In Honor Of Tree of Life
All day we’ve been reflecting on their names: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, Irving Younger.
After these people were murdered during services in the Tree of Life synagogue, we all had to reckon with this fact: the antisemitism that had been rising in the Trump Era was not going away — it was getting worse.
This is our reality today, but it doesn’t have to be our future.
We all have a choice to make: seek safety with those in power and isolate ourselves from other oppressed people, or build the solidarity we need to defeat white nationalism.
We’re choosing to build solidarity, between Jews and other historically marginalized communities that face the same — albeit more regular and more deadly — threat from white nationalist violence.
We won’t be scared into isolation or silence, because neither will keep us safe. The only way for us to truly be safe and free is to join with others in the fight against those at the top that embolden white nationalists.
And we’re doing that work.
Just this past week, we’ve disrupted Trump’s rally in Pittsburgh, held a memorial in front of Fox News headquarters to hold them accountable for the hate they broadcast, and last night our members in Pittsburgh held a healing circle for their mourning community.
If you’re interested in doing this work in your community as well, we have resources and support for you:
- Here is a beautiful songbook made by IfNotNow Pittsburgh to use in a healing circle, as well as the ritual guide they used
- Here is an action toolkit to confront the political leaders who have been inspiring white nationalist violence
Unfortunately, too many leaders in our community say that we should fear other marginalized groups because their support for Palestinian freedom is antisemitic, no different than the violence and rhetoric coming from Trump, the GOP, and those who enable them.
But we know how wrong they are. The Jewish future depends on Palestinian freedom. We know it is not antisemitic to critique Israeli policy — it is a Jewish moral imperative. We can’t give into the urge to isolate ourselves.
And we know who is actually responsible for the rising antisemitic violence in this country: Trump and the GOP. These are powerful forces, well-organized and well-funded. We cannot take them on alone. We all need to show up for each other, so that we can show up together and defeat white nationalism. It will take nothing less than a movement to defeat them.
It’s going to take all of us to make all of us free.
It’s one year since the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. And today, in honor of Tree of Life, we’re recommitting to building solidarity with others to defeat white nationalism.
So today we mourn, and we heal. Tomorrow, we organize and build with others.
