A Prayer for Squirrel Hill--and for American Jewry

[babylonsister]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-prayer-american-jewry/574195/

A Prayer for Squirrel Hill—and for American Jewry
The Pittsburgh synagogue killings show that dormant hatreds have reawakened.
7:27 PM ET
Franklin Foer

snip//

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) has been reported as a source of the anti-Semitic rage of Robert D. Bowers, the man allegedly responsible for killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The organization was an expression of the achievement of American Jewry. There has only been a small trickle of Jewish immigrants to aid since the exodus from the Soviet Union, so the beneficent hand is extended to strangers. Instead of pulling up the ladder of self-advancement behind themselves, HIAS attempted to boost others up it. Perhaps this impulse toward generosity motivated Bowers to murder.

In Donald Trump’s abhorrence for globalism and in his inability to smack down David Duke, it was easy to hear the ominous chords of history, to see how he was activating dormant hatreds with his conspiratorial tropes. But it was always easy to see how Jews, with their well-developed institutions and communal resources, were not the most vulnerable targets of Trump’s racialism. I felt pride that so much of the organized Jewish community resisted the impulse to elevate its own problems above those of the more vulnerable.

Of course, this was not every corner of the Jewish community. After Charlottesville, Gary Cohn couldn’t bring himself to resign from his job. After Squirrel Hill, Jared Kushner and Sheldon Adelson will likely stand their ground. In response to this massacre, every synagogue will protect itself with great security, with more cameras, and more guards. They will do what is necessary to create a sense of safety, which will also invariably inhibit the sense of escaping from the secular world. Richard Bowers committed a crime on shabbat, and it will reverberate as a crime against shabbat.

Any strategy for enhancing the security of American Jewry should involve shunning Trump’s Jewish enablers, too. Their money should be refused, their presence in synagogues not welcome. They have placed their community in danger.

When I pray in synagogue next, I will mourn the human beings who were murdered as they participated in the ritual celebrating the miracle of existence, who weren’t able to finish their prayer for the healing of the world. With a sunken stomach, I will feel connected to the arc of Jewish History.

[Stuart G]

1. k and r. outstanding..thanks for posting..

[MontanaMama]

2. Kick.

No words. Only love babylonsister.

[marybourg]

3. The head of HIAS said tonight: "We used to rescue them ( refugees)

because they were Jewish. Now, ( since there are few Jewish refugees any more) we rescue them because WE’RE Jewish.