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Published on 09/15/1999 All articles from this issue

The year 5760 - a scary look ahead

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By Charlotte K. Jarmy

Reflections

Some of you worry about the year 2000. I do not; I haven't seen enough evidence to make me want to pull out my money from the bank or stockpile extra food. But the New Year that approaches this week does worry me. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have been around for many more years, and there are reasons to believe that forces of evil - human, not metaphysical - may be zeroing in on the Jews who celebrate those two important Holy Days.

I've always viewed anti-Semitism as a sickness far from my own door. And it may well be. However, the kind of frightening actions taken recently by biased individuals have affected Jews in many communities. The violence in Los Angeles when little children were threatened has spread into our own area where synagogues are quietly planning extra precautions, like security guards and police patrols during the time when thousands will gather.

Some years back, a good friend of mine became incensed at what he considered the next great threat to our country. He meant the skinheads, whom everyone believed to be a very small group with outspoken racial hatred for most minorities. Because I have so little experience in that arena, I disagreed with him and even told him he was becoming paranoid. Just a few years later, and now I find myself with the same fearful thoughts.

The Jewish New Year begins a cultural and religious ingathering that awakens my sense of joy in the unity of people from such diverse backgrounds who welcome a new year with optimism. The words, "L'Shana Tova," wishing loved ones and even strangers a blessing for a good year filled with health and peace, can be heard wherever Jews gather to celebrate with prayer, song, and good food. The synagogues, and halls used as temporary places of worship, will be overflowing with people happy to welcome this lovely holiday.

This year, however, my anxious mind sees the thousands of Jews flocking together as a possible target for trouble. Sick minds can conjure up terrorist types of aggression, whetted as they are by the availability of like-minded people. The Internet, now a most important method of communication, may connect people who hate anyone different from themselves: African-Americans, Jews, and Asians, as well as those whose sexual preference is inimical to these hostile groups.

Schools today place great emphasis on safety and security for children, as well they should. At first thought, I say, "How could anyone hurt little kids?" We have seen enough proof that some people allow their frustrations and anger to reach a boiling point. Hate, for whatever reason, destroys logic, and we may have to protect ourselves and our families from such destructive forces that are very real.

You don't have to be a scholar to be aware of the consequences of hate in Kosovo, in the Middle East, in parts of Ireland and now in Timor. Centuries-old aggression of one people against another added up finally to the Holocaust in Europe and continues today.

The majority of us wish no ill will against other human beings. But when conditions are ripe, that tiny minority of skinheads and those who belong to the Aryan Nation, discover strength in numbers to attack. Hitler started out with a small following, but his evil mind attracted others until he had millions following and approving of his "final solution."

As I sit in the hall where thousands of others are reading the prayers and singing the melodies of the past, I know I'll be hoping that the finest minds of our time will come up with some solution to the misery of hate.

As we move toward Yom Kippur, a grave and emotional holy day, I expect to hear words from the pulpit that will offer hope in this New Year.

Charlotte K. Jarmy , a Los Altos resident, supervises teachers at Stanford University and is a free-lance writer.