Rabbis arrested outside Trump tower for protesting the Muslim ban

[Behind the Aegis]

3. As Jews, we are quite familiar with this type of hate.

It isn't just from history books either. Many of us have families where this (rampant bigotry based on religion) was a reality. My great-grandparents fled Russia and Ukraine in 1901/3. The paternal side (Russia) mostly died when their shtetls were liquidated during the pogroms, others fled to Lithuania and Poland (that didn't work out either). Though we think some survived. My maternal great grandparents' families stayed in Ukraine and between pogroms and the Holocaust, none survived that didn't come to the US. My grandfather (both actually) fought in WWII. The Jewish one, a pilot, fought in the European theater, but was still treated like a potential enemy. My father grew up getting into fist-fights almost everyday because he was a "Jew boy" (keep in mind this was after WWII given he was born in 1950). In fifth grade, a classmate threatened to kill me because I was a "Christ-killer", something I didn't even understand.

Despite what too many may think, Jews are very familiar with bigotry and hate. We also are familiar with perseverance and understand we are charged with standing with those who are under threat. It doesn't always happen, but as a group, social justice ranks pretty high with us.