I was verbally abused in

the local shopping centre yesterday. Most of the centre was not open and all I had gone to do was re-post some letters that had arrived for the former tenant.

As I was putting them in the box I heard someone running up behind me and then, "You f.... spastic bitch! You have no f... idea have you? You are a f.... Jew lover. They're all the same. They'd kill you sooner than...." 

I won't add any more. I am not sure I can remember it accurately - or that I wish to do so.  It was a stunning assault. It came about following my letter to our state newspaper the day before. It  was the lead letter and a written response from someone with alternative views may not have been so surprising but this was something different. 

There were enough people around that, although shaken, I did not feel frightened. People were looking shocked and two of the men made moves which I guessed would mean my verbal assailant would be grabbed if he tried to make the assault physical. 

I am well used to people disagreeing with me over letters to the editor. It is often the case that I will know they will. They are people who tend to hold very extreme views about the issues under discussion. This was more than that. This person apparently believes that all Jews are guilty of murder, that they want to control the world and that everyone else is at risk. Where they get such ideas from is beyond me.

In my early teens I was given lessons in musical theory by a nun. My siblings were all learning to play the piano and Sister S.... offered to teach me theory as well. She told my parents it would be "useful" and it has been. She told me it would be "more than useful" and taught me much more than simply reading the notes on the page. I can still remember clearly the day when there had been an anti-Semitic incident in the local news. I cannot remember what happened. It was unlikely I would even have been particularly aware of it except for the fact my paternal grandfather knew the man who had been targetted.

"Ask your grandfather child, " Sister S... told me, "The Jews are to be pitied, not condemned."

My Jewish friends may not want my pity but they appreciate my concern. I am not going to stop showing that concern because someone condemns me for it.