Rabbi Marvin Hier Bombarded With Anti-Semitic Messages After Trump Inauguration Blessing

By Dave Goldiner January 23, 2017

Rabbi Marvin Hier was bombarded with anti-Semitic messages after delivering an invocation at President Trump’s inauguration.

After the prayer on Friday afternoon, the 77-year-old leader of the Simon Wiesenthal Center received hundreds of racist and anti-Semitic messages, the Times of Israel reported.

Some called to “light the Jew on fire,” or claimed “the Jew put a spell on us,” while others made references to Hitler and Nazi gas chambers. Many of the users are associated with white supremacist or anti-Semitic groups.

What the hell is some Jew rabbi doing at the inauguration?! They are the enemies of America !

— White Lives Matter (@darwinsvaxcine) January 20, 2017

Hier was among six clerics who participate in the inauguration. Before the ceremony, Hier said he believed that “all of us should pray for [Trump’s] great success, because his great success means our great success.”

His appearance was controversial with liberal Jews, some of whom believed his presence signalled an endorsement of Trump’s ties to so-called ‘alt-right’ racists and anti-Semites, along with his disturbing comments about women.

But he insisted all Americans should stand behind the president and cheer for a successful term.

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO