Skip to main content

The courage to say NO to hate


I was going to write this blog about something different, but the recent events, especially the most recent shooting in a San Diego synagogue on the last day of Passover have totally occupied my thoughts. 

I am preparing a small service for my students for Yom HaShaoah- Holocaust Remembrance Day.  We usually light a candle and read some poems and sing a song.  I felt I needed to do more this year.  The Holocaust is not some distant past event of history.  The students have seen videos of Nazis marching on the streets of American cities yelling anti-Semitic slogans.  Houses of worship are targets of violence of hate all over the globe, including 2 synagogues here in our country. These acts of hate and ignorance must be confronted head on, and Holocaust Remembrance Day seems the perfect day to begin.

As a clergy member, these recent events have left me bereft and downtrodden.  My faith is tested, and my sadness is all encompassing.  Of course, I see the goodness in those who rise up against such hate.  Here in our community our own interfaith 3 Village Clergy group has gathered a few times to express solidarity and outrage at these acts of violence and hatred. 

As an educator, I think about addressing the root of such extremism.  What causes a person to hate with such toxic fear?  The work to end this hatred must begin now with our children.  We must teach them to view the other not as different and strange, but as a sister or brother sharing in God’s world.  We must build up their social-emotional skills so that they will develop a healthy self-love and not feel anxiety or crippling fear that can lead to scapegoating and blame. 

To incorporate these ideas into our Yom HaShoah service, I decided to introduce the students to a true ‘upstander’.  A man who stood up for his beliefs in the face of growing extremism and hatred.  I showed them this picture of August Landmesser.  A German factory worker who refused to give the Nazi salute in 1936.  Mr. Landmesser showed additional acts of resistance and ended up in jail for 2 years.  What would the world have been like if ALL of the people in the picture had refused to give the Nazi salute?  Something to ponder. 

I hope the students will take time to remember, to honor the victims of the Holocaust and all acts of anti-religious terror around the globe.  But I hope they also dedicate themselves to making a difference by learning to be an ‘upstander’


With prayers for the rekindling of the flame of peace and understanding,
Cantor Marcey Wagner

Comments

  1. 3vclergyMay 1, 2019 at 3:21 PM

    May we all be "up standers" and be loving wherever we find ourselves.

    I remember seeing an interview with a woman who had helped to hide Jewish families during WWII. Her message was that we should see that behavior as normal and the people who do such things as ordinary people, that we should not let ourselves believe that only extraordinarily courageous people act in accord with their values. It gave me a different perspective on having "the courage of one's convictions. "

    Thank you for this post.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Interfaith Dialogue on Guns in America

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/interfaith-guns-port-jefferson-1.17108637 LONG ISLAND SUFFOLK LI group urges interfaith unity to curb tide of gun violence Several speakers Sunday called for addressing mental health issues, and reducing violence in movies and video games Vivian Viloria Fisher, (from left) Jeff Keister, Marcey Wagner and Burt Benowitz discuss ways to curb gun violence Sunday in Port Jefferson Station. Photo Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara  By Rachelle Blidner rachelle.blidner@newsday.com    @rachelleblidner  Updated March 4, 2018 9:13 PM An interfaith group of clergy members joined Sunday in Port Jefferson Station to call for more gun control measures after the recent Florida school shooting. Leaders of Muslim, Jewish, Universalist, and other congregations on Long Island urged people of all faiths to work together to reduce the frequency of mass shootings after 17 people were killed in Parkland, Florida, last month...
2 comments
Read more

Make even these days count

One of the most popular features on a local newscast of a small TV station is something rather surprising. It is a feature called- “The Day of the Week”.  Today is…….. Monday!  The station put forth this as a kind of joke at first, but it was so popular that it became a regular daily addition to the morning newscast.  Apparently, so many of us have lost track of what day it is that we need a reminder. During this stay-at-home time, every day seems to blend into the next.  It is truly difficult to remember how many days we have all been quarantined at home, what the date is and what day of the week it is.  Many of us have a few markers that help- jobs that pause for the weekend, celebrations of Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays- special days of worship.  But even with these, the days seem to bleed into each other like a striped shirt washed in hot water. The period that we are in right now in the Jewish calendar is ironically, a time of counting. A time w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Next steps?

At last night's community forum,  Belief and Truth from a Multifaith Perspective: Finding Unity in Diversity , many expressed a desire to continue these kinds of conversations and to take action together for building bridges in our community. These are some of the ideas that were shared for next steps: Find something concrete that we can work on together in our community Come out with a statement to the community about this gathering Have clergy visit other houses of worship for teaching and conversation  Invite people of other faiths or no faith traditions into our houses of worship Bring younger people into our interfaith programs Ask elected officials to talk about this kind of work Identify root causes of hatred and address them Encourage media coverage of our programs What other ideas do you have for next steps? Please share them in the comments.
2 comments
Read more