Hate
Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the Lord; * the Lord who made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion.
They say, “God has forsaken him; go after him and seize him; *
because there is none who will save.” (Ps 71:11)
Luigi Mangione who apparently murdered Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare is a hero to some and the killing is commonly rationalized as “understandable.” Then there is a string of responses to President Biden's cancer diagnosis. Taylor Lorenz, formerly a reporter for The New York Times and The Washington Post, wrote, “I hope he rots in hell and rests in piss.” I’m assuming that there are already postings rationalizing last night’s murder of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. Hate is surging. Hate is being rationalized.
This morning's New York Times has an article documenting the increase in antisemitism in the world and our nation - Slaying Outside D.C. Jewish Museum Is Part of Global Surge in Antisemitism. Sister Michelle, and I have written about antisemitism before ( Here, here, here, here, and here)
The Episcopal Church is against antisemitism. Though I think a case can be made that in the past, we overlooked it when it came from our more conservative members and more recently when it comes from our more liberal members. It's complicated stuff for many people. You really need to take a look at how antisemitism is expressed differently, depending on where you fall on the political spectrum.
This is an addition added just minutes after the original posting. From Bishop Budde, Diocese of Washington and Dean Hollerith, Washington National Cathedral. “In a poignant connection to us in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, in recent months, Yaron and Sarah had been exploring their faith as regular worshippers at Ascension & St. Agnes Episcopal Church near Logan Circle. In the words of Father Dominique Peridans, rector of Ascension & St. Agnes, ‘Their attraction to Christ seemed to have deepened their love for their Jewish sisters and brothers as well as their commitment to serve the people of Israel.’ “
Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in might; *
your right hand, O Lord, has overthrown the enemy.
The Song of Moses Cantemus Domino
The peak in the weeks after the Oct. 7 attack
For the moment, I want to highlight just one element of today's New York Times report that takes notice of another rationalization of hate.
In most countries, the number of incidents of hate directed at Jews is down slightly from the peak in the weeks after the Oct. 7 attack."
One of the favorite rationalizations of the anti-Zionist, anti-semitic, and anti-Jewish movements has been that it is all the fault of the Jews because of what they have done in Gaza during this war. That rationalization doesn't fit with the facts. The peak was just after October 7. Relatively few people had been killed in Gaza at that point. And yet already there were accusations of genocide. The New York City demonstration that took place on October 8 has become famous for its avoidance of acknowledging the largest killing of Jews since the holocaust and its chants for an intifada [1]. There were a significant number of people celebrating Hamas's attack. Here's the statement issued by the people sponsoring that protest. And here's the report in The Times of Israel. And there’s the Politico report. This was on YouTube.
They said to themselves, “Let us destroy them altogether.” *
They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land.(Ps 74:7)
This abides,
Brother Robert, OA
Additions since initially posting
From The Free Press’s TGIF connecting to my assumption that there are already postings rationalizing the murders, “The alleged killer, Elias Rodriguez, was apparently a longtime leftist, and a few groups have come out to laud their soldier. Unity of Fields, an “anti-imperialist propaganda front” in the new anti-Zionist movement, is already selling a little booklet: Escalate for Gaza, Bring the War Home. They slapped the image of a machine gun and the name “Elias Rodriguez” to the front just in case you weren’t sure what they meant, which is kill people. Another vocal group in the “pro-Palestine” marches across New York City posted this: What Elias Rodriguez did is the highest expression of anti-Zionism” That took me to a NYT article - This Is the Tragic Consequence of Conflating Jews and Israel “The massacre at the Jewish museum was eminently foreseeable after the wave of anti-Israel protests, encampments and social media screeds that swept America following the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, including the decisions by various anti-Israel groups to protest Israel outside gathering places such as synagogues and campus Hillel Jewish community centers.” We get our hating all muddled, as a concern about the number of deaths in Gaza morphs into a condemnation and possibly a hatred of Israel, and continues on to the attacking of American Jewish institutions, all the way into an unacknowledged antisemitism that has nurtured the soil for violence.
The Feast of Helena of Constantinople, Protector of Holy Places, 330
[1] The Intifada - American Jewish Committee - Britannica - Al Jazeera - The Free Press