‘Counterterrorism police.” One weekday morning about a decade ago, I was at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in New York City waiting in line to go to confession. I was probably hanging my head down in shame, remembering what I wanted to say to the priest, to be blessed with the grace of God’s forgiving sacramental mercy. When I looked up and remembered where I was beyond my own sins, I saw the seemingly heavily armed man. He wasn’t patrolling to protect the priest from me. My memory is that he was actually looking for a bathroom. This particular day was the convergence of the height of the so-called Islamic State threats on Christian churches and the annual U.N. General Assembly week in Manhattan, and the permanent increase in terrorism awareness that came to our city and homeland 25 years ago after the September 11 attacks on the United States.
But I remember thinking: This is not normal. Is this what it’s like for my Jewish neighbors every Sabbath?
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