Steven C. Wernick
Steven C. Wernick is a member of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Leadership Initiative (Cohort VIII)
“Three Toronto-area synagogues. One week. That is where we are. A week ago Monday, shots were fired at Temple Emanu-El in North York, hours after families had gathered there with their children for Purim celebrations. Then, in the early hours of Saturday morning, bullets struck Shaarei Shomayim on Glencairn Avenue and Beth Avraham Yosef of Toronto in Thornhill — two more congregations, two more sets of shattered windows, two more communities waking up to the possibility that they are no longer safe in this city. No one has been injured, thank God. But that is not the point. The point is that someone — or several someones — is firing weapons at Jewish houses of worship in Canada, and they are escalating.
Canada has a decision to make. Not the Jewish community. Canada.
We write as three faith leaders — a rabbi and two Christian ministers — who share a conviction that transcends our traditions: what is happening on our streets is not a Jewish problem that the rest of Canada is free to observe with sympathy from the sidelines. It is a test of whether this country means what it says about pluralism, safety, and the equal dignity of every community. And right now, Canada is failing that test…”
You care about Israel, peoplehood, and vibrant, ethical Jewish communities. We do too.
Join our email list for more Hartman ideas
