Q:
What can an Orthodox Jew do when attacked by gentiles with eggs and the police do nothing?
A:
So let me make a correction: What can a human being do when attacked by gentiles? Because we are prone to make a mistake – we think that the gentiles attack only Jews.
Don’t think that gentiles don’t suffer from gentiles. I’ll tell you a little secret. The gentiles suffer more from gentiles than Jews suffer from gentiles. It’s a fact; only we pay no attention.
When you drive through parts of the city, you’ll see two people beating each other up – both are Puerto Ricans. In the Fulton Street Police Station, every night there are alarms no end – and it’s colored people either committing mayhem on other colored people or robbing them; they suffer more from their own than we suffer from them. And the Italians too! You know that the Mafia executes their relatives more than others. And that’s a rule everywhere. So don’t say that it’s just the Jews – everybody suffers!
And if the police do nothing? That means that on Halloween night, there’s only one place to be – that’s home. And when you get off the subway, don’t walk home. Take a cab; it’s worth the dollar fifty, or the two dollars to get to your door. Nobody should be out Halloween night. That’s why we canceled our halacha class Sunday night because we recommend people should stay home that night.
TAPE # 192 (October 1977)