Head of School’s Statement on Tree of Life Synagogue Tragedy

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Head of School’s Statement on Tree of Life Synagogue Tragedy

“We are seeking every day to connect our students and our school to people, organizations, and initiatives that reflect a belief in the promise of humanity.”

Throughout this past week, St. Andrew’s has joined the nation and the world in mourning and in reflection upon the shootings in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Two of our current families live in the community surrounding the synagogue, and Saturday evening members of the Jewish community at St. Andrew’s gathered in the Chapel to grieve and pray for the victims and their families. Last Sunday and today in Chapel, the full school community joined together in prayer, seeking to express solidarity, support, love, and courage to all those victimized and threatened by the poison of anti-Semitism.

We know very well that the scourge of hatred and intolerance still lives in our land and in the human heart, strengthened and affirmed by the desperate voices gathering on social media platforms and by the gap created by the increasing division, polarity, and incivility of our world. We saw last week and last summer in Charlottesville, Virginia what happens when prejudice, violence, racism, and anti-Semitism move out of the darkest shadows into the public square. In a matter of moments, as author Nathan Englander observed last summer, it seemed as if nearly a century of progress, enlightenment, and reconciliation had disappeared.

Just last week, I learned of the powerful memorial service that took place in the National Cathedral for Matthew Shepard, tortured and killed twenty years ago in a horrible hate crime that awakened the country to the violence and contempt directed at the LGBTQ community. Two decades ago, Matthew Shepard’s parents could not be sure that their son’s remains would be respected by hate groups who appeared at his funeral carrying rude and offensive signs. And so they waited until the call from the National Cathedral came and

voices of love, compassion, and understanding had gained confirmation and support in America. Last week we heard the words of Bishop Gene Robinson (himself a courageous figure in the story of the Episcopal Church’s embrace of diversity) reminding us that “the danger of labeling others different from ourselves [becomes] code for ‘not really human’ and then you can do anything to them that you like.” Then came the shootings in Pittsburgh. All communities of hope study and enact the enduring power of love and empathy, and therefore we at St. Andrew’s know how to address hatred and contempt for the Other. We know how to live with abiding respect and reverence for the human family. We realize that the diversity of the St. Andrew’s community leads to what Bryan Stevenson calls “proximity,” our opportunity to live with and learn from people quite different than ourselves. We know living in community and seeking new forms of community are the best ways to defeat intolerance and hatred. But especially as we self-segregate, as we flock to hear the voices that echo our own presumptions and world views, as we seek to shut down avenues of communication and collaboration, we also need an imaginative, intellectual, and moral empathy that gives us the vision, generosity, and humility to imagine what injustice, prejudice, and suffering feels like and looks like all across the globe. With our narrowing tribal lenses, we miss and neglect a lot.

We also refuse to allow the acts and words of extremists to overwhelm the real and inspiring narrative of creativity, generosity, and progress within our country. We are seeking every day to connect our students and our school to people, organizations, and initiatives that reflect a belief in the promise of humanity. Even in the devastating aftermath of the shootings, a powerful and paradoxical assertion of goodness emerged, as an anti-Semitic killer was treated and healed by Jewish doctors and nurses and checked on by the president of the hospital, Dr. Jeffrey K. Cohen, himself, as Nicholas Kristof writes, “a member of the congregation that had been attacked.”

As we pray for and honor the victims of this tragedy, we in the extended St. Andrew’s community stand for peace, for human fellowship, and an end to hatred and intolerance. We particularly today stand in solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters here and throughout the world.