French empathizers

Last autumn, my wife and I were passengers on a river cruise in southern France.

We had a wonderful trip, which was marred only by my interaction with a French guest lecturer who came on board one day to talk about life in today’s France.

During the one-hour talk she made no reference at all to the then recent spate of anti-Semitic incidents. When I questioned her about this, she first ignored my question and then denied the occurence of those widely publicized incidents.

I admire the French for their brave reaction to all the horror this year at the hands of terrorists. I love the signs, such as Je suis Charlie. Recently, a Jewish teacher in Marseille was stabbed by three ISIS sympathizers. I fervently hope that I will soon see a day when the French display signs bravely professing: Je suis Juif.

This story was originally published November 22, 2015 at 12:00 PM with the headline "French empathizers."