Heading to the Washington, D.C., national protest in support of Israel and against Jew-hatred, on the train from Dulles Airport, I and fellow Socialist Workers Party member Sam Manuel struck up a discussion with Julie Lippman and her son. They came from Inwood, West Virginia, a town of some 3,000. She attends a synagogue in a nearby city because Inwood no longer has one.
“Two years ago I had put up in my front yard for my kids a menorah and blow-up teddy bear with a dreidel, to celebrate Hanukkah, both electrified to light up,” Lippman said. “Then someone cut the wires.
“A non-Jewish neighbor learned of this and organized another neighbor who’s an electrician to repair the wiring at no charge. As word spread about this in my neighborhood, other non-Jewish neighbors took the initiative to buy menorahs, and put them up in their windows.”
After our discussion, Lippman got a subscription to the Militant and a copy of The Jewish Question by Abram Leon.