STRONGER THAN HATE

Charlottesville, Va., last year, they gave Nazi salutes and shouted, “Sieg heil!” The president’s response?

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.”

No, no, no, no, no. There is only one side.

We can never take the side of hate. Hate does not get a place at the table.

“You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides,” Trump said.

Fine people don’t chant “Sieg heil” and give Nazi salutes.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents were up more than 50 percent in 2017. Trump became president in 2017, a president whose first response to the massacre of Jews in Pittsburgh was to blame them for not having an armed guard.

Trump has done far too much to normalize hate speech. Unchecked, hate speech leads to hate crimes. We cannot allow ourselves to become a nation of bigots, racists and anti-Semites.

Politicians are already sending their thoughts and prayers to Pittsburgh, but collaborated with other media outlets who have sought our input and support, to help them tell their stories to their readers and viewers.

Because it is important for communities of all colors and beliefs to come together in the face of terrorism, we asked clergy from a variety of faiths to write to us with their thoughts and prayers to be shared with our readers.

This week, in our print edition as well as online, you will find a package of stories and images that reflects our efforts to be true to our community.

At times of tragedy, media outlets shift into overdrive. They set aside their communal grief and do their jobs, realizing how critical it is to be a reliable source of information for a community under attack.

We are proud to serve such an important role for the Jewish communities of Northeast and Central Ohio.

We welcome your thoughts on our coverage of this terrible event. You can view all of our coverage at columbusjewishnews.com/ strongerthanhate. Feel free to click the “submit a message of solidarity” button to share your thoughts or messages on this tragic event.

As the Rev. Otis Moss Jr. said at a recent Cleveland vigil, “Words matter.” we voted for them to do more than think and pray. We voted for them to act.

We hope the words we have offered this week have helped you through these past few days and will be helpful in the days to come.

It’s time for us to act, too.

Take your thoughts and prayers to the ballot box. Do your research first. Who promotes hate? Who promotes violence? Who spews anti-Semitism? Who allows racism to continue by preventing black people and Native Americans from voting? By not calling out neo-Nazis and white supremacists?

On Election Day, cast your vote for those who will never vote again, for Rose Mallinger, brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal; Bernice and her husband Sylvan Simon, Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Jerry Rabinowitz, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.

Cast a vote for integrity, compassion, decency.

Stand up to the National Rife Association. Take a risk for these 11 who died. Get AR-15s off the market for good. No one needs to own an assault weapon or an entire arsenal of weapons.

Make America no place for hate, starting with the oval office and working your way down through the Senate, House, all the way down to the lowliest township trustee.

Trump almost got it right when he

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finally said, “This evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us. It’s an assault on humanity. It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-Semitism from the world,”

I hope by all of us, he means himself, too.

But let’s not forget that, first and foremost, this was an attack on Jews, Jews who died on Shabbat, a holy day of rest.

May they rest in peace, but not us. We can’t rest. Not now.

Not on your life.

And not on anyone else’s.

Read Regina Brett online at cjn. org/regina. Connect with her on Facebook at ReginaBrettFans. 2018 Best Columnist, AJPA Louis Rapoport Award for Excellence in Commentary.

Disclaimer

Letters, commentaries and opinions appearing in the Cleveland Jewish News do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cleveland Jewish Publication Company, its board, officers or staff.

Staff Reporter Jane Kaufman reporting from Pittsburgh, Staff Reporters Ed Carroll, Becky Raspe and Alyssa Schmitt, Violet Spevack Editorial Intern Sean McDonnell, Yoda Newton Editorial Intern David Gostomelsky, Columbus Bureau Chief Amanda Koehn, Managing Editor Bob Jacob, Publisher and CEO Kevin S. Adelstein and Digital Content Producer Abbie Murphy reporting from Cleveland and Tami Kamin Meyer reporting from Columbus contributed to coverage of the tragedy at Tree of Life Congregation.

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David R. Hertz II Board Chairman Kevin S. Adelstein President, Publisher & CEO