Dear Beth Am Israel,
We join with others in the Jewish community in expressing our dismay at this week’s mass shooting in Atlanta and in articulating our condemnation of anti-Asian violence and hate crimes.
Our friend and colleague, Rabbi Neil Blumofe of Austin, Texas, powerfully captures our concerns with this plea:
Standing with the Asian American (AAPI) community as we recognize in this eddy the heretical suspicion and enmity that course through the currents of our society. We also recognize that misogyny is part of this violence.
What do we stand for? How do we protect each other from rough stereotype, nightmarish visions, and tones of superiority that all lead to brutality?
A racist attack is an attack against all who value life and the readiness to teach deeply from a place of pride in our customs, and a willingness to learn from the various ways of our neighbors. Other people are not commodities. Other people are not extensions of our delusions of personal entitlement. We are precious lives. Let us protect and uplift each other.
We also affirm and support the statements issued by the Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary and encourage you to read those statements below.
In response to the recent violence, the Jewish Community Relations Council will be hosting a program on Tuesday, March 23 at 12:00 pm:Understanding and combating rising violence against the Asian American Pacific Islander community. If you wish to learn more and register for this conversation, you can do so here.
Phyllis Blumberg, President
Rabbi David Ackerman
Hazzan Harold Messinger
Lori Dafilou, Executive Director
Leo Fuhrman, Education Director
Statement from the RA and JTS:
From the Rabbinical Assembly:
On March 16, an armed gunman killed eight people at multiple massage parlors and spas around Atlanta. While the motive is not fully clear, it is likely the suspect targeted women of Asian descent in a mass shooting spree.
According to police department crime data, hate crimes directed at the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community have increased 150% in major U.S. cities. And since last March, there have been 3,800 reported incidents of hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans nationwide, many directed at Asian-American elders.
These horrific attacks are not isolated incidents. They flow from the same toxic pool of xenophobia, racism, and white supremacy that led to the hate-fueled murders in Charlottesville, Charleston, Pittsburgh, El Paso, and too many other communities.
The wrongful scapegoating of Asian-Americans during the pandemic has caused deep pain and anxiety among Asian-American communities, which includes Jewish Asian-Americans. We call on our leaders and members to speak out against all these forms of prejudice and provide shelter and resources for anyone threatened by hate and violence.
As we are taught in Leviticus 19:16, lo ta’amod al dam re’eikha, do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all members of the AAPI community, their families, friends, and loved ones. May the memories of those who were killed be a blessing, as we work together to end racism, hate, and violence.
From the Jewish Theological Seminary
With profound dismay and a sense of urgency of the moment, The Jewish Theological Seminary denounces the waves of violence that have been directed against Americans of Asian and Pacific Island heritage. Brutal crimes motivated by bias against minority groups are especially heinous, and the law properly recognizes that they call for additional zealousness in prosecuting and punishing them. We join the many other religious institutions and minority defense associations who are calling on law enforcement agencies everywhere to use all of their powers to identify and apprehend those who are committing these crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. We also sound the alarm, for all of us who are citizens, to become aware of the many ways in which we still allow prejudice to thrive in America, and to do all that is in our power to make our fellow Americans feel safe in their country.
As an academic institution in which Jewish history is studied and taught, we are well aware of the terrors that can be visited on a minority community in times of national stress, be it war, economic depression, or pandemic. We have reason to know of these terrors. And precisely because of that, our religious tradition has always instructed us to understand with compassion the fears and the losses others endure, and to act with resolve to combat them. As the prayer for our government and society, recited each Sabbath, declares: “God, whose spirit is in all creatures, we pray that Your spirit be awakened within all the inhabitants of our land. Uproot from our hearts hatred and malice, jealousy and strife. Plant love and companionship, peace and friendship, among the many peoples and faiths who dwell in our nation.” May justice and security come for our fellow Americans who today live in fear.
