The Holocaust was not a myth.

I went to dinner tonight to Carnival, (the best Lebanese in LA) on Woodman in Sherman Oaks with my favorite Lebanese friend, someone I've known for years. Except for a minor scene at the host stand while we were waiting for our table, I enjoyed a reunion with my friend from back in the day, now that we're both in the same city again.

During the course of the conversation, he brought his voice down very low and spoke to me, "I hate JEWS." I said, "Pardon me." so that I could hear him correctly. I watched his lips for extra clarification when he repeated: "I hate JEWS."

I just stared at him blankly, I didn't really know how to react. I was trying to be polite, so I quickly reasoned that this might be a WeHo slang word that meant something else. Or that it meant that he's from Lebanon, and at some point, maybe Israel did something to piss them off. I can never keep score long enough to know who did what to whom in the Middle East. It is always changing, and mired in chaos, and it never holds my attention for very long.

He went on to tell me that the older, pushy woman who tried to cut us off at the host stand was Jewish. I remember hearing her speak French, and marvelled at how horribly her outfit clung to her grotesque body, but I'd never be able to pick her out as a Jew in a lineup. Once my friend busted her on the attempted cut-in, we marched ahead to our table, leaving her in the dust. When she knew we had defeated her, she simply looked at the floor as we passed. After being in LA for several weeks now, this scene was tame compared to some of the restaurant episodes I've had.

I always end up feeling stupid whenever I try to wrap my head around anti-Semitism, and I didn't think that Americans had to worry about hating anybody since this is America, but I have come to understand that many many people hate the Jews. I find that sad because I love Jews and Dead Sea mineral scrubs and kinky hair and bialys and Michele Lee and once, I even gave a Tzedakah box filled with dimes to the Jewish Federation. I have a really pretty mezuza on my front door too, knitted by all the Ethiopian Jews who were scooped up and rescued back to Israel in the 80's. Jews are awesome in my opinion.

I've heard that we must learn about the Holocaust so that we can prevent it from ever happening again, but historically speaking, that notion hasn't been very effective, and I 'm at a loss as to what I should do about my friend's revelation this evening. I feel like I've known him forever, so I'm really confused now that this really big fat dirty ugly secret has been revealed. What if this isn't his only big fat dirty secret? Seems like there might be an even more sinister hatred lurking and this is just one layer of it.