In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring
It happened again today: more bomb threats targeted Jewish Community Centers all across the country, including right here in my home town of Chicago. As reported on CNN’s website:
“I’ve been in the business for 20-plus years, and this is unprecedented,” said Paul Goldenberg, national director of the Secure Community Network, which advises Jewish organizations on security. “It’s more methodical than meets the eye.” No bombs have been found, but Jewish leaders hesitate to label the calls “hoaxes.” The chaos and terror the calls have caused are real, as are more tangible consequences.
This comes on the same day as an attack on a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis. As the Huffington Post reports, “There have now been at least 67 incidents at 56 Jewish Community Centers in 27 states and one Canadian province since the start of 2017…”
This is wrong. This is un-American. As an American Muslim, I must speak out against this unprecedented wave of anti-Semitic hatred just as much as I speak out against Islamophobic attacks across our country.
There is no room in our country for religious hatred, no matter the faith of the perpetrator or the victim. A bomb threat against a Jewish Community Center, or a Synagogue is an attack on all houses of worship. I am just as offended when a Sikh Gurudwara is attacked as when a mosque is vandalized. An attack on any religious institution is an attack on all. We stand together, or we all fall down.
My sister, Eman Hassaballa Aly, penned an important piece in Patheos about the urgent need for Muslims to stand with all and forge alliances with other communities in the wake of the new Administration:
It’s time to make alliances with folks we don’t typically ally with. It’s time to have difficult conversations about difficult subjects. It’s time to recognize who has stood up for us and stand up for them as well, even if we don’t align theologically — we align as humans. It’s time to really be honest about how we can improve and where we failed. It’s time to say sorry for being not so nice to one another. It’s also time to stop criticizing people openly and so frequently.
Let me do my part and say to the Jewish community: I stand with you. May God protect you and all your community centers and places of worship. And may God protect us all from the hatred that has reared its ugly head in our country. Amen.
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