When I was a kid, we often made stops at Jacobson’s Kosher Butcher and Market. It was the only kosher grocery store in Kansas City, and growing up in a kosher-keeping family, an outing to Jacobson’s was different than going to the regular grocery store. I remember walking in and seeing the desserts behind the glass counter, rugelach and the colored cookies with sprinkles that I only thought of as “kiddish cookies.” I remember that when you stood at the counter, if you stretched your neck enough you could see into the back room where they cut up the meat. As a kid, I thought it was gross, but I still looked every time.
I also remember occasionally convincing my mom to buy me Paskesz sour gummies as a treat. It was different than getting a Twix at the grocery store check-out line: None of the gummy candy at the regular grocery store was kosher. Jacobson’s was the only place that I could buy those. This may sound like a trivial matter, but being in Jacobson’s as a kosher-keeping kid gave me a feeling that it wasn’t weird to keep kosher and be Jewish. In fact, I could still get anything there, whereas in the regular grocery store we checked labels and looked for symbols. To mix metaphors, being in Jacobson’s growing up gave me a feeling that the whole world was my oyster.
Even if we aren’t the type of Jew that shops in a kosher grocery store, and even if we aren’t a Jew that checks labels for ingredients or symbols, an attack on a kosher grocery store is an attack on all of us. It’s a threat to our sense of comfort, on what it means to feel at home, to be normal as a Jew. It’s a reminder that there are people that don’t want us to view the world as our oyster. I pray that we continue to embrace our uniqueness as Jews, that we continue to create spaces where we are comfortable and at home.
May the memories of Leah Minda Ferencz, Moshe Deutch, Douglas Rodriguez, and Detective Joseph Seals be for a blessing. May we no longer know this type of pain and hatred.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Sarit ---- Call to Action due by 11AM:
Please take the next minute to make a 5-10 second video on your phone expressing your support and care for the Satmar Jewish community in Jersey City. Leaders on the ground in Jersey City have communicated that right now, the community mostly needs reassurance from other Jews and the world that they are not alone and they don't have to live in fear.
Steps to Making Your Video of Support for Satmar Jersey City Community:
1. Make a 5-10 second video on your phone expressing your support and care for the Satmar Jewish community in Jersey City in response to the antisemitic violence experienced this week. Hold your phone horizontally, please!
2. Feel free to say something about yourself in the video if you wish (where you live, if you're Jewish or if you're not etc), but what’s most important is our collective support and care. Send it to jerseycityvideo@gmail.com by 11am today, 12/13.
3. Share this opportunity to express support with your family and friends -- Jews and non-Jews alike are welcome to participate!
4. The organizers will compile as many of the short clips into one video as we can, and share it out on social media before shabbat using the hashtags #UniteAndChange and #TransformWithCare
