Letters to the editor
Readers respond
An offering of ‘solidarity and friendship’
I am deeply disturbed by the graffiti incidents that affected the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh, Chabad of Squirrel Hill and several private residences on the night of July 28 (“‘Supporters of Hamas’: Pittsburgh Jewish community targeted with antisemitic graffiti,” Aug. 2). There is no question that these acts were antisemitic, egregious and wrong. I am so sorry that, once again, the Jewish community of Pittsburgh has cause to feel targeted, threatened and isolated.
While you may indeed feel alone, let me assure you that you are in fact surrounded by the solidarity and friendship of your Christian neighbors. We are committed to standing with you and to making clear that there is never any excuse to vandalize a religious institution or house of worship. While our community holds a wide variety of perspectives on the war in Gaza, we must never allow any differences on foreign policy to jeopardize our peace, security and community harmony here in Pittsburgh. We must be particularly vigilant to stand against antisemitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism.
As a Christian leader, I recognize my responsibility to help educate my colleagues and neighbors about antisemitism and to foster opportunities for Christians to learn, to repent, to grow and to build and maintain positive relationships with our Jewish neighbors. Please know that I am committed to fulfilling that responsibility in my ministry at Christian Associates, and that I am eager to be of service to you.
In solidarity and peace,
The Rev. Liddy Barlow
Executive minister, Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania
‘Fighting with light’
This past Friday, my husband and I were deeply moved and inspired by the great show of community support at our pre-Shabbat gathering of strength and solidarity, held in response to antisemitic acts of vandalism at Chabad of Squirrel Hill and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh (“‘Supporters of Hamas’: Pittsburgh Jewish community targeted with antisemitic graffiti,” Aug. 2).
We are so grateful to everyone who joined, including leaders and members of all parts of the Jewish community, along with non-Jewish friends and neighbors and local politicians. The diverse group of about 200 people who came together to “fight with light” was a beautiful portrayal of the strength and power we have when we unite together. We may be very different, with varying political and religious beliefs, but at our core, we are “am echad b’lev achad,” one people with one heart. I hope, as a community, we can continue to foster that sense of oneness and come together for better reasons in the future.
Chani Altein
Squirrel Hill
Unpacking the ‘messages’ of the antisemitic graffiti
Chabad of Squirrel Hill, the Jewish Federation and yard signs at private homes were defaced with markings including the phrase “Jews 4 Palestine” and an inverted red triangle (“‘Supporters of Hamas’: Pittsburgh Jewish community targeted with antisemitic graffiti,” Aug. 2). Let’s look at each of those “messages” separately.
My house was one of those whose “We Stand with Israel” lawn sign was vandalized with “Jews 4 Pali” spray-painted in red. I don’t know what the perpetrator had in mind, but I suspect he knows nothing about real “Jews for Palestine.” Let me tell you about a few of them.
Vivian Silver was the renowned co-founder of an organization of Israeli women, Women Wage Peace. For a decade, this grassroots group has worked to establish relationships with Palestinian women and campaigns for a political solution to war in the Middle East. Silver was also active in Road to Recovery (R2R), an organization of Israeli Jews who volunteer to transport Palestinian patients to and from the border crossings for treatment in Israeli hospitals.
On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists assaulted these border communities and murdered R2R volunteers Tammy Suchman, Adi Dagan, Hayim Katsman and Eli Organ. Volunteer Yocheved Lifshitz was taken captive and later released. Two others, Oded Lipshitz and Chaim Peri, were kidnapped into Gaza; Peri died there. Three members of Women Wage Peace were murdered. Vivian Silver was brutally slaughtered in her home in Kibbutz Be’eri.
These well-meaning peace activists, actual “Jews 4 Palestine,” devoted their lives to building bridges and saving Palestinian lives. As thanks, they were terrorized, taken hostage and brutally murdered — by the very population they helped.
Regarding the red triangle, the Chronicle points out, “The inverted red triangle [is] used by Hamas to target … sites” … “and to glorify its use of violence.” This is a hostile message, threatening Jewish homes, synagogues and communal institutions, intended to frighten and
intimidate the Pittsburgh Jewish community. Marking synagogues and Jewish businesses as a target is reminiscent of what the Nazis did as a prelude to Kristallnacht.
The good people of Pittsburgh need to send a strong message that we will not tolerate these heinous acts: Capture, prosecute and imprison the perpetrators. Stop it now before threatening words become violent actions.
Simone Shapiro
Squirrel Hill
Where is Jewish pride?
The same issue of the Chronicle that reported the antisemitic graffiti on a Chabad building and a Jewish Federation sign (“‘Supporters of Hamas’: Pittsburgh Jewish community targeted with antisemitic graffiti,” Aug. 2) carried a story about a book purporting to suggest strategies for “Saying No to Hate.” One of its reported suggestions was “showing Jewish pride.”
