Teach Your Children Well

Teach Your Children Well

By Jim Nutting

According to a piece posted on the World Jewish Congress website, a 12 year old Jewish girl was attacked on a London public transit bus by a group of four girls and three boys. The victim was asked if she was Jewish. She told them that she was “English”. The girl suffered a fractured eye socket, bruising and swelling to her face and chest. The boys stood guard as the girls beat the victim to a pulp. What can we learn from this? One thing is for certain, the WJC didn’t bring up self defense. London, USA, Canada, whatever country we reside in, we are susceptible to anti-Semitic attacks, no matter what your age. All that was mentioned was that the girl’s friend who possessed a rosary was not attacked. The B’nai Elim stresses SELF DEFENSE. We cannot allow our children to give in to the bully. Either way, someone gets hurt. I hate to second-guess a situation like this, but if this little girl had been trained in a fighting art like Krav Maga, Judo, Karate or anything, a message would have been sent to the onlookers that even if she’s outnumbered, she’ll give them a hurting. In a situation where one just sits and takes the beating, there will be more to come. This is a short piece originally posted on JTA and didn’t say whether the victim took the rosary beads from her friend and whipped the other girls’ ugly. This is a scenario that gives me hope. I doubt that was the case. Jewish parents should not depend on law enforcement and school officials to protect their children. I would rather be called into a dean’s office for a complaint that my child was defending his or herself than to pick my kid up at the hospital. Fighting should never be glorified, but self defense should be taught to our children as a way of life. We can try to figure out the root cause of this attack, but as we do that, the bullies are given the attention they want. Showing tolerance to anti Semitism is a serious sign of weakness. Beating on the desk of the dean demanding justice is a positive sign to our children that we won’t take it anymore. Attending karate classes with our children is another. I’ll bet the rosary beads hurt.