The Sunset on the Graves

Reflection on Golders Green

I went to Golders Green for the first time last year.

It was beautiful.

It was the only place in all of London where one could still see hostage posters. Everywhere else, they had been torn down.

A friend of mine had taken me there to try Pita, the best kosher spot for falafel in the whole city. Ask any Jew from London, they’ll tell you the same.

After we had lunch, we walked around the town before going to the cemetery.

The Golders Green cemetery boasts some very famous permanent residents: Sigmund Freud, Keith Moon, Peter Sellers, just to name a few.

I paid homage to the burial site of Mark Bolan, the lead singer of T.Rex and one of my all-time favorite rockstars.

It was not until I saw his grave in Golders Green that I realized he was Jewish.

Of course, with the hair, I should have known. But who would ever think a rockstar could be just another Yid from Golders Green?

The cemetery closed at sunset, and, as we were leaving, I saw this beautiful sight.

The sunset above the crematorium – one of G-d’s strangest beauties.

It was on this trip to England that I came to realize what I had long already known – the golden age of Jews was over.

In the United States, the legacy of Jews in the 20th century casts a long shadow. The cultural power of bagels and Jerry Seinfeld still insulates us from the reality that Europe is already experiencing.

The day after I went to the cemetery, I stopped by a very popular bagel shop.

This was not a kosher bagel shop — they served bacon and corned beef.

But the cashier was Jewish. She was very sweet, a little shy. I noticed that she was wearing a Hebrew necklace.

“Is that your name?” I said, pointing at her necklace.

She smiled and clutched her necklace.

Then, she dropped her head and hid her face. She leaned into the cash register and whispered,

“Are you Jewish?”

In a hush, I said, “yes.”

She wrapped up my bagel and handed me my change. She looked up briefly, gave me a quick smile, then went back to her work as if nothing had happened.

But first, she slipped the necklace under her shirt.

Growing up with the hubris of post-war American Jews, I never imagined I would see such a sight.

Now, I even see it here.

England’s history with the Jews is long and complex. But, since the Jews were brought back in 1653, England has been one of the most tolerant nations in all of Europe.

Golders Green was a testament to that. Jews walked around proudly and showed their Judaism without fear.

Now, the only Jews who wear their Judaism without fear are the ones in the cemetery.

Soon enough, their graves will be defaced too.

The antisemitism in England is unique in that it seems to be 12-18 months ahead of the antisemitism everywhere else.

For example, in October 2021, a car filled with people wearing Keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags drove through the streets of Golders Green chanting, “F*ck the Jews! Rape their wives, rape their daughters!”

That was one year before Hamas attacked on October 7th, doing precisely that.

Less than a day after, antisemites around the world were jumping with joy and praising what had happened in Israel.

Even the wife of the mayor of the most Jewish city in the world joined in the depraved bacchanalia.

Jews in England have been leaving in droves, and the pace of their flight has been greatly increasing.

The institutions of the English state have made it abundantly clear that the desires of the Muslim plurality outweigh the safety of the Jewish minority. It is clear that the British government will tolerate almost anything to avoid offending those they are afraid to offend.

If the government is willing to look the other way on a rape-scandal on the order of the Epstein files, then they are certainly willing to look the other way on a couple of ambulances being bombed.

They will condemn the activities, and they may even apprehend some individuals, but the system is not going to change.

The gentlemen who had been detained regarding the chants in 2021 were released and found not guilty just last year.

Do you think those men had any influence on the men who lit these ambulances on fire? Do you think they knew each other? Or went to the same mosque?

These questions are, of course, purely hypothetical.

The deeply sad irony here is that they targeted Hatzolah Ambulances.

Hatzolah was founded to provide Emergency medical assistance to Jews, since so many places refused to provide the service to Jews in the first place, but Hatzolah helps plenty of non-Jews as well. They are funded by the Jewish community, but they serve everyone.

Except those four vans.

This is not the first time antisemites have made war on Jewish health services.

Protesters chanted outside of a children’s cancer research facility in 2024 because of its “Zionist identity.”

The children and the nurses were the primary recipients of their chanting.

Iran struck the Weizmann Institute of Science with a ballistic missile. The WIS is one of the leading cancer-research facilities in the world, and earlier this year they announced a possible cure for Hodgkin lymphoma.

And, of course, there is Hamas’ war against the Palestinian health infrastructure, as they have done everything in their power to endanger Palestinian patients and caregivers.

But Golders Green does not teach us about the past of antisemitism, it shows us the future.

No one believed we could live in a world where our neighbors would march and chant things like “Kill the Jews, rape their wives, rape their daughters,” in 2021.

No one believed synagogues would get attacked and newscasters would defend the perpetrator over the victims.

No one believed that they could find themselves living in Golders Green, but here we are.

With everything going on, it’s only a matter of time before these attacks start happening during daytime and when there are people around.

You might feel safe in your neighborhoods, with your private security teams and metal detectors at your shuls, for now. But private security only goes so far. There is only so much money in the world.

The Jews of England are waking up.

Their ancestral clocks have stopped ticking; they know their time is up.

It might be ten years; it might be twenty, but, sooner or later, the only Jews left in Golders Green will be the ones buried in the cemetery.

Look around your community. Look with honest eyes. Ask yourself, how much longer do you have?

Because this isn’t 1936. This is not the time when Jews suddenly get stuck and can’t travel anymore.

This is 1926. The writing is on the wall, but there is still time to get out.

Of course, that also means there is plenty of time to convince yourself that it’s not time to get out.

Just don’t lie to yourself. Lying to yourself is the most dangerous thing you can do.

There are wise and prudent things you can do to prepare without fleeing, yet.

You can liquidate your assets, or as much as you think you would need in a pinch. You should have an up to date passport and a good amount of cash, preferably in several currencies. You need to have some kind of hard currency, gold or silver, or even jewels, things you can move and hide on your person.

You might think this is alarmist – it absolutely is.

If burning ambulances and fleeing school children doesn’t set off alarms deep within your soul, your grandparents failed you.

Or you have failed them.

If he who burns books will one day burn people, what do you think he who burns ambulances will do one day?

I am praying that I am wrong. Every day, I pray to G-d that the world will prove me wrong. And, every day, I have to renew my prayer.

I’d rather sound the alarm too early than too late.

The sun has set on the Jews of Europe, and it’s making its way west. A long dark night is ahead of us – make sure you are prepared.

But, even as we prepare for darkness, we must always remember to spread love and light in this world.

Who knows, maybe the little bit of light you spread will be enough to tip the scales in favor of love.

Be ready, be prepared, and always be spreading your light.

Am Yisrael Chai

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