In the Christian calendar, October 31 is Halloween, a day for scaring little children.Only about a week after that, November 9, is a much more frightening day for Jews: Kristallnacht. In 1938, this marked the symbolic opening of the Holocaust followed by the persecution and total destruction of German, then all of European Jewry.

With the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, it seems that in the United States and many other parts of the world extreme antisemitic/anti-Israel riots “spontaneously” broke out. The speed and ferocity of these riots show that they were obviously well-planned and organized beforehand, and only needed a trigger to set them off. The Hamas attack was that trigger. Response by the rest of the world, even by many officials, has been either tepid at best, or actual support for the Hamas savages.

I greatly fear that the coordinated Muslim demonstrations and riots may be a prelude to a more devastating Kristllnacht-type orgy, aimed at campuses, synagogues or other soft targets. The rioters know they can get away with these “protests.”

I think we here in America should be extra-vigilant during this time. Remember, Shabbat begins on the night of November 10.

Max Wisotsky
Highland Park