December 29, 2019
The Conservative/Masorti Movement is outraged by the rash of antisemitic assaults against identifiably Orthodox Jews this past week in the New York City area, most recently the attack last night on the Monsey home of Rabbi Chaim Leibish Rottenberg celebrating the seventh night of Hanukkah. That this particular series of attacks comes just a few days after the December 10 shooting of six at a kosher market in nearby Jersey City, NJ, killing three, is especially concerning.
We thank law enforcement for their hard work and call on them to redouble their efforts to provide protection. We urge political and civic leaders to speak louder still and to work together even more closely to stem this tide of hatred and to address any repetitive pattern emerging from these attacks and those of the past year in the New York area. We must not allow acts of anti-Semitism to become the new normal.
As we move into the last day of Hanukkah and enter the secular new year, we pray that the lights of kindness, caring, dignity and peace will displace the dark forces of hatred and bigotry. We are just now entering the new Jewish month of Tevet and in only a very few days the secular new year of 2020. May these new beginnings also mark a new time for the wellbeing and safety of Jews from every part of the Jewish community and other minorities in the U.S. and around the world.
Rabbinical Assembly
USCJ
Cantors Assembly
Masorti Movement
Masorti Olami
MERCAZ Olami
MERCAZ USA
Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano
The North American Association of Synagogue Executives
The Schechter Institutes Inc.
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism
Zacharias Frankel College
Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies
