Meeting at the San Francisco Jewish community center, a march was held to Temple Emanu-El, where a prayer gathering was scheduled
A beautiful, enthusiastic multi-generational group participated.
A small group of protesters from Jewish Voice for Peace gathered off to the side, completely irrelevant to the masses both inside and outside the temple.
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| (tThank you Greg, for the photos) |
"Jewish" Voice for Peace protested a synagogue? This doesn't surprise me in the least. I wonder how many of them have ever been inside a synagogue.
ReplyDeleteThe protests against Israel were voiced not just outside Temple Emanu-el, but also inside. A half-a-dozen of members of “Jewish Voice for Peace” and other pro-Palestinian groups sneaked into the Main Sanctuary of the synagogue, where the meeting and community prayer for peace were held. They strategically positioned themselves in different parts of the large sanctuary and disrupted the speeches and prayers six times, screaming unintelligibly and spitting out ugly accusations at more or less equal intervals, one person at a time, which appeared well orchestrated. They did it, despite the repeated reminders about the sacred nature of the environment, until each one was escorted outside. It was extremely upsetting and some children in the audience looked scared and visibly shaken. I heard some congregants commenting afterwards that, perhaps, it was a bad idea to hold the meeting at the Temple. And yet, I would like to say Thank You to the protesters. Not, of course, for disrupting and disrespecting our peaceful gathering at our sacred place, or scaring our children. I would like to thank them for reminding us what Jewish students have to deal with on the daily basis on Californian campuses. I would like to thank them for providing a needed wake-up call to remind us that no matter how safe we may feel among ourselves, behind the walls of our synagogues, we are not really safe anywhere any more. And finally, I would like to thank them for reminding our community that no place is sacred and no walls are thick enough in Israel to protect its children and adults unless it does what it has to protect itself.
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