To The Williamsburg Jewish Community: A Letter Of Support From Liberal Brooklyn Rabbis
Members of Brooklyn Hasidic Community Image by Getty Images
By Cantor Ayelet Porzecanski, Cantor Lisa B. Segal, Cantor Sam Levine, Cantor Sarah Myerson, Rabbi Alexis Pinksy, Rabbi Heidi Hoover, Rabbi Joe Schwartz, Rabbi Jonathan Leener, Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson, Rabbi Matt Green, Rabbi Miriam Grossman, Rabbi Rachel Timoner, Rabbi Samuel Weintraub, Rabbi Serge Lippe, Rabbi Stephanie Kolin, Rabbi Susan OrenAugust 19, 2019
To the Jewish Community of Williamsburg,
We are appalled by the recent violent attacks on the Chasidic community of Williamsburg. These attacks on the Jewish community are unconscionable acts of cruelty. We reach out with love and support to our Jewish brothers and sisters as they find themselves the most current target in the uptick in anti-Semitic acts in our country. Not only do assaults like this affect the person attacked and their family, but they terrorize a community.
If the intention here is to terrorize, we wish to send a message of comfort and solidarity.
You are not alone: We stand with you as you confront this pain.
Last week, our people’s story turned from destruction and mourning to hope and comfort. The Prophet Isaiah records God’s words to a grieving nation: Nachamu nachamu Ami, Comfort, O comfort, My people.
It is an extension of this divine comfort that we pray reaches those who are afraid in this community and throughout the world, to these, our sisters and brothers, and to all who have come under attack for who they are, what they believe, how they pray, or what they look like.
We ask Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to call together faith leaders from diverse communities of Brooklyn to talk about what is happening here and to build relationships across our lines of difference.
In Friendship,
Rabbi Stephanie Kolin, Union Temple
Rabbi Rachel Timoner, Congregation Beth Elohim
Rabbi Jonathan Leener, The Prospect Heights Shul
Rabbi Miriam Grossman, Kolot Chayeinu
Cantor Josh Breitzer, Congregation Beth Elohim
Rabbi Alexis Pinksy, Beth Shalom V’Emeth Reform Temple
Rabbi Samuel Weintraub, Kane Street Synagogue
Cantor Ayelet Porzecanski, Brooklyn Heights Synagogue
Rabbi Joe Schwartz, IDRA
Cantor Lisa B. Segal, Kolot Chayeinu
Rabbi Susan Oren
Rabbi Heidi Hoover, Beth Shalom V’Emeth Reform Temple
Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson, Flatbush Jewish Center
Rabbi Matt Green, Congregation Beth Elohim
Rabbi Serge Lippe, Brooklyn Heights Synagogue
Cantor Sarah Myerson, Kane Street Synagogue
Cantor Sam Levine, East Midwood Jewish Center
This letter was sent to the Forward by Rabbi Rachel Timoner, a renowned rabbi, author and activist. She currently serves as Senior Rabbi at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn. It was originally authored by Rabbi Stephanie Kolin, the associate rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City, and a contributing author to the Reform Movement’s new book on social justice, Moral Resistance and Spiritual Authority: Our Jewish Obligation to Social Justice.
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.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
