Ronnie Polaneczky: A real Philly story: Muslims & Jews, yin & yang

LINDA HOLTZMAN was appalled when she saw the homemade sign at last Tuesday afternoon's rush-hour Center City rally protesting Israel's attacks on Gaza.

Carried by a foreign-born man in his 20s, the poster depicted both a Star of David and a swastika. Beneath them was printed, "What's the difference."

"It was very upsetting to see, because it didn't capture at all the spirit of the rally," said Holtzman.

"The sign was hateful; the others weren't."

Although attended mostly by Arab-Americans, there were also non-Muslims taking part in the passionate, but peaceful, rally at the Israeli Consulate, at 19th and JFK, including Holtzman, senior rabbi of the Mishkan Shalom Reconstructionist congregation in Manayunk, and other Jews distraught by the violence being inflicted in response to attacks by Hamas on southern Israel.

"As a Jew, it was a slap in the face to see that sign, when we were there to provide moral support," said Holtzman. "It was offensive."

A few Jews in the crowd warily approached the young man, to tell him that his sign was uncalled for. They weren't sure how he'd respond, but an animated discussion followed, which they relayed to Holtzman, who'd watched from afar.

"They said he was actually a friendly guy," said Holtzman. "His English wasn't very good, but he was talking with them the best he could."

So Holtzman approached him, too.

I'm tempted to say that what happened next could have happened only in Philly, where our Quaker-bred approach to conflict resolution can, at its best, defuse the most potentially explosive confrontations.

But then I'd have to admit that the incident itself could have happened only in Philly, where our cultural insularity can, at its worst, create conflicts that wouldn't have been created if we'd known better.

But at least our city's yin has a yang, right?

Holtzman walked up to the protester holding the sign and began her conversation not with an accusation, but a respectful question.

"Do you know," she recalls asking, "that the swastika is a deeply hurtful symbol to Jews?"

Unbelievably to Holtzman, he said he didn't. He was simply looking for symbols that would efficiently make a forceful statement about how he felt about Israel's actions.

He knew, from seeing the flag of Israel, that its Star of David centerpiece would symbolize "Isreal" on his sign. In casting about for something to symbolize horror, he thought a swastika would pretty much do the trick.

He ran the idea, he told Holtzman, past a Jewish friend, who gave him the thumbs-up.

"I said, 'It's not OK, and I don't know why your friend wouldn't know that,' " Holtzman said. " 'Please know that it is impossible for us to partner with you today if you refer to Israel or Jews as Nazis. That's upsetting to us, and we can't be here if you use that sign.' "

To her relief and delight, the man, whose name she didn't get, began apologizing profusely for any pain his ignorance caused. It was a mistake, he said, and he'd never use the sign again.

Could she forgive him?

Of course she could.

"He had nothing invested in the sign itself," she said. "He just wanted to make a strong statement with it. He had no idea he was being insensitive."
 

Given how well things went, it's no wonder that Holtzman was upset when she saw, in the next day's Inquirer, that the paper ran a photo of the sign, alongside a story about the rally.

But, really, how could the photographer have known, when he snapped the shot, that a teachable moment was about to be seized upon by a determined rabbi and a willing Muslim student?

"The tone of the rally was not at all anti-Jewish," and yet the photo of the sign implied that it was, she wrote in a letter to the editor in yesterday's Inquirer.

The sign, an anomaly at the rally, belied the unity felt among Muslims and Jews gathered that day - all of whom deplored the loss of innocent lives in the Middle East.

Yes: Unity among Jews and Muslims, on one tough afternoon, right here in Philadelphia.

Wouldn't it be something if Israel and Gaza's yins and yangs meshed as neatly as Philly's did that day? *

E-mail polaner@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2217. For recent columns: http://go.philly.com/polaneczky.

Read Ronnie's blog at http://go.philly.com/ronnieblog.