut Street, close to Salmon Street, which had a flag of Israel in one of their windows. I was intrigued and wanted to know more about the people who live there. Are they Jewish? Maybe Israeli? Time passed and I never found out who they were, but always made a point to look at their window to see the flag. A few weeks ago, as I was walking on a Friday night to Services, I looked up as usual to look for the flag and I didn’t see it in the window. Well, perhaps they gave in to pressure. Who can blame them, right? This is when I noticed that instead of having it in their window, they were waving a giant flag of Israel in front of the house! OK, now I definitely need to find out who they are! The following week, coming back from Shul on Saturday morning, Valerie and I stopped at the house to introduce ourselves. It turns out that they aren’t Israelis and they aren’t
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