The New Hampshire Board of Jewish Clergy is made up of rabbis and cantors across our state, and we would like to thank each of you who has called, emailed or stopped by to offer your condolences to our communities. We appreciate your outpouring of support, your outrage that such a tragedy could occur, and your commitment to joining with us to make our community and our country a safer and more welcoming place.
Over the past few days, Jewish communities around our state, our country and throughout the world have gathered with heavy hearts, saddened by the horror inflicted on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those killed and wounded, and we hold the Tree of Life congregational family, along with the two other congregations that meet in the Tree of Life Synagogue building, indeed all of the Pittsburgh Jewish community, in our hearts. We pray that Godโs presence will be with those who mourn, comforting and sustaining them in the wake of this senseless tragedy, and that Godโs blessings will be with those in need of healing of body and soul.
At the same time that we grieve, we know that the frightening reality is that the Tree of Life Synagogue is one much like our own. Last Saturdayโs events serve as a stark reminder that senseless hatred and violence can walk through our doors at any time. The recent spike in anti-Semitic violence in this country is alarming and a matter of great concern for all of us; and sadly we are not the hatersโ only targets โ people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, immigrants, refugees, and those from other ethnic and religious minorities have found themselves increasingly in the sights of those whose hatred, fear and intolerance are antithetical to our countryโs morals and our democracy.
Once relegated to obscure corners, such purveyors of hate have been emboldened to creep out of the dark, spreading their message of prejudice and violence. In Manchester this past weekend, there were two incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti in the North End, around the corner from Temple Adath Yeshurn. Those who teach hatred are here in our own state, and we cannot allow their voices to be heard without responding.
Teaching acceptance, openness, how to disagree civilly and that people who share different religions, different ethnic backgrounds and different skin colors than our own are people who deserve our respect, are key to stopping such messages. We donโt need to fear others; we need to appreciate those who are different than we are, and we need to learn to work together. We believe that one way to combat the spreading sickness of hate is our upcoming election.
As Americans, we may be atheist, Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Unitarian, Wiccan or Zoroastrian, yet we are all united in the social contract that we celebrate on Tuesday โ our right to vote. We are blessed with an opportunity to learn from those who wish to serve as our elected officials.
Over the next few days we will still have numerous opportunities to hear from or read statements from those who hope to lead us. Let us listen carefully, courteously and civilly, especially when listening to those with whom we may not agree.
Each of us, private citizens and elected officials alike, are entitled to respectfully express our opinions. Let us accept the responsibility to be educated voters, and let us hope that when we cast our ballots and choose our leaders, that they are devoted to working here in New Hampshire and in Washington, D.C., toward the world of which our prophets dreamed when they envisioned a land in which each and every person could sit under his or her vine and fig tree in security, in comfort and in peace, free from fear, from hunger and from need.
Let Saturdayโs tragedy remind us to give thanks for our blessings, to hug our families and to tell them we love them, and let us remember that we cannot allow the forces of evil to paralyze us. Let us respond to fear by standing up and joining with our neighbors and fellow Granite Staters, and teaching that we embrace our differences and our similarities, and invite all people to join us.
(Robin Nafshi is rabbi of Temple Beth Jacob in Concord. Shira Nafshi is cantor of Temple Beth Jacob. Cantor Claire Metzger is a member of Temple Beth Jacob and chaplain of CRVNA Hospice.)