In the seven years he has been the senior rabbi at Congregation Etz Chaim in East Cobb, Daniel Dorsch said that the responses to anti-Semitic acts in the community were always organized by Jews.
Wednesday was different.
At a “prayer and action” service at East Cobb United Methodist Church, faith leaders and citizens turned out to pack the sanctuary.
So did elected and law enforcement officials.
Five days after several Neo-Nazis waved swastika flags and held up anti-Semitic signs in front of the Chabad of Cobb synagogue, a sweeping, community-wide celebration of love, hopefulness and justice followed the condemnations and expressions of outrage.
“What’s different is you,” Dorsch said. “You saw us. You did this and we came. Thank you for seeing us tonight.”
With several Cobb Police vehicles patrolling the East Cobb UMC parking lot, and Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer attending the service inside, Dorsch noted the expenses that synagogues pay for security.
That money, he said, could be spent instead to help feed the hungry and attend to other community needs.
Jews can be reluctant to attend services, he said, because “Pittsburgh, Poway and Jersey City”—cities where mass shootings took place in 2019—”are in the back of their minds.
“Anti-Semitism isn’t a Jewish problem. It’s an everyone problem.”
Saturday’s protest along Lower Roswell Road by the Goyim Defense League drew many more counter-protestors who gathered across the road.
East Cobb real estate agent Mechel McKinney-Hoffman was one of them.
Jarred not only by a Neo-Nazi presence in East Cobb but also a previous rally earlier in the week in her hometown of Macon, McKinney-Hoffman sprung to action in the aftermath.
Working with Rev. Kristin Lee, the East Cobb UMC pastor, she and others put together the special service, which also was called in response to anti-Semitic flyers that have been distributed in neighborhoods in Cobb County and metro Atlanta.
“Just standing by to watch wasn’t an option,” McKinney-Hoffman said, her voice breaking with emotion at times.
“That is what has brought us together as a community. Living in outrage isn’t an option. Living in anger is easy. Living in love is hard.”
That was the constant message through the nearly 90-minute service, whose attendees included the Israeli Consul-General in Atlanta and representatives of Atlanta-area Jewish organizations.
In her remarks, Lee stressed the urgency for citizens to “do justice now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. . . . You don’t have to do it all now and you don’t have to do it alone. But I pray that we will do this with the same calling that we will find to complete this work. As a community. One.”
State lawmakers who sponsored a hate crimes bill that would write anti-Semitism into state law also spoke.
State Rep. John Carson, an East Cobb Republican, was a main sponsor, and said that he was “disgusted” by the open anti-Semitic act in his community.
“What you have done is unite us,” Carson said, referencing the Neo-Nazis. “You are not welcome here, and we will win on this issue. What you see here is a united front against this action.
“This is a wonderful showing of love.”
The bill, HB 30, passed the Georgia House this session but got bottled up in the Senate. Some lawmakers, including Cobb State Sen. Ed Setzler, expressed concern that a criticism of the Israeli government could be considered anti-Semitic.
Current hate crime laws cover race, religion and national origin.
State Rep. Esther Panitch, a Democrat from Sandy Springs and the only Jewish member of the legislature, says current law “doesn’t go far enough. . . . We were almost there. We need Georgia to adopt it.”
Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson read a resolution passed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday condemning the anti-Semitic protest.
“I want you to walk away feeling encouraged and inspired,” she said. “The East Cobb community—it’s a special one.”
She also joined the counter-protestors Saturday, and said “it was absolutely beautiful. It was in the face of hatred that love stood out.
“That was inspiring. That was our community coming together. That’s the only way that we can push back against hate in all its forms. I want to make sure that hate isn’t met with silence.”
Nearly the end of the service, and overwhelmed by the community response, Etyan Davidson, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Atlanta, noted that he is the grandson of Holocaust survivors.
“They didn’t have neighbors like you,” he said. “We lost six million people because they didn’t have neighbors like you. You showed up. Thank you. Thank you.
“When we stand together, hate cannot win.”
After the service, Dorsch said that he initially was torn about organizing a response, not wanting to give a small band of anti-Semitic protestors too much attention.
At the service, he read a statement from Chabad Rabbi Ephraim Silverman, who was not in attendance, and recited a Holocaust Kaddish.
“But this was inspiring,” Dorsch said. “I came away from this inspired.”
Related:
- East Cobb synagogue target of Nazi flags, anti-Semitic signs
- Cobb judge rules Methodist churches can have disaffiliation votes
- Ga. Methodist churches sue to restore disaffiliation process
- East Cobb interfaith service to mark start of Holy Week, Passover
- Temple Kol Emeth rabbi resigns for college post
- PHOTOS, VIDEOS: Menorah Lighting at The Avenue East Cobb
- Jewish-Christian understanding project returns to East Cobb area
- At East Cobb service, ‘our faith has to stand for something’
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