A reader of OTBKB sent in this report about Saturday morning at Beth Elohim:
After much to-ing & fro-ing about whether to
pay attention or ignore that hate group, I wandered up to the demonstration this
morning. When I saw the rabbi taking part I decided to stay – since it had
been his suggestion that no one react to the provocation. As your friend
said, ours was a very quiet group. The rabbi led us in a few chants
& cheers, a small group did a hora on the steps of the temple & there
was a general feeling of gemutlich. The odious Kansans sang filthy,
abhorrent lyrics to Havah Nagila & the Israeli national anthem but
they were a pathetic, ugly assembly of sorry souls. Marty Markowitz was
inevitably there but very much in the background. The police were
pleasant. I'd estimate closer to 500 of "us" but wouldn't bet on it.
Notably, there were no video trucks & not much media that I could
see.
pay attention or ignore that hate group, I wandered up to the demonstration this
morning. When I saw the rabbi taking part I decided to stay – since it had
been his suggestion that no one react to the provocation. As your friend
said, ours was a very quiet group. The rabbi led us in a few chants
& cheers, a small group did a hora on the steps of the temple & there
was a general feeling of gemutlich. The odious Kansans sang filthy,
abhorrent lyrics to Havah Nagila & the Israeli national anthem but
they were a pathetic, ugly assembly of sorry souls. Marty Markowitz was
inevitably there but very much in the background. The police were
pleasant. I'd estimate closer to 500 of "us" but wouldn't bet on it.
Notably, there were no video trucks & not much media that I could
see.
One does wonder why they choose to do this kind of
thing unless they're hoping to recruit on the coattails of the far-right hate
mongering that's been rampant recently.
Originally, we’d been alerted that these people incite others to join from their flanks — and that the protests can incite violence. With this in mind, a friend and myself went right into the first Brooklyn demonstration to scout these Kansas crazies, protect & forewarn our areas for the synagogues on their schedule on the sabbath, and to extend help where we could…to the teenage students from Brooklyn Tech they oddly targeted. As it turned out, they looked like a crazy family (sadly including a 10 year old son with this message of hate and intolerance). I’d simply had to keep 2-3 students from misplacing their anger with NYPD who’d asked an errant few to keep their distance, repeatedly (and we’d had to explain to these young students that this Group had ‘a Right’ to demonstrate, even with this sort of Wrong message). Last thing we wanted to see was that group of 200+ students which cheered anti-racism and at one time “we love Jews” over & over… depicted as unruly or to give these Kansas knuckleheads the satisfaction of seeing arrests, because of the fervor they caused.
Rabbis from Great Neck to Brooklyn had the correct reflection & advice — which was to ignore them, and move on with the days’ observances. These people were only here to maximize the media across the United Nations events of last week, and the corresponding high holy days across Manhattan, Long Island and Brooklyn. This was an act & fund-raising scheme and I’d read where they try and goad onlookers to approach them — in hopes of suing for violation of their civil rights, and if police didn’t protect them.. (Sadly, people must look at them somewhere and consider donation, etc.) Easily, there were 9-10 awful themes they tried to get reaction from crowds that I saw — both at Brooklyn Tech/Ft. Greene and on Kane St. before the synagogue, including the ‘Pope eating your babies’, dragging the American flag across the floor, in addition to the anti-gay, anti-Jewish and anti-Obama bigoted nonsense. They drove off with a blue mini-van at events with a NJ license plate, and now that they’re out…comes the only reason I’d even imagined to raise the bridge tolls significantly.
Westboro’s Rev. Fred Phelps is a nutcase with a long and controversial history as member of the Kansas Democratic Party. His son led Gore’s 1988 presidential campaign efforts in Kansas. Several family members are on Kansas state payroll and worked as state employees during the Kathleen Sebelius administration.
The inside baseball on this bunch is nothing short of amazing. It’s all about bloodsport in the Democratic Party in Kansas. Goes back the whacky days of Democrat Gov. Joan Finney, the bowling queen.
I kindly ask all the readers of this blog NOT to confuse the Republican Party or conservative Christians and Jews with the filthy and horrendous hatemongering of the Westboro Baptist Church protests that went on this weekend.
While people in the Republican Party have divergent views on social issues like abortion and marriage equality, as in the Democratic Party, certainly no young conservative Brooklyn Republican that I’ve met falls into such a horrifying lunatic fringe.
As for the Tea Party protests: yes, they have recently become opportunities for a lot of people to get on a soapbox about a whole range of issues that may fall outside the mainstream. But remember, the overwhelming majority of people there are there protesting against government waste and spending, and they also are a mix of Republicans, Democrats and independents.
If you have any questions about that, or want to know more about the Young Republican Club, check us out at http://www.brooklynyr.com.
Best,
Jonathan J. Judge
President
Brooklyn Young Republican Club
Now that these miscreants have departed, the people of Park Slope can return to more substantive issues — like Amy Sohn.