Last week, as America celebrated Jewish American Heritage Month, the White House proclaimed that celebrating the countless contributions of American Jews to our nation’s history remained insufficient to honor Jewish American heritage.
Rather, the proclamation insisted, the increase in antisemitic activity throughout our country—both online and in the real world—represents a challenge that America would confront head on.
Today, the White House made good on its promise, unveiling the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism, detailing more than 100 new actions developed to (1) increase awareness and understanding of antisemitism, as well as broaden appreciation for Jewish American heritage, (2) improve safety and security for American Jewish communities, (3) reverse the normalization of antisemitism, and (4) build solidarity across religious and ethnic communities to combat and discredit antisemitic thought. You can read more about the White House’s release here.
As a community, we applaud our nation’s commitment to fighting against antisemitism and recognize the important role we, too, must play in ensuring the success of these efforts, both through our disciplined commitment to the safety of our campus and community, as well as our commitment to creating and leveraging community-based partnerships based upon mutual trust to promote understanding and kinship with our neighbors.
We pray that through this shared commitment, all our citizens will ultimately realize the dream of this nation, first proclaimed by the prophet Micah and later echoed by our nation’s first president, George Washington, that, “every one shall sit in safety under their own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make them afraid.”
Sincerely,
Your Stephen Wise Temple Clergy
