12 | DECEMBER 8 • 2022 

at a celebratory dinner. I’m 
grateful I’m celebrating 
instead of mourning.
My family was astounded 
by the kindness of the 
Jewish people. The nurses, 
doctors, family, friends and 
strangers all called, reached 
out and supported us during 
this horrible time. 
Many people see 
headlines about terror 
attacks in Israel and assume 
Israel isn’t a safe place. 
Israel is a safe country. Yes, 
the headlines are scary, but 
while one child was killed 
in the attack and 22 people 
were injured, 9 million 
Israelis were perfectly safe. 
They were safe yesterday 
and today, and they’ll be 
safe tomorrow. Don’t be 
taken in by sensationalism, 
Israel is a wonderful and 
safe place.
I’m grateful for the 
support of the Israeli and 
American governments. 
Knesset members, local 
government officials, 
the White House, 
congresspeople, the current 
American ambassador, 
two former American 
ambassadors and many of 
their staff, all who reached 
out. I’m grateful to my birth 
country of America and my 
home country of Israel.
I was also cognizant 
of the fact that there are 
people who planned this 
attack. They scouted the 
bus stop for days. They 
saw my daughter waiting 
there every day and aimed 
to kill her. These people 
are celebrating. The attack 
took expertise, training and 
planning. It was expensive; 

it took funds and support. 
It took a world willing to 
look away from Palestinian, 
Iranian and Qatari funding 
of terror. A world willing 
to see a small amount of 
terror as acceptable. The 
world must change and 
shut the terrorists and their 
supporters down.
Don’t be fooled. This 
attack had nothing to do 
with occupation, a state 
or apartheid. Arab terror 
and attacks occurred 
before 1948 and before 
1967 and continue today. 
These attacks are caused 
by antisemites who hate 
the Jewish people and want 
Jewish people dead.
Our daughter Naomi will 
be fine. Our family will be 
fine. Our people will be 
fine. The Jewish state will 
be fine. The Jewish people 
will grow and flourish. God 
will protect us and keep us 
safe. Our enemies will be 
defeated, and we will be the 
ones to defeat them.
After all our worries 
and fear, we are left with 
gratitude to God for 
allowing us to keep our 
Naomi and gratitude to all 
those who reached out to us 
in our time of trial. We tried 
responding to everyone, 
and we’re sorry if we didn’t 
return every message. Your 
words of encouragement and 
comfort meant the world 
to me and to our family. 
We’ve never felt so loved and 
supported. 

Rabbi Uri Pilichowski is a senior edu-

cator at numerous educational institu-

tions. He is the author of three books 

and teaches Torah, Zionism and Israel 

studies around the world.

Of Lies and 
Genocide
Thanks to Karen Sutton 
(“Kristallnacht: A Lethal 
Legacy of Legends and 
Lies,” Nov. 17, page 8) for 
opening up my eyes about 
the legend of Kristallnacht. 
 I was unaware that Vom 
Rath, the German secretary 
who was shot by a Jew 
that spurred “the Night 
of Crystal Glass,” started 
to recover and then was 
“probably poisoned by the 
Nazis themselves.” 
 This was just what 
the Nazis wanted to spur 
“escalation of violence 
against Jews,” the 
“collective villain” of Hitler 
and Nazi Germany. 
After reading from 
Sutton about the futility 
of “words in place of 
action,” we are now stuck 
in a world where words 
are still used to vilify Jews. 
After Ye (Kanye West) 
declared his intention of 
going “def con 3 against 
the Jewish people,” FBI 
Director Christopher Wray 
testified that the Jewish 
community “was getting 
it from all sides,” that 63% 
of all religiously motivated 
violent extremism in the 
U.S. was motivated by 
antisemitism. 
Knowing now what 
Jewish students face on 
college campuses didn’t 
prepare me for Joseph 
Shumenov’s infuriating 
experience (“Antisemitism 
on Campus,” Nov. 17, 
page 48) when he was 
called an “evil Zionist,” a 

supporter of the “murder 
and imprisonment of 
Palestinians” and worse, 
the ultimate badge of 
infamy, “a genocide 
supporter.”
Why does a young Jew 
have to face such sickening 
antisemitism on an 
American college campus 
84 years after Kristallnacht? 
Jews, who’ve collectively 
faced the worst genocide 
in human history, must 
not embolden those who 
use ignorance to lie. I 
commend young Jews like 
Joseph for standing up to 
hatred and speaking out 
forcefully. 
Lies are what began 
the lethal hysteria against 
Jews that descended into 
genocide. 
Truth, even 84 years 
after the night of “legends 
and lies,” is still the most 
effective weapon we have 
to combat contempt and 
hatred. 

— Arnie Goldman 

Farmington Hills

Successful Parade 
on Thanksgiving
I enjoyed your article on 
Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day 
Parade (Nov. 24, page 62). 
 There are still Jewish 
Detroiters working to 
make the parade a success. 
For example, I have been 
driving one of the floats 
for a number of years and 
hope to continue for many 
more. 

— Norm Levy 

via the Web

letters

PURELY COMMENTARY

FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS ON A DAY OF TERROR 
continued from page 10

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