On Charlottesville

From Rabbi Isaac Serotta

The tradition tells us that the ancient city of Jerusalem was destroyed because of "baseless hatred." As I saw images of people carrying torches, brandishing swastikas and waving confederate flags in Charlottesville this past weekend, it reminded me that people often have a baseless hatred of those that they do not know or understand. Just as Judaism teaches that this baseless hatred led to the destruction of Jerusalem, it is corroding and destroying our society as well.

Our thoughts and prayers are surely with those who were injured, and with their families, and the families dealing with the murder of loved ones in an act of blind hatred in Charlottesville. We should also take note that bigoted hate speech has turned into brutal attacks over the last few months. Hate crimes have increased against Jews, Muslims, African Americans, immigrants of all kinds, LGBTQ people, and women, so this is not an isolated incident.

The president’s first reaction, to blame individuals on “many sides,” does nothing to put an end to this violence. When it comes to ignorance, bigotry, and violence, there are not “many sides.” In tacitly accepting the support of racists to achieve a narrow political victory, the president turned over a rock that no politician wanted to touch. What has crawled out from beneath that rock is what we saw in Charlottesville.

At Lakeside we are going to be doing a lot in coming days and months to make sure we understand what is happening and how we can help to reduce ignorance and the bigotry that allows hatred to flourish. I will be heading to Washington D.C. in a few days along with thousands of members of the clergy from across the country to stand against violence and for civil rights. I will speak about it from the pulpit, and we are dedicating our Scholar-in-Residence weekend and some Sunday morning programs to counteracting hate and hate crimes.

Reducing ignorance will help reduce hatred. The hope of Judaism remains that Jerusalem will one day fulfill the meaning of its name; that it will become Ir Shalom, the city of peace. That remains the goal in our nation as well, that we will judge people by the content of their character, that baseless hatred will end, and Charlottesville, and every town across the country can be a haven and stronghold of peace.