(News article, Sept. 18)
My husband and I recently joined Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel. KI Rabbi Benjamin David’s words in your recent article about High Holiday sermons confirmed the wisdom of this choice. He is absolutely correct: “Now is not the time for neutrality. … Democracy is in peril.”
Every day, I read the news with horror, as I see us moving closer to authoritarianism and fascism, spurred by a leader whose goal appears to be spreading fear of all he deems “other,” and allowed to do so by the cowardliness of his brethren. While some may say politics does not belong on the bimah, I cannot imagine a more fitting place for conversations about the values and ethics that are supposed to guide our country. As Rabbi David notes, “Racism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia have seemingly been normalized.” Isn’t it fitting, then, for our spiritual leaders to remind us of the fundamental Jewish belief of B’tzelem Elokim — that we are all created in God’s image?
My mother was a Holocaust survivor. A framed copy of Martin Niemöller’s famous Holocaust poem “First They Came” hung in our entryway. Decades from now, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will ask who spoke up and who stayed silent during this horrific time in American life when right and wrong were seemingly turned on their heads. I want to be able to say it was our Jewish leaders who stood firm and spoke out not just for our own people but on behalf of every person who has ever been considered “other.”
Rachel Ezekiel-Fishbein, Elkins Park