TWICE so far during this Christmas season, Jewish friends have come to our house to share in the happiness of the season, as they have come in past years. I cooked and cleaned in advance, and extended to them all the warm hospitality I consider normal and obligatory at this time of year and whenever they come to visit.

My friends apparently have not gotten the message from the Anti-Defamation League that people like me are to be shunned and treated like criminals. Or maybe they have gotten the message, but they ignore it. I don’t know. I only know that we like each other too much for such things to get in the way. “I will never forget what you did for me,” one of our friends said to me on a previous occasion. What did I do? Nothing really. Her husband lost his job through no fault of his own and I commiserated with her. I did not tire of showing her concern during her depression. And she has never forgotten and has always been warm and kind toward me. She knows about this blog but doesn’t seem to care. Another Jewish friend hugged me on December 23rd, and thanked me in a very heartfelt way for caring for his sick wife, apparently oblivious that I am an “anti-Semite” he should despise.

We cannot share the deepest and most important things in life, at least not yet, but we can share the adventures, hardships and absurdities of everyday living. Many Jews have a finely-tuned sense of humor when it comes to the latter, probably as a result of being outsiders for centuries. We laugh a lot, and part in friendship. But then our friends are not the sort of people for whom politics are a burning religion, so we can truly talk about other things.

I bring this up to make an important point.

I believe it is a moral imperative to criticize the Jewish persecution narrative and Jewish control over society today.  At the same time, I believe it is a moral imperative to show kindness and warmth to Jews — not some kind of calculated or patronizing acceptance, but a natural good will that comes automatically.

Now that it is becoming illegal in America to voice that criticism in certain places, now that Internet censorship is growing by the day and repressive measures are likely to grow much worse, possibly with false flags to help it along and convince the Jewish people that they are indeed hated so that they retreat even more into a mental ghetto, it is especially important to cultivate good will toward the Jewish people, as a whole and as individuals. (Good will is not the same as submission.) Don’t let this war taint your heart. Don’t let it keep you from seeing Jews as human beings.

Discussion of the Jewish question is a very serious matter and is not for ordinary social interaction. One should never bring it up at a social gathering, especially in front of children or teenagers, who can be prone to crude caricatures. I think it generally should be confined to the printed word, videos that are well thought out or documentaries, not live conversation.

I have loved too many Jews to hate them collectively or individually, nor is it in my nature to hate anyone. That affection has never been contingent on their acceptance of my worldview. I consider it a compliment to take the beliefs of others seriously and even to engage in a battle against them. Ideas have consequences. Ideas have eternal consequences. Human beings are not robots. We are alive!! Thank God, we are alive. Whenever the Catholic Church is criticized, as it often is, I may be outraged by blasphemies, but I also take it as a challenge. Too often, the challenge is empty prejudice or is too stealthy to come out in the open.

When the kindness I mention is not reciprocated, when you are nearly pushed over in the supermarket or told that you are hateful and unworthy of being in the presence of Jews, anger is understandable, but you must check it. Get back on your feet, separate from your antagonists, but maintain a firm policy of good will toward the Jewish people and Jewish individuals. Again, good will and submission are two different things. They may believe that to criticize Jewry is to hate Jews. Don’t you believe it. Criticism when done in the right spirit is charity, although inaccuracy, obsession and exaggeration are definitely not.

When it comes to criticizing Jews — wait a second, the mere articulation of that concept is deeply offensive and “anti-Semitic” and has sealed my doom now matter what I do. Defamation, the silent treatment or a prison camp are my fate. Nevertheless, when it comes to criticizing Jews, observe the policy of those ancient warriors who would set a specific time of day to meet on the battlefield, fight it out strategically with cannon balls or arrows for a limited interval and thereafter treat each other chivalrously. Everything was out in the open and guerilla tactics were considered impolite. War, for them, had its proper time and place. And friendship did too.

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