Within days of each other a woman was killed at the Jewish Federation in Seattle and the Baltimore Hebrew University if firebombed. How should we react? Our membership works in high profile Jewish institutions. As the situation in the Middle East worsens then related incidents are always possible. The Baltimore Police Department has chosen to view the firebombing not as a hate crime. When the school in Montreal was firebombed with a note indicating vengeance it also was virtually unnoticed. Are we all sufficiently vigilant and prepared for such eventualities? It would be foolish on our part not to take note of all possibilities. I don't want to sound political in any way but the reality is that then intensity of the fighting in the Middle East with its civilization overtones cannot be dismissed. Perhaps these incidents are pranks of neighborhood kids and perhaps they are not. I suggest that all of us develop security measures and heightened awareness of what goes on around us. As far as libraries are concerned, it might be worthwhile for AJL to have some information specifically geared to libraries or even a workshop regarding these issues. We shouldn't be alarmist but at the same time we should think realistically about all possibilities.
Eli Wise Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