But where is Pittsburgh’s Jewish pride showing?
On Sunday, I went to Squirrel Hill’s farmers market. At each entrance stood people with petitions advocating divestment from Israel. But, aside from a table where Jewish men were offered the opportunity to don tefillin, there was no Jewish presence. No one with petitions to send to our representatives about supporting Israel. No handouts of pictures of hostages or Oct. 7 victims. No one offering “We Stand With Israel” signs. In fact, very few of such signs are visible in Squirrel Hill. They are absent from most of the lawns that, after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, were awash with “No Place for Hate” signs. There isn’t even one at the Tree of Life site itself. They are painfully absent from most of our Jewish institutions. Nothing is to be seen at the very heart of Squirrel Hill, at the Jewish Community Center. Do they adorn the lawns of our rabbis? Or those of the public officials who take their few minutes of recognition at the vigil for the hostages?
And, since we ourselves aren’t willing to show our support for Israel, it’s no surprise that little, if any, of the interfaith community whose support we so gleefully welcomed and praised in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting are now nowhere to be seen. Or heard.
But, as the author Dara Horn wrote, and we know too well, “People Love Dead Jews.” When we fight back, not so much.
Signs are, of course, only a beginning. But the time is long overdue for us to begin.
Ann Sheckter Powell
Squirrel Hill
Praise for Schumer
Our community is fortunate to have a statesman and a mensch in our corner in U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer.
Responding to the antisemitic graffiti recently placed on Jewish institutions and homes in Squirrel Hill in an effort to intimidate and terrorize innocent people (“Supporters of Hamas: Pittsburgh Jewish community targeted with antisemitic graffiti,” Aug. 2) Schumer delivered an impassioned Senate speech on July 31, which included the following:
“This week, Squirrel Hill — the site of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre of 2018 — was targeted once again with antisemitic vandalism and attacks. These attacks are vile.
They are hurtful. They poison our society with division, fear, grief. And for the Squirrel Hill community — which has already suffered unimaginable tragedy — this is particularly horrific.”
Schumer went on to call out Donald Trump for his prominent role in bringing about this time of divisiveness in our country, scoring Trump for saying that Jews who vote for Democrats should have their head examined, and accusing Jewish second gentleman Douglass Emhoff of being “a crappy Jew.” It is rich that the man who has trampled upon every tenet of honorable faith, including the Ten Commandments, would have the audacity to judge another based upon the religion to which he belongs.
Thank you and God bless you, Senator Schumer!
Oren Spiegler
Peters Township
Fetterman has gone a ‘bridge too far’
Our excellent junior senator from Pennsylvania, John Fetterman, went a bridge too far when he said: (1) he would not have the United States recognize a Palestinian state now, even though in theory he believes in the two-state solution. He regards this as “rewarding” Hamas for attacking Israel on Oct. 7, 2023; (2) he has also said that he would give or sell military equipment to Israel without conditions, including 2,000 block buster bombs that the Biden administration held back as unsuited for military use in urban areas (“Recognizing Palestinian state rewards Hamas, Fetterman says in Israel,” July 8).
He thus was encouraging the Israeli extremist right-wing government to destroy the concept of even seeking a path to a two-state solution for the Israeli and Palestinian people. That path has already been endorsed by Israel’s major ally, the United States, as well as many European and Arab countries. This includes Arab countries with whom Israel has peace agreements (Egypt and Jordan) and others with whom Israel has normalized relations through the Abraham Accords.
Fetterman’s “bridge too far” statements do not encourage a cease-fire with full hostage releases; a gradual end of the war that Israel is conducting against the terrorist organizations in Gaza such as Hamas, and an end to hostilities with Hezbollah in the north. His position does not encourage humanitarian aid, reconstruction of Gaza, nor reforming and repairing Israel’s vital institutions and restarting their economy. Instead our senator is assisting Netanyahu’s extremist right-wing partners Itmar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich to (1) oppress Palestinians in the West Bank; (2) encourage the illegal settler movement in the West Bank; (3) demolish Bedouin villages (whose residents are soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces); and (4) continuing to fight a war against an enemy that Israeli Defense Minister Gallant says is already militarily defeated.
The senator’s statements also unwittingly encourage Israeli extremists to try to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, which Israel left in 2005.
Fetterman should not be giving such extremists carte blanche to create a clear path to occupy the West Bank and not follow the Biden plan to move toward a cease-fire immediately, return the hostages and begin pursuing a better future for Israel and the Palestinians. Instead, as the true progressive well-meaning senator that he is, he should be helping our government finally create a good peaceful solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ivan Frank
Squirrel Hill
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