Thinking Torah Blog

In October 2018, even in the aftermath of the Charlottesville rally, many of us were caught entirely off-guard by the Pittsburgh Tree of Life massacre. Yes, we were concerned about rising antisemitism, but none of us predicted that a white nationalist would walk into a synagogue and murder eleven people simply because they were Jews. Pittsburgh confirmed what we knew to be true: if Jews were going to be murdered in America, we could unhesitatingly point to the extreme right as the source of such hate.

This morning many of us awoke to a new reality—one we have sensed for months but lacked final confirmation of—that murderous antisemitism is not confined to the right; it is also a reality of the extreme left. For months we have watched the incitement grow: calls for intifada echo across our country, even here on Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor.

Those of us who were quick to link the hatred on display in Charlottesville with the massacre in Pittsburgh must, at the very least, consider the hateful rhetoric of the past nineteen months and its contribution to last night’s murders.

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were murdered last night not for anything they had done, but for who they were and what they believed.
Yaron cared deeply about building bridges of understanding among communities. Born in Israel to a Jewish father and Christian mother, his diverse background fueled those bridge-building desires; his teachers described him as a mensch.
Sarah grew up in Kansas City, and her father called her the “perfect daughter.” He told the Washington Post that Sarah had worked with Tech2Peace, a dialogue program for Jews and Palestinians, adding, “She was a Zionist, loved Israel and loved Palestinians. She was a peacemaker.”

This afternoon, amid a horrible day, I encountered a bright spot. Pastor Emily Swan of Blue Ocean Faith Church—the congregation that rents our social hall—texted me:

“I wanted to reach out to say I’m really sorry about the embassy murders. No need to text back, just want you to know I’m thinking of you and your staff today and sending love.”

I replied, “Emily, you are the best and I am really grateful for you and the fact that you reach out like this over and over again. I really can't say enough to express my gratitude. It means so much.”

Emily continued: I’m trying to do my work behind the scenes with some of the other pastors in town. And I’ve got my new staff member reading a slew of books on antisemitism while I’m on sabbatical this summer. My heart is to be a good ally to you. Working on being better.

It is quite something just to be seen.

Even when it sometimes feels otherwise, we are not alone.