The Nazis Of Connecticut
They disrupted a Hanukkah ceremony
FAIRFIELD — Pouring rain failed to dampen the spirts of a small group of families huddled on the Sherman Green gazebo to light a menorah on the third night of Hanukkah Sunday.
Neither did three masked men, who carrying Nazi flags and shouting obscenities, tried to disrupt the ceremony until they fled when police arrived.
“I’m glad I was there,” said Fairfield First Selectman Kenneth Flatto.
So was Rabbi Shlame Landa who staged the ceremony for Chabad of Fairfield.
“It’s important to see we don’t back down from spreading goodness and light,” said Landa.
The men, dressed in black, showed up just as the ceremony was beginning, stayed on the sidewalk about 20 yards from the gazebo. Each carried a flag held in outstretched arms. One flag bore a swastika, another an iron cross.
From his vantage point, Flatto said he could hear obscenities, but never felt threatened. He did, however, call police.
This should be widely reported and discussed, but probably won’t be.
- Aggie
Carol said,
December 14, 2009 @ 8:52 pm
In this country, I have a very hard time taking Nazis seriously - seems like there is much more danger from leftists and muslims. I don’t recall hearing of any of them doing anything but showing up and looking stupid in public in forever. Perhaps I am wrong, but they just seem so ridiculous, pathetic and bathetic at the same time.
Bloodthirsty Liberal said,
December 14, 2009 @ 9:28 pm
I’ve been thinking about this a fair amount since Fairfield is not so far away. The Nazis showed up at a Hanukkah ceremony. By definition there were little kids there, as well as parents and probably grandparents. The Nazis were screaming obscenities. The police did nothing. Try to imagine it happening at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. The perpetrators would be hauled off to jail for disturbing the peace, at a minimum. There were little kids there who got their first big taste of Jew hatred. Guaranteed it won’t be their last.
Not far from Fairfield, a young Jewish college student was murdered (Wesleyan College) for the sin of being Jewish. The whole thing makes me very uncomfortable. The line between “far Left” and “far Right” is skinny to the point of imaginary. And in case you’re imagining a poor or working class community - forget it. There are very nice Starbucks all over the area, i.e., it is a prosperous area.
- Aggie
Carol said,
December 15, 2009 @ 7:43 am
The asswipes from the Westboro Baptist Church do that all the time at soldiers’ funerals. They are held at bay by what amounts to a private volunteer security force. If an area is known to have a contingent of Nazis, and Jews are having a public religious ceremony, I would suggest they need to assemble their own security force.
As to what happens to the nancy-Nazis who are disturbing the peace, that depends entirely on what city you’re in and whose ox is being gored. If that had happened in Dallas, I think you’d have some jailed Nazis. If it happened in Seattle, where police politicians have let mobs commit murder, you’d end up with what happened in Fairfield.
As so many like to quote, When you have seconds to defend yourself, the police are only moments away.
Bloodthirsty Liberal said,
December 15, 2009 @ 8:01 am
I guess there is no way to get crazy people to respect the rights and feelings of others. As to your suggestion regarding a private security force, most of these little towns have just a sprinkling of Jews and certainly couldn’t pull that off. I honestly can’t imagine most parents taking their little ones to a celebration that was deemed dangerous, either. I know that after 9/11, police departments began to protect synagogues during the high holidays in the fall, because it was deemed necessary. I don’t know what the solution is. No one does. To paraphrase Barack Obama: I, Aggie, do not have the answer to anti-Semitism or to the more general problem of a–holism, which is truly endemic in our society.
- Aggie
Carol said,
December 15, 2009 @ 8:30 pm
Aggie, the guys that provide protection against the Westboro cretins are an informal group that got started after the first couple of Westboro stunts. Massachusetts just ain’t that big, so I’m thinking that between Jews in the area and the Judeophilic Christians that are bound to be around somewhere, a group could be created.
But perhaps the “we will hope the police will protect us” mindset is the problem because we’re probably talking about liberals. The problem isn’t the Nazis (”Yea, there will be assholes with us alway, even unto the end of the world,” she blasphemed); the problem is liberals who always expect someone to take care of them.
Bloodthirsty Liberal said,
December 15, 2009 @ 9:42 pm
Well, this thing happened in Connecticut and my understanding is that it was a Chabad group, which probably means politically conservative and definitely small. Chabad groups practice a very orthodox form of Judaism; when you think of liberal Jews, you are picturing Reform or Conservative groups (Conservative Jews, which is not a political group) typically. That’s a generalization, but it usually holds up. Are you sufficiently confused?
- Aggie
Carol said,
December 16, 2009 @ 9:04 am
Nah, I had lots of Jewish friends growing up, and one of my sister’s friends actually married a Lubavitcher. St. Petersburg had quite a large Jewish population, I’m guessing, and my Girl Scout troop met at one time at Temple Beth-El and later at the Jewish Community Center. I read “Jews, God and History” in junior high so I have my Jewish street cred.