Honk if you heart Jews!
In an effort to show solidarity with my fellow Jews, I put on a skirt and jacket this morning and went to synagogue. The Fred Phelps clan (aka the Westboro Baptist Church "WBC" - readers may be familiar with their antics from the Llama-ville days of the journal) were picketing Congregation Ohev Shalom in Prairie Village this morning prior to services. Our theory is that they ran out of military funerals to picket, so they needed a new target, the perennial standby....JEWS! (Okay, to say it properly, you have to be like William Shatner in the "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," i.e..."KHAAAAAAN!", with your fists clenched to the heavens and remember to elongate the vowels, like "....JYOOOOOOZZZZ!")
Anyway, so the protest was fairly entertaining. Only about 5 Fredlets were in attendance, across the street from the synagogue, with their obligatory "God Hates Fags" signs, now new and improved "God Hates Jews" Signs and stepping on an Israeli flag. On the Pro-Jews side, there were congregants with a banner proclaiming "Congregation Ohev Shalom Welcomes the Reverend Fred Phelps", various community members with hand painted poster boards - My favorite was "Honk if you heart Jews!" There was enthusiastic honking from motorists driving up and down 75th street. There were also representatives from the KC interfaith community - including a Catholic priest, a Sikh, some Muslims, some Buddhists, and just people from the neighborhood with their dogs. It was a nice group. And of course, the Prarie Village police were in attendance making sure the terms of the protest permit were followed and no one was blocking traffic.
Many of my fellow pro-Jews supporters were disturbed by the fact that there were 2 cute little kids holding up the WBC posterboards. "Eh," I thought, "Phelps family summer camp." A couple of years ago, when I interviewed for a job in Topeka in July, it was over 100 degrees, and there were some of the WBC people with a group of little kids holding signs across of the courthouse steps. "Damn," I thought, "I wouldn't want to go to that summer camp." At least this morning, it was 75 deg F.
At 9:30am, it started to rain and the WBC packed up its signs (I think the protest permit was only until 9:30 am). The congregants (including me) shuffled into synagogue for the Shabbat morning prayers, while other well-wishers dispersed. It turns out, there was an aufruf this morning, when a bride and groom are called to the Torah to honor them in the week before their wedding. There was a nice kiddush afterwards, with bagels and lemonade and cake.
I was wondering why there was so few Fredlets in attendance this morning, but according to the article in the KC Jewish Chronicle, they're spreading their organization across several religious sites in KC, and in Wichita to cover the Dr. George Tiller funeral.
In other Jew-hatin' news, a Neo-Nazi group recently applied to pick up litter along a Missouri highway. In a heartening counter-move, the Missouri State Legislature then voted to rename that very same stretch of road, "The Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Memorial Highway." (Abraham Joshua Heschel is a beloved, modern Jewish theological who was active in the civil rights movement and marched with Dr. King. My dad used to see him at the Jewish Theological Seminary cafeteria in NYC when he was in college. Daddy-llama described it, "It was like he had karnei or" - emanating rays of light like Moses in the Bible.
Anyway, so the protest was fairly entertaining. Only about 5 Fredlets were in attendance, across the street from the synagogue, with their obligatory "God Hates Fags" signs, now new and improved "God Hates Jews" Signs and stepping on an Israeli flag. On the Pro-Jews side, there were congregants with a banner proclaiming "Congregation Ohev Shalom Welcomes the Reverend Fred Phelps", various community members with hand painted poster boards - My favorite was "Honk if you heart Jews!" There was enthusiastic honking from motorists driving up and down 75th street. There were also representatives from the KC interfaith community - including a Catholic priest, a Sikh, some Muslims, some Buddhists, and just people from the neighborhood with their dogs. It was a nice group. And of course, the Prarie Village police were in attendance making sure the terms of the protest permit were followed and no one was blocking traffic.
Many of my fellow pro-Jews supporters were disturbed by the fact that there were 2 cute little kids holding up the WBC posterboards. "Eh," I thought, "Phelps family summer camp." A couple of years ago, when I interviewed for a job in Topeka in July, it was over 100 degrees, and there were some of the WBC people with a group of little kids holding signs across of the courthouse steps. "Damn," I thought, "I wouldn't want to go to that summer camp." At least this morning, it was 75 deg F.
At 9:30am, it started to rain and the WBC packed up its signs (I think the protest permit was only until 9:30 am). The congregants (including me) shuffled into synagogue for the Shabbat morning prayers, while other well-wishers dispersed. It turns out, there was an aufruf this morning, when a bride and groom are called to the Torah to honor them in the week before their wedding. There was a nice kiddush afterwards, with bagels and lemonade and cake.
I was wondering why there was so few Fredlets in attendance this morning, but according to the article in the KC Jewish Chronicle, they're spreading their organization across several religious sites in KC, and in Wichita to cover the Dr. George Tiller funeral.
In other Jew-hatin' news, a Neo-Nazi group recently applied to pick up litter along a Missouri highway. In a heartening counter-move, the Missouri State Legislature then voted to rename that very same stretch of road, "The Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Memorial Highway." (Abraham Joshua Heschel is a beloved, modern Jewish theological who was active in the civil rights movement and marched with Dr. King. My dad used to see him at the Jewish Theological Seminary cafeteria in NYC when he was in college. Daddy-llama described it, "It was like he had karnei or" - emanating rays of light like Moses in the Bible.