How Should We Respond to Threats Against Jews?

From the desk of Rabbi David Lyon

I’m the senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel, organized in 1854, the oldest synagogue in Texas. Years ago, Beth Israel’s leadership approached me to ask if we should build a perimeter fence around our property.

At first I said no. I frequently reminded them that we are part of, and not apart from, the larger community.

In the first century, Rabbi Hillel taught, “Do not separate yourself from the community.” From this we learn that our well-being economically, physically, socially and religiously depends on a community that offers resources to meet basic needs for individuals and families to thrive. In Houston, the fourth largest and most diverse city in the country where more than 140 languages are spoken, there should be a place for everyone to thrive.

But later, the synagogue leadership asked again about a perimeter fence. The data continued to demonstrate that hatred of Jews and antisemitic acts were trending upward dangerously.

At last, I agreed to build that fence. It’s a deterrent to violence. But it’s not a perfect answer to deep concerns about hatred and bigotry.

We were reminded of that last week, when Congregation Beth Israel and The Shlenker School received a credible threat to our campus. Houston police were essential sources of direction and information that helped us make decisions to close our campus early in the morning, communicate with our families and contribute without confusion to law enforcement’s efforts, locally and nationally. The result was a return to safety, security and peace.

The process that was created to protect us worked, but it didn’t undo the threat that all of us face in Houston, whether you’re Jewish or not.

Houston is home to 2.3 million people who are incentivized every day to dream about their future and work to reach it. Religious communities, and specifically, the Jewish community, are not an obstacle to anyone’s dreams for themselves or their own communities. The real obstacles to others’ dreams are longstanding stereotypes, age-old antisemitic tropes, and one’s own ignorance about others’ religious values and the values that many faiths share.

In a purposely polarized environment, we have a moral obligation to find our way back to the middle high ground where we bring honor to our sacred texts that urge us, if not command us, to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19, and later Christian Gospels).

Interfaith relationships in Houston are a deeply rooted source of our city’s greatness. Faith leaders, like other leaders in their respective fields, need to search for ways to bring us back to goodness and wholeness, and to leave judgment against others to the courts and to the Eternal One. Otherwise, we have work to accomplish so that fences between us, whether they are literal or figurative, can be opened to the privilege to know our neighbors and also to love them.

After I permitted a fence to be built, I made it clear that one day it will be a blessing to be asked, “Is it time to open the gates, again?”

With all my heart and hands, I will pray and work for the day when we can open the gates for all people to come and go, and for all houses of worship to be places where we preach to teach that there are plentiful blessings for all that begin in each of us.

Let us be a source of peace and hope for each other. Let us learn from Rabbi Hillel, who also taught, “What is hateful to you, do not do to others; that is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.”