Dear Friends,
Below, we are reprinting my letter to our community about the massacre of nine Black brothers and sisters in Charleston’s Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17th. Tragically, this event has sparked a series of hate-driven church burnings in Black churches across the South, and Black faith communities continue to live in fear of further violence.
The Torah teaches we must not stand idly by the blood of our neighbors. Churches are the lifeblood of many Black communities. I believe it is up to people of faith and conscience around the country to stand with them and insist that their communities are our communities. Their churches are sacred spaces we must care for, too, especially as a community that collectively remembers our own history of synagogue burnings and the massacre of innocent Jews.
To that end, I will be donating to the Rebuild the Churches fund, and encourage you to do the same. As you will see if you click on the link, synagogues around the country are participating in this effort. I will also be speaking about this issue at our July 17th service, as part of a nationwide Week of Righteous Resistance, which dozens of synagogues are also joining. If you follow Twitter, you can read more at #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches and #ThisIsWORR.
See below for my reflection on Charleston, and I look forward to connecting with you soon.
Letter on the Charleston Massacre
Dear Friends,
Like many of you, I am feeling heartbroken about the events in Charleston last week, where a racist white man murdered nine of our Black brothers and sisters at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, S.C. This shooting feels like an event out of the 1960s’ South, something that should be unimaginable in today’s world.
Last Thursday, as part of my work at the Essex County Community Organization, I had been planning a training around our racial justice work in Lynn. When I learned about what happened in Charleston the night before, I wondered whether to cancel. Was this the time to train and plan, when for so many of our African American leaders, the news of a hate crime against a Black church was so fresh and so painful?
I wrote to the diverse group of clergy leaders with whom I work, and asked them whether they thought we should move forward. Rev. Viola Morris Buchanan, pastor of Bethel AME Church in Lynn (the same denomination as the church that was attacked) called me and said, “Rabbi Margie! This is exactly when we shouldn’t cancel. We need to pray and to mourn, but we also need to redouble our efforts to confront racism in our communities.”
I realized that for Rev. Viola and probably many others, coming together for prayer and action was a statement that those who were murdered didn’t die in vein, that this tragedy must move us to change the racist system that produces this kind of violence. So we moved ahead, gathering dozens of people of faith from across the North Shore – Black, Brown, White – to express our pain and anger and think how to move forward. We prayed, we planned, and we promised each other to work even harder to uproot racism in our communities. As one woman said, “we need to pray, but we also need to do prayerful work!”
So what does this mean for us at Sha’arei Shalom? Well, as we confront this violence against our Black brothers and sisters, it would be easier just to shake our heads and say how awful it is that there are evil racists out there. Instead, I hope we will go further, admitting that racism exists in subtler (and sometimes more insidious) forms all around us, and working to change it. We in the Jewish community remember what it was to feel targeted, excluded, and endangered for who we are. Let’s stand in solidarity and compassion with those who are targeted and excluded today, exploring how we can help create a world where everyone has equal opportunity, regardless of race, ethnicity, faith, or class background. I look forward to exploring with you how we might do so in the coming year.
Finally, I wanted to share the ritual of lament we led on Thursday, written by Rev. Viola of Bethel AME in Lynn. I encourage you to read it, perhaps taking turns reading it aloud with your family, and feel the power of its message.
Ritual of Lament and Invitation to Action
Leader: We come tonight as one body, one community praying for the members of Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and the people of Charleston, SC. With our love we seek to comfort and dry the tears of those who have lost a grandmother and grandfather, a spouse, a friend, a shepherd, as well as the family whose son has committed this surreal tragedy and gross injustice. We cover them all in the assurance that love triumphs over hate, justice conquers injustice, and peace overcomes discord.
People: We are the children of God
Leader: the consolation of the righteous, our grief, outrage, fear, and anger is turned in to a resolve that our brothers and sisters will not have died in vain. Our resolve is to be the answer to their prayers. We will do the good our God requires of us: “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.” (Micah 6:8)
People: We are the hands and feet of God
Leader: We are part of the growing army for justice and peace. Our power is strengthened by the hands we hold and undergirded by power from on high. The decision has been made. We are a believer and a worker for the Beloved Community because all lives matter: black, brown, red, yellow, and white.
People: We are all the beloved of God.
Leader: The struggle continues! We stand against those who breed hate, ignorance, and violence; we work with those who preach truth and fight for gun control and public safety. We are relentless in the struggle against racism, political and economic disenfranchisement. We will not SLOW UP or BACK UP; we won’t GIVE UP or LET UP, until we are PRAYED UP and PREPARED UP, and have TAUGHT UP and ORGANIZED UP, for the cause of justice.
People: We are the empowered people of God! Our vision is clear, our hearts determined and we do the work together!
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Blessings,
Rabbi Margie