Anti-Semitism and Anti-Christianism----Equal Partners in Dispensing Hate

 I was born and raised a Catholic. The Jews were those other people. Yes, I know, Jesus and Mary and Joseph and the apostles' et al. were all Jewish. The truth is, as a youngster, I never cared about that or even thought about it. I guess I looked at them as converts, and we have lots of converts. Since I am a long way from my younger days, I have learned that genuinely believing what you say is not the same as giving your opinion.

My transformation began as a twelve-year-old and completed the journey to fulfillment about five years ago. Now I harbor a sense of "passion" about anti-Semitism, a systemic evil bound at the hip with anti-Christianism.

I grew up in the South Bronx, in a mostly Irish, German, Polish neighborhood. Included were those that were Jewish. Most everyone was Catholic, but the Jewish kids went to public school and synagogue. The rest of us went to Catholic school and Mass. We all hung out on the streets, playing stickball and curb-ball or ring-a-leevio, but that was it. Our social lives at school and church and synagogue were quite different and did cause an invisible separation among us. That was the way it was.

 The first real experience with Jewish neighbors impacted me significantly was when I was about twelve. I remember very well that Friday night so long ago. It was September, and the screaming started at about midnight. The windows were still open because it was hot, and the wailing seemed exceptionally chilling. Dad got up, and my seven-year-old brother, Danny, whispered from his bed, "I think he's going down there."

“Down there” was the apartment of Leo and Sophie Rabinowitz. We got up and followed him. Without hesitating, Dad walked down the flight of stairs and up to Leo’s apartment door.  He did not pause; he just began banging on it with his fist. We watched from the stairs as the door slowly opened.

 Leo poked his head out, and just like that, my father was embracing this little Jewish man who, crying unashamedly, had buried his head in Dad’s chest. My brother and I were stunned. We quickly crouched down, peeking from the landing above. Leo was the landlord, and everyone seemed to be afraid of him. Not Dad. He disappeared into that apartment with Leo Rabinowitz and did not leave for several hours. When Dad came back up to our apartment, Danny and I were waiting for him. We wanted to know what happened. Dad took a deep breath and began to explain.

As he did, the “people” living downstairs morphed into Leo and Sophie Rabinowitz. They became real people. Sophie Rabinowitz had been having nightmares; nightmares created years before. Dad did his best to take us back to 1943, and a city called Krakow  The Nazis occupied that city. Sophie’s continuing nightmares were of her two boys, ages 12 and 9. They were clubbed to death by the Nazis as they made her and their father, Leo, watch. Leo and Sophie had begged their captors to kill them and spare their children, but the Nazis tortured the parents further by allowing them to live.

 Try as I may, I cannot imagine what those moments in their lives were like. They were loving parents and were helpless, unable to save their very own children as godless people clubbed them to death simply because they were Jewish. Such evil can only come into people and be accepted by them if coming from the very bowels of "Hell" itself.

My father has been dead for many years, but he is still teaching me about being Catholic today. How? Through the gospel reading from Matthew 5:1-12---aka The Sermon on the Mount. This is when Jesus, a Jewish man, gave the world The Beatitudes. The one that always grabs me is #2, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." That is what he did on the night so long ago. And the lesson proved to be profound many years later.

 I love my faith and use it frequently as my steadfast companion. I am always ready to lean on it, and I often do. Today I find myself sickened by the wave of anti-Semitism sweeping our nation and other parts of the world. My first thoughts go back to Leo and Sophie Rabinowitz. My own people are being defiled by those consumed by hatred towards people they do not know. 

 I just called them “my own people.” Well, they are my people. Let me explain. Our maternal Grandmother was an immigrant from Austria who arrived here as a teenager in 1908. We kids grew up with Grandma living with us, and we took her for granted. We gave it no thought as to "where did she come from, or where was her husband?" She was just always there. There was never a man in her life.

 Those questions would have come after we grew up a bit. But Grandma died, and the questions died also. Mom and dad had passed on too, so we could not ask them either (you can see that story here  http://amzn.to/1T2soNh ).  The thing is this; there was never any "Grandpa." There was never a mention of him at all.  Years went by with no information, and our feeble search became virtually non-existent.

