Thanks to the leadership at Temple Shalom in Newton for hosting a very moving community vigil Sunday afternoon in reaction to the massacre of 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh’s historic Squirrel Hill neighborhood. It was a standing room crowd and a powerful and inspiring program. Here’s the text of remarks by Mayor Ruthanne Fuller who is boarding an airplane today for a trip to Israel.
The heart stopping sound of gunshots ripped through the hum of an ordinary Saturday morning in the city.
This time the gunshots disrupted a peaceful Shabbat and tore through families gathered for prayer and for a bris – a celebration of life.
This time the gunshots were not random.
This time the gunman’s Anti-Semitic rage brought him to the Tree of Life Congregation. His hate steered him intentionally to a place where kosher grocers and delis dot the corners, where the sight of tzitzit is familiar, where mezuzah’s mark the doorways, and where Jews, people of our faith, my faith, have made their homes for generations.
Our hearts go out to the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and to the first res-ponders who were injured when they rushed to the synagogue to help.
We’ll learn more about those who died in the days ahead and we will mourn with their families and those who love them.
We will mourn. and we will again rage against the hatred and gun violence that have made these kinds of events too common in our country, from the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston to the Tree of Life Congregation in Squirrel Hill.
I first thought, it could have been any city, anywhere. It could have been right here.
Then it struck me; this did happen to us. Squirrel Hill is us; Squirrel Hill is West Newton Hill.
I would love to say that here in Newton, in our good City where so many people of the Jewish faith live, where we call ourselves a welcoming city and hold close the core principles of respect, diversity and acceptance, that here, we are immune to this kind of hatred, this kind of anti-Semitism.
My heart aches because I can’t say that.
We have had swastikas drawn in our schools and playgrounds this year. We have had additional incidents of antisemitism, racism and hatred that I had hoped I would never see anywhere and certainly not here in our Newton.
We know we are living in a time when our country is divided, when rhetoric from Washington too often drives us further apart and stokes fear of “the other.”
I think a lot about this. And I think about how, we in this good city, can rise above the partisanship and beat back the hatred. By working together, with the leadership of Rabbi Berry and Rabbi Abrasley, with the help of Newton’s leaders of other faith traditions, many of whom are here today, with the efforts of our Superintendent David Fleishman and the Newton Police Department, with our City Council and School Committee.
By all of us working together, we will make this a better, safer city not only for people of our faith, but for everyone, no matter where we came from, what we look like, who we love, or how, or even if, we choose to worship.
As Rabbi Berry and Rabbi Abrasley wrote, we will work together to do tikkun olam – to repair our broken world.
We can’t let the hate silence us. Our arms must stay open. Yes, our hearts are filled with sadness, but they are also filled with love. Together we embrace the good among us.
We have been here before.
Tonight I’m boarding an El Al flight at 10:05 for Israel. At the Western Wall this Friday, I will pray that together our work will lead us to a day when we will not be gathered here for this reason again.
Shalom. Peace be with us all.
I was going to sum up my thoughts about today’s community vigil at Temple Shalom, but Greg wrote everything I wanted to say and he stated it much better than I could. Mayor Fuller’s printed remarks above don’t fully capture the emotional sadness, deep honesty, strength and determination that came from actually hearing her speak these words. The same with the remarks of both Rabbi Berry and Rabbi Abrasley and that wonderfully uplifting song at the end by a young guitar playing member of the congregation.
I have difficulty reacting immediately to this kind of tragedy and yesterday’s event was no exception. It didn’t hit home until I heard a man in front of me chanting one of the Hebrew prayers. It was his obvious anguish, frustration and deep pain that finally got through to me and allowed me to open my own emotions.
Yesterday morning began so promising. I have dual citizenship in Ireland and the on line Irish Times reported that 77 year old Irish President Michael Higgins had been reelected for a second term after carrying every election district in the state. Higgins is probably the most progressive, enlightened and personally trusted leader in the western world. He’s been a labor organizer, Gaelic poet and scholar, human rights, gay rights and transgender leader, a leader for women’s rights, environmental advocate, champion of every conceivable underdog and a gentle but persistent advocate for all the reform measures that are successfully turning Ireland into one of Western Europe’s most tolerant and open societies.
Then the news came in from Squirrel Hill and I felt that I had to be at Temple Shalom this morning. I saw a lot of my Jewish friends there and it dawned on me just how much I have learned and what a better person I am for knowing them. I can’t feel exactly what they are now feeling as Jews, but I think I feel a solid chunk of it. I just want them to know this.
Thank you, Mayor Fuller.
Have a safe trip in the Holy Land.
I was not there – we attended the vigil on Boston Commons. But your words are strong and I know many were moved by them.
A few things in particular I am appreciate of: This IS us. Our synagogues – in the cluster of synagogues in our village – have been having security patrols (using an outside security company working together with our members who have been trained for this) for several years now on Shabat, thanks to the foresight of our rabbis and board, which have authorized the expense of such patrols. The security patrols are not cheap but as Squirrel Hill shows, they are necessary. At first I thought the security patrols were ridiculous. But I got used to it. And now I see this differently again. Our doors are also open – if you’re there to worship and not to kill Jews.
I was at the vigil in downtown Boston yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. One of the speakers specifically called out Newton (and Needham) for having had swastikas painted, in our schools, multiple times. Have we dealt with this satisfactorily?
Finally, thank you for bringing up the tragedy at the Charleston SC AME Church, where, similarly, people worshiping in their own space were gunned down for being there, for being black – people who had actually welcomes the soon-to-be murder in to worship with them. The perpetrator of those murders was racist and anti-Jew. So many of these haters – and these groups of haters – are. They operate in the shadows. The brilliant Spike Lee film BlackKkKlansman shows this – the (often underground, often and more and more not) culture of people who hate Jews and blacks. I think people need to see this film.
Maybe we need to bring it to Newton, to the public library….
I believe we need to open our hearts more, each group, to each other’s long-suffered history of being victimized just for living. There are the white-supremacist groups. These groups go way back, long before the founding of the modern State of Israel . And there are, sadly, influencial people like Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan who has said publicly that “Israelis and Zionist Jews” played key roles in the 9/11 terror attacks that murdered thousands.
This has been a very tough, emotionally, time for many.
We share your hopes and dreams for filling our wonderful City of Newton with love – and right of all to worship in peace and security – and appreciate your leadership!