With the news out of Michigan over the last twenty-four hours, this evening’s visit from our Governor could not be more timely.
A terrorist attack against a synagogue in West Bloomfield, a generational synagogue not unlike our own. Given the explosives and firearms with which the assailant was armed, it is nothing short of a miracle that no one was killed.
Another “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.” Add it to the list. We are shocked and horrified, and we have grown uncomfortably accustomed to this new reality: the blurred line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism; the frightening manner by which violent rhetoric becomes violent action; and the enabling that occurs when people in authority refuse to draw clear moral lines. It could be reflected in the people with whom one chooses to break bread, the social media posts one chooses to “like,” or the refusal to condemn, plainly and unequivocally, those who perpetrate terror in the name of their faith, as occurred earlier this week on the Upper East Side. Such silence becomes complicity in a climate in which the horrors we witnessed yesterday in Michigan happen again and again and again.
The name of the Michigan synagogue, for goodness’ sake, is “Temple Israel.” For an elected official to refuse to acknowledge the slippery slope between anti-Israel rhetoric and physical violence against Jews reflects a willful naïveté and a reckless negligence toward the safety of the very communities they are entrusted to protect.
All of which is why it is so very important that Governor Hochul is here with us tonight. Governor, we still remember your visit a few years ago, when you spoke movingly about the loss of your father as you prepared to travel to Israel just a week after October 7. We have not forgotten, and we thank you for consistently standing with the people and State of Israel. We are grateful for your presence tonight as our community shares in the pain and fears felt by our brothers and sisters in Michigan. We know you are fighting for us in Albany, and we are especially grateful for your proposed buffer-zone legislation – the first of its kind in the nation – to protect houses of worship, synagogues included. It is carefully crafted to safeguard the right to worship without harassment while respecting the First Amendment, the strongest efforts currently under consideration in New York.
And I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge Speaker Julie Menin, who, together with her colleagues on the City Council, is advancing legislation of similar spirit here in our city. To the Governor, to the Speaker, and to our councilwoman and my friend Virginia Maloney,we are grateful for your partnership and we applaud your leadership.
With primaries just months away, I see there are also others present tonight – people who are in office and people seeking office, who hope to understand the priorities of the New York Jewish community. The message is simple. To those who stand with us, we stand with you. To those who do not, Jews are a people of memory. Come June, you will wish you had.
Governor Hochul, with gratitude for your being with us in our sorrow, for standing with us in solidarity, and for leading the charge to ensure that this house of worship and all houses of worship are safe, we are honored by your presence, and we welcome you to the pulpit.