The Honeybee's Defense

With each new report of violent attacks on Jews and their property around the world, I am sorely tempted to join the chorus of Israelis imploring our brothers and sisters in the diaspora to pack up and move to Israel before it is too late.

But each time I am able to resist that temptation because I truly believe that the Jews of the world aren’t experiencing 1933 all over again (at least in most places), and such comparisons are deeply misplaced. Further, I actually believe that the existence of Israel, combined with the legal protections of laws in most civilized countries, means that Jews no longer have to pack their belongings and flee in the night with whatever they can carry.

It bears reminding that living in Israel carries no guarantee of safety from anti-Semitic attacks, as our Palestinian 'peace partners' so ably remind us with alarming frequency.  And if Ezra and Nehemiah were powerless to persuade the affluent Jews of Babylonia to return to the land of Israel when the prospect of rebuilding the Temple was a reality and not some wistful dream, what can I, as a modern Israeli, possibly say to persuade American or European Jews to give up the comfortable lives they've built for themselves and start anew?

While Israel was certainly founded as (and continues to be) a refuge for Jews in need of escape/protection, it also serves as an example of how Jews need never apologize for, or shy away from protecting themselves.

To that end, every Jew – no matter where they live or how invisible they think they are – must take responsibility for their own defense.  That means carrying pepper spray… a knife… a gun… whatever the law of the land allows.  And they must be prepared to use these, and any other weapons that comes to hand. 

Those who are increasingly finding sport in attacking Jews must know that to raise a hand against any of us is a death sentence; that they will not be left alive to plead insanity, inebriation or incapacity!

We are not wasps or hornets whose nature it is to attack and kill… but rather, like honeybees whose industry and ingenuity benefit all who allow us to prosper peacefully in their midst. 

But any who raise a hand against us must know that a heavy price will be exacted, without hesitation… and without remorse.