I don't usually spontaneously blog, but I heard something on the radio that really moved me this week. Every day I leave my house in time to hear Jian Gomeshi announce the letter of the day on Q and then I listen to his feature interview. If I miss his show, the day just isn't right. Occasionally, I get to work and I have to stay in my car until the news comes on. Since my day isn't terribly media-rich, this is my daily dose. And so I find myself listening to interviews with Michael Bolton, but also Eve Ensler and my world is slightly widened.
Well, this week as I was cruising up Princess Street, Jian interviewed David Abitbol from Jewlicious and two women, Megan and Grace Phelps Roper, formerly of the Westboro Baptist Church. I had never heard of the church before but they do things like picket synagogues and fill the Internet with anti-Semitic and gay-hating propaganda. David and Megan "met" on Twitter a few years ago and what started out as provocation from Megan, quickly turned into an honest discussion about what Judaism was. Megan had been taught to hate Jews, but since she's a curious and intelligent individual, she started to do a little research on what she was supposed to hate. A few years later, she and her sister Grace made the heavy decision to leave their church since they no longer could abide by the church's hate-filled ideas. What moved me most about the interview was not the tremendous story of two young women who can clearly think for themselves, but the tolerance David Abitbol showed them by not responding merely with disdain or disgust. Instead he took the time to respond to their inquiries with genuine patience. Tolerance speaks!
And that's the kind of Jew, and human being, I want to be-a tolerant one. http://www.cbc.ca/q/2013/03/19/leaving-the-westboro-baptist-church/
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