To Those Who Hate Us

I had just returned from celebrating Passover, the holiday commemorating the Jewish people's deliverance from slavery in Egypt. This was always my favorite holiday, with the history of God's mercy on the Jews and the infliction of plagues on those who oppressed them and their faith.

The next morning on my way to class, I saw something that made my heart clench and my stomach feel queasy. On the wall across from one of the main gates onto McGill's campus was a star of David equated with a swastika. It was spray painted over some older graffiti which said "religion kills". I had always noted the writing there on the wall and turned it over in my head each time I passed by it. now I was horrified at this addition. I looked around to see if anyone else noticed, or was disturbed by it. But every one just kept walking by. I stood there in this warped state, it felt like the beginning of those WWII movies when things started getting ugly for the Jews in Europe. I knew that graffiti was meant for us.

How could someone take the symbol of my people and equate it with the greatest monsters of our past? Obviously ignorance lies behind someoneâ?Ts ability to use these symbols in such a manner, but there was also malicious intent. It was sick. Someone had put that graffiti there to torment us. It was there to make us feel isolated and give us a sense of peril on our way into class, and to follow us home on our way out of class.

I stormed back to my apartment, recalling all of the other incidents that had occurred around me in the past few years in Montreal. I had seen that sort of graffiti in numerous other locations in the city, but not so close to home. I remember being spit on and cursed at while walking with a friend wearing a yarmulke. The Hillel house had red paint splashed all over it earlier that year. My friend's car with Hebrew bumper stickers had been covered with discriminatory stickers, had the antenna and windshield wipers broken and the hood smashed in. Just last night my roommate told me her grandparent's synagogue in Saskatoon had been firebombed. And this really is a list that goes on and on and onâ?¦

Despite the burden of worry and sadness I feel, there is a happiness inside. Because I know that in 5 months time I am moving to Israel, to start the rest of my life. I hear other Jewish people in this community complaining about the increasing anti-Jewish incidents, that make them feel scared, or saying they are determined not to be made to feel "unsafe in their homes." No matter where Jewish communities will build their houses and synagogues, there will only be one place that is our Home. The harassers win. They have made it more then abundantly clear that Jews are not welcome here. This is a lesson we have learned the hard way. So, though it sounds strange, I would like to thank all of you who have spray-painted offensive things, or have hurt my friends, or damaged Jewish property. They will always serve as reminders of where my rightful place is. Thank you for the not-so nice send-off. For hundreds of years, Jews have concluded their Passover seders by reciting "Next year in Jerusalem." I won't wait another year.

Miriam Delman