Threats Against our Jewish Neighbors

Dear Friends in the Ministry of Reconciliation,

This past weekend, as our Jewish brothers and sisters, celebrated the Jewish New Year for 5784, three Jewish worshiping communities, in Brighton, Perinton, and Geneva, were threatened or disrupted. In Geneva, at Temple Beth-el and the Abbe Center for Jewish Life, a Hobart and William Smith student residential space and center, the buildings were cleared and the services moved online. The bomb threats turned out to be hoaxes of a kind similar to ones that have been made against schools and worshiping communities across the country.

Such threats are egregious violations of our common life, based on false notions about race and culture. The fact that people now feel free to express those false notions and threaten others on the basis of race or religion is one of the deep sorrows of our age. We are fighting the same battles over the right to live and worship freely that we have been fighting since our founding as a nation, and long before in Western culture.

The religious communities across the region have begun to respond. Some of these responses may be found in media and online news reports. We want to say that in the strongest possible terms that threats against our Jewish neighbors are unacceptable from anyone and, especially, from we Christians, who would not exist except for the teachings and life of an itinerant rabbi named Jesus of Nazareth. The Episcopal Church has repeatedly called for an end to anti-semitism and the persecution of members of the Jewish tradition. We stand by those calls and promise our solidarity with the Jewish community.

To the students at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, we want to offer our particular support and friendship. The Episcopal Church is a place of welcome and safety for all people, and we will work with you to ensure your continued right to live and worship in peace. We join with HWS Chaplain and Dean for Spiritual Engagement Rev. Nita Byrd in this pledge.

In her remarks following the cancellation of services at Temple Beth-el, Rabbi Ann Landowne invited her community to renew their commitment to tikkun olam, that is, repairing the world. We join in that commitment. Our faith calls us to the restoration and renewal of the world in keeping with God’s intention for a peaceable kingdom. May all of us, in our various communities, reach out to our Jewish neighbors with signs of friendship and support. God’s intentions for human life will only be fulfilled when we are all at the banquet table together.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Stephen T. Lane, Bishop Provisional, Episcopal Diocese of Rochester
The Rev. Nita C. Johnson Byrd, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Chaplain and Dean for Spiritual Engagement
The Rev. James H. Adams, Rector, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Geneva, NY
The Rev. Cameron Miller, Rector, Trinity Place, Geneva, NY