RA Expresses Concern for Anti-Semitic Violence
NEW YORK – Earlier this week, Daniel Alter, one of the first liberal rabbis to be ordained in Germany since the Holocaust, and the former rabbi of the Masorti congregation in Oldenburg, Germany, was attacked on a Berlin street in front of his young daughter. The incident is being treated as a religiously motivated hate crime. Julie Schonfeld, Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Assembly, the international umbrella organization for Conservative rabbis, released the following statement today expressing condolences for Alter and concern with anti-Semitism:
On behalf of the 1,600 Conservative rabbis of the Rabbinical Assembly, we were saddened to hear that Rabbi Daniel Alter was attacked simply for being Jewish. The attack – carried out in front of the eyes of his young daughter – has left him injured, left his family frightened, and left Jews in Germany and elsewhere suffering from renewed concern for the potential of subsequent anti-Semitic violence.
As we send condolences and wishes for a rapid recovery to Rabbi Alter and his family, we take this time to remember that we must seek to learn from our differences. There is never an excuse for violence – whether religiously-motivated or for any other reason. Jews in Germany – and everywhere else – should not live in fear. We hope and pray that the German Parliament will not ignore this incident, nor any other of its kind, and will take seriously our call for stricter measures preventing and punishing anti-Semitism and other acts of hatred incited by religious discrimination.