The Rabbi’s cat is dead

“Le petit chat est mort.” (The little kitten has died), Agnés says in Molière’s “L’école des femmes”, (“The school for wives.”) Molière wrote this play in 1662. 361 years ago. Amongst many other things Molière wrote about the condition of women then. The condition of women is a fundamental part of Western civilisation.

On this Friday, October 13, a man was killed in France. Stabbed. As a rule, I try to stay away from adjectives and adverbs. Yet, the words “savagely”, “brutally”, “cowardly” come to mind.

Dominique Bernard, was 57. A teacher of French Lit at a High School in Arras, a small city in the North of France. He might have taught “The school for wives” to his pupils.

He was stabbed to death by a 20 year old refugee (if one can still use that word) originally from Ing*sh*tia, a former R*ssian republic. His family had been denied asylum in France, yet stayed. Illegally. (No comment) The “suspect” as the media say (though he was caught “red-handed” after stabbing two other people at the school) had an “S fiche” or “Security tab”. That means he was “actively monitored” by the police for, shall we say, statements or activities possibly infringing national security. One wonders what “actively monitored” means as opposed to “passively monitored.” (Phrase is not mine, it’s a comment by a reader of the French news magazine Le Point”. (Source of many parts of this post)

Three years ago, almost to a day, another French teacher was decapitated on the street. Yes. Decapitated. This time by a Ch*ch*n, from another former R*ssian republic. I believe in both murders, the words “God is great” were pronounced.

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What’s that got to do with the “Rabbi’s cat”?

The Rabbi’s cat is a comic by French author Joan Sfar. I haven’t read it, yet. I will order it as soon as I finish this post. I see the series has had introductions from authors as varied as Eliette Abecassis, Moustaki, Jean Giraud. Jewish and “Goyim”. (I use the word “Goy” in the non-derogatory sense of “Gentile”, just non-Jewish.)

The story is about a Rabbi’s cat in then French Algeria in the 1930’s. The cat, who can talk, argues with the Rabbi all the time, and is loved by the Rabbi’s daughter, Zlabya. (Enough about the story which I haven’t read.) I will come back to Joann Sfar in a minute.

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Almost a week ago, fifty years to a day after the 1973 Kippur war, terrorists from the G*za strip, attacked Israel, killing over a thousand civilians. Men, young and old, women, children. Dozens of Israelis were taken hostages.  I understand 200 young people were killed at a Rave music festival. The adverb “cowardly” comes back to mind. So easy to use machine guns against unarmed kids. Remember the Bataclan? So easy to stab a high school professor of French lit.

The French word of “sillage” which means the track a boat leaves in the water is “wake” in English; “wake” ironically (adverb again) also means “paying respect to the dead after a funeral.” Or maybe we should – also – take the meaning of “wake up”?

In the wake of the killings in Israel, part of the French left (and I understand the Belgian left too) dishonoured themselves, refusing to condemn the killings. Finding elaborate and convoluted (Caution: adjectives are almost as tricky as adverbs) ways to put Israel and the terrorists on the same plane. The victims and the killers on the same level?… Shame on them.

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In this drawing by Joann Sfar, the Rabbi’s cat, along with his mistress Zlabya reads the Bible. The holy book of the three religions “of the Book”. Sfar was interviewed by Le Point this week. Sfar is French and Jewish. I’m French and a Goy. A word that sometimes has derogatory meaning. Me? I don’t care, I always tell my Jewish friends and acquaintances: “Me? I’m a Goy.” And we smile.

This week, prior to the interview, Sfar posted this on social networks:

Those are two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. I can’t read a single letter. I’m just repeating what I read. The letters are the “Het” and the “Youd”, meaning “to live” and “living”. The second letter does look a tad like the Greek letter “Pi”, doesn’t it? Strange. I’ll come back to the full meaning.

Sfar’s interview was very good. About misunderstandings or misconceptions in parts of French society – and elsewhere probably – about the true nature of the H*mas rule. How homosexuals are thrown off buildings roofs among other things. “When young women are raped”, he says, “and their bodies are displayed”. “When an old lady is shot at point-blank, and her body is posted on FB…” His words. Which I believe. I’ve tried not to see too many images. Devastating.

He also says “On Monday night there was a march in Paris.” (At the Trocadero). “Not in favour of Nethanyaou” (The Israeli PM) “but against terrorism. There were 20,000 people in the march. 19,950 jews.” He might be exaggerating a little, but how much?

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Allow me to broaden the scope of my reflexion. Nagorny-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in the Caucasus has just been attacked by Azerb*idji*n, an ally of T*rkey and its president Erd*g*n. More than a 100,000 Armenians, almost the entire population of Nagorny, have fled the zone. After WWI, between half a million and over a millions Armenians were killed by T*rkey. Who still does not acknowledgeits responsibility in the genocide. I had Armenian friends in High School, far, far away in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. My friends’ parents and grandparents had practically walked all the way from Armenia to Ethiopia. Armenians are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Near-Middle East. Will they survive?

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Do I need to mention Ukraine again? A significant part of French society would not mind ending support to Ukraine. How many? Hard to say. 20-30% maybe? Caveat: I have no data to support that statement. Just a guesstimate. They don’t realize – or care – that Ukraine is fighting R*ssia on our behalf? So easy to have others fight on our behalf, ain’t it? Not to mention the frightening risk of the Tramp being elected again next year in the US… Perish the thought. But. But…

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“Come on. What’s your point?”

My point is: add Agnés, women, Molière, Ukraine, Armenia, a cat, Israel, and a French lit teacher in Arras, those are all different dimensions of our Western civilization. I’ve lived, worked in, and travelled to close to 40 countries across the globe. Believe me. With all its faults, Western civilization is still the best system. Or the least worst of all. Been there. Seen that.

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So. Has Agnés’ little kitten died? Has the Rabbi’s cat died? What will happen to our civilization? To our children?

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Sfar’ full “sketch” or “writing” was the following:

In French, the text says: “This means we shall live”. What Sfar doesn’t say, is “we shall fight.”

This Friday night at sunset, for Jews around the world, Shabbat starts. One day of rest after six days of work. The customary phrase to say on Friday is “Shabbat shalom”. (Have) a peaceful Shabbat. Or something like that. (Not quite sure. I’m a Goy remember?) Shalom, as Salaam, as Salut, as Salute, al the same word, means Peace. I’m sorry to say: Peace has died. Shall we fight to revive it?

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Author’s note. I’ve been away from the Blogoshpere for a while. Travelling and thinking of new, different ways to blog. New topics. Work-in-progress. I try to stay away from certain – unspecified – issues. Not now. I had to write this post. Too much is happening. My sources include Joann Sfar, all images (c) him and his editor; Le Point, a Time/Newsweek sort of magazine. Plus various Internet sources. The responsibility of each and every word (even quotes) is mine.