First an apology.
The first two nights of Passover fell on Monday and Tuesday this week and we thought we had our act together cramming three days worth of work into one. We did forget one thing however— to change the message on the answering machine.
We received a lot of phone calls of increasing irritation all we can say is oops and sorry.
It has been noted several times that the victims of Monday’s Kansas city shooting spree of two Jewish centers were not Jewish.
We do not find it odd at all especially for America.
America is different.
The sharp divisions of religion and sect do not exist here. And there is always room at the proverbial inn.
At least for most of us.
The haters will always find a reason to hate and tragically some of us will die for our Ecumenism like the three martyrs did Monday.
It is the price we have to pay for tolerance.
We cannot count the times we attended social events at the local Mormon, Catholic and Baptist churches.
None of them were religious except for the funeral of our father and pastor was very understanding about removing the huge cross at the altar.
That is just how it works out here.
Churches and synagogues are big buildings with lots of seating and it is an American tradition that apart from days of worship they are open to the public even and especially to those not of the congregation.
The first town halls were held in churches and the revolution went just fine.
The same cannot be said for most of the rest of the world.
While it is perhaps not written on the doors the beautiful cathedrals, churches, synagogues and mosques are avoided by others except perhaps by the American tourists who appreciate the beauty of faith no matter which faith is beatified.
We believe it is a strength of our country and our culture. Yet sometimes it is a weakness.
If the martyrs of Kansas City had been like our old world cousins with old world ideas they might not have been killed.
And yet there is a terrible beauty in this tragedy.
We are all Jews.
We are all Mormons.
We are all Catholics.
We are all Protestants.
Because we are all Americans.