Fight Antisemitism - engage in acts of friendship: a Pennsylvania echo editorial

Be free to pray in peace....

This editorial echo was published in the Reading Eagle, a Pennsylvania newspaper:

Hanukkah was usually a time when newspapers wrote editorials in the spirit of celebration. Unfortunately, this year’s Hanukkah festivities took place amid troubling developments.

The nation and world are in the midst of an alarming stretch of open anti-Semitism, often expressed with shocking violence. In a little over a year there have been deadly shootings at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Southern California and the recent attack on a kosher market in Jersey City, N.J., part of a shooting spree that left three civilians and one policeman dead.

Meanwhile there’s been a steady series of incidents involving crimes such as harassment and vandalism that don’t get the same amount of attention as shootings but greatly increase anxiety among Jewish communities.

The Anti-Defamation League recorded 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. in 2018, the third-highest year on record. The organization said there were 780 such cases during the first six months of this year. The worst year for anti-Semitic acts was 2017, with nearly 2000 cases of assaults, vandalism, bomb threats and other incidents, according to the ADL.

Hanukkah

One might think that the New York metropolitan area, home to some 1.7 million Jews, would be seen as a safe harbor from anti-Semitism. The Jersey City violence reminds us that is hardly the case. And New York City police reported 163 anti-Semitic incidents in the five boroughs in the first nine months of the year. That’s a 50 percent increase over the same period in 2018.

People whose clothing or personal appearance make them readily identifiable as Jews are particularly susceptible to harassment or worse.

Hanukkah has great relevance to these current troubles.

The eight-day Hannakhah celebration tells the story about Jews in ancient times. They fought back against their persecutors. It celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Maccabees, after a three-year rebellion resulted in their victory over the Syrians in 170 BC.

Jews rebelled because they had been prohibited from practicing their religion and were being forced to worship Greek gods. The Syrians defiled the sacred Temple, calling for an altar to Zeus to be constructed there and for pigs to be slaughtered on the site in violation of Jewish law.

During Hanukkah, Jews express joy at their ancestors’ victory but understand that the conflict itself was the result of the kind of persecution the Jewish people have endured for thousands of years.

Recent events remind us that though Jews have become accustomed to acceptance in America, vigilance on the part of Jews and their friends in the larger community is essential if we are to keep things that way. That means engaging in acts of friendship and refusing to tolerate hateful acts or commentary on the part of others.

We are fortunate that interfaith relations are strong in our communities. Jews here are involved in activities with people of other religions and practice their faith openly. That’s an important part of Hanukkah. Part of the holiday’s tradition calls on Jews to place menorahs in their windows so the lights may be seen by passers-by. It’s an expression of pride in one’s faith and defiance against bigots. It also symbolizes the desire to bring light into a world all too often afflicted by darkness

Many Jewish communities take the tradition a step further by holding menorah lightings in popular public places. One takes place annually at the Berkshire Mall, attracting the attention of plenty of Christmas shoppers and adding to the holiday festivities. It reinforces the idea that American Jews will not give in to fear or let recent events interfere with a time of celebration.

May people of all faiths unite behind the idea that we should all be free to pray in peace. And may the Hanukkah candles help to bring lasting light and enlightenment to the world.

Hope - Merry Christmas message from Timothy Cardinal Dolan

Pope Francis with Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York

Cardinal Dolan talks about Christmas and hope on CBS: 

"Light will trump darkness"~ A hopeful Christmas message

The light is going to win.

A recent Pew survey says nine out of 10 Americans are celebrating Christmas, but 55 percent of American adults say they celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York who leads worship and parishioners at St. Patrick's Cathedral, knows 2017 has been a tough year for the country. 

From natural disasters to racial tensions, and with a "toxic political climate" to sexual misconduct revelations sweeping the nation, he tried to answer a basic human question: 

How do you have hope when times seem bleak?

"God gives us the decisive answer. What he says at Christmas is this: Look, let's be realistic. … People walk in darkness but – but, but – light will prevail," Dolan said on "CBS This Morning," describing the day Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

"Is it any wonder that we, that Jews and Christians, celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas together, at this dreary time of the year when we're wondering if there's going to be any light left in the world?" Dolan said, referring to winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. "The Feast of Lights for the Jews, the feast of the birth of the son of God, Christmas for Christians – it's like God saying, 'My dear people, I know what you're going through, alright? Every year you're wondering if we can keep at this. But believe me, hope will triumph over despair, faith will triumph over doubt, and light will trump darkness, ok?"'

Dolan says people always think "we're in the worst," and "yet, we always come through." To address the current political climate, Dolan used the example of the Watergate scandal and former President Nixon, describing the atmosphere as "dismal."

"We thought, 'Are we going to be able to survive this?' And darn it, we came through," Dolan said.

"It's like from the beginning of the human project, which is God's greatest work of art, we thought, are we going to survive? Are we going to persevere? Or is the darkness around us just going to suffocate us? 

And every year, we make it. And what God is saying is, trust is going to trump despair. Don't give up. The light is going to win. Goodness is going to be stronger than evil. 

Life is going to be stronger than death. There's Christmas, and I don't know about you, we need a little Christmas right this very moment."~ Merry Christmas!