 But you never know how things will go. Then, about five years ago, I received a message on Facebook from none other than my long lost cousin, Vicki (that reconnect is a story for another time). She had been on a "quest" and located me. Like dominoes perfectly colliding, after almost forty years, my sister and brothers and cousins all reconnected.

 She also had a tenaciousness that none of her siblings or cousins possessed. She had plunged into the murky waters of genealogy and found our long, lost grandfather. His name was Isidore Schul, and he was a Hebrew man from Krakow. (The same Krakow as Leo and Sophie).  Mom’s dad, our Grandpa, was Jewish. The immigration and naturalization papers all confirmed it. He made it to America in 1907. Just like that, I felt connected to Leo and Sophie Rabinowitz.

I have written a number of times how the very first Catholic/Christians were Jewish. Jesus was a Jewish man.  His mom, our sweet Blessed Mother, was Jewish. His step-dad, St. Joseph was Jewish, his apostles were Jewish, and many of His followers were Jewish. Many of the first Jewish/Christians died for following and proclaiming Jesus Christ. They were martyrs for their new faith. I mentioned this earlier in the second paragraph.

Understanding my heritage caused my transformation. I now embrace in my own heart the concept of my Jewish connection. The fact is, my maternal grandfather was a Hebrew man from Krakow, the same place Leo and Sophie’s children were butchered.  He was the only one on his side of OUR family who made it to America.  What we have discovered is that the rest of OUR relatives from his side died in the Holocaust.

 We have no way of knowing about the fate of our great grandparents, Simon and Regina Schul. Either they died before the death camps began or in one of them. Now, when I read or see programs about the Holocaust, it has a whole different meaning for me. Members of my family were killed there. It is almost impossible for me to describe.

 During the Holocaust, supposedly civilized people, both men, and women, willingly went about participating in the systematic destruction of close to 12 million people, including six million Jews. Their leaders wanted to eliminate Judaism from the face of the earth. And the '"good" non-Jewish, Aryan citizens did as the authorities ordered. They followed "orders." They almost succeeded in their quest.

I do not understand this hate. I know anti-Semitism will continue unabated. Today, its “blood”  relative, a monster known as anti-Christianism, is rivaling anti-Semitism for world dominance. Watching Judaism and Christianity being defiled and denigrated together was inevitable. The worldwide hatred of we Jews and Christians will continue. Interestingly, we are now joined together in this hatred.  Thomas Merton once said, "If you want to study the social and political history of modern nations, study hell." 

 We Catholics read and hear during the Mass from the Roman Canon (aka First Eucharistic Prayer). the following words said by the priest before the words of consecration: “In communion with those whose memory we venerate, especially the glorious ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ, and blessed Joseph, her Spouse, —–and all your saints---”  

I ask you, were not all of those mentioned Jewish? Yes, they were. There is no denying this fact. They are all canonized saints, and their Judaism was always part of who they were, and it all extrapolated into who we Catholic/Christians are today. We Jews and Christians are joined forever by Spiritual DNA.

I believe this is true. Satan rules hell. Satan put himself there, and his followers plunged right in with him.  When I bring Holy Communion to someone, the first prayer I say is, "We come to know and believe that God is Love. And he who abides in love abides in God and God in him."

 We must never forget that Satan is the opposite of love. He is is hate. Those who choose to embrace "hate" embrace Satan, and Satan embraces them. This war between Good and Evil will continue until the God of Love decides to end it.  We, as believers,  must fight for the God of Love, no matter what the cost, up to and including our lives. 

 It is 2020, and Judaism and Christianity are also under severe attack in the United States of America. It is in our face. We here, in the USA,  have had the absolute luxury of practicing our religions and worshiping as we so chose for as long as we all can remember. It is, in my opinion, the greatest freedom given to us by the Founding Fathers.

 Still, even that freedom is under assault as the pandemic gives secularists in power the authority to order churches closed. (Something to think about is the fact that many seize the opportunity while allowing casinos and race-tracks to remain open). However, we have the most potent weapon. It is the Rosary. We should pray our Rosary every day for our nation. It is a weapon that Satan cannot overcome.  

 SHALOM and may  PEACE BE WITH YOU

Copyright©Larry Peterson 2020