Community Notes

From an AME church to a Jewish community who have been working together over the last two years to support an individual living in sanctuary at risk of deportation:

It's only been two hours since I heard the news about the attack on the synagogue in Pittsburgh. I didn't want more time to go by before I reached out to tell you, on behalf of [individual church staff], and our congregation [name], and I, how heartbroken we are for you, for the victims of this massacre and their families, for your congregation, and for our nation.

Three years ago, we stood in the place in which you now stand as we heard the news unfolding about the massacre at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. It was awful; but we remember that one of the things that helped us through that terrible time was the support of friends like you who called, who came, who prayed, who let us know that we were not alone. And now we want you to know that we are here, we are praying, we will come at any time and in any way to support you and let you know that you are not alone.

These are dark and terrible times through which our country is passing. But hatred will not have the final say. Our faith, our hope, our love for each other and our work together will overcome the fear and terror that others are whipping up all around us. God bless you.

[Reverends] and [Name] Church Family

[National organization] to its Chapter Leaders:

Dear incredible Jewish leaders [within our organization],

This is a letter from some white, raised-Christian [organizational] leaders. We have a lot to things we want to say to you, but here’s what it boils down to:

We love you.

We love you.

We see you. We want to have your backs, and we are committed to organizing ourselves to have your backs more.

We see the badass work you are doing. We see you being visible, in the face of all the risk that comes with as Jews. We see your big, bold leadership in the world... You are putting your bodies on the line with movements for justice. You are sticking your neck out for folks at work, for friends, for strangers, on social media, all the time.

When we gentiles grow close to you, you hold us accountable, you teach us, you love us, you show us a ways of community that we’ve longed for our whole lives. You bring us into our integrity.

We invite you to pause and take this in. If you don’t think we are talking about you, we are. We are talking about you. You have unimaginable courage. You have faced so much, ancestrally, and in your own life, and you persist, ever bolder, fiercely and tenderly calling our world home, into right relationship.

Thank you for the work you have done thinking about antisemitism and the need for non-Jews in [our organization] to step up and be more visible. Thank you for teaching us and asking us for this... Here is our best thinking on what we will do next.

...

We want to be developing Christian leaders in [our organization] to have more analysis on antisemitism and our stake in ending antisemitism. One next step we're taking is to hold a study space for leaders on JFREJ's Understanding Antisemitism document, and inviting all gentiles — including POC and non-Christian gentiles. Another thought we have is to create a toolkit for [organization] chapters to do local events on understanding antisemitism in this time.

We are committed to following through on your calls for action. Our commitment is grounded in seeing how our lives and movements will be better and more powerful and more beautiful when antisemitism is gone for good. We know that [our organization] will be bigger and stronger and that our movements will be less vulnerable to division and confusion about who we are fighting with and against. We know that there will be more space for our Jewish loved ones to live big full lives and that we will too, both by being close to Jews and by the ways Christian Hegemony works to keep us small and quiet. We know that ending antisemitism is crucial to ending white supremacy.

Those are our thoughts so far. We welcome your feedback and we are excited to work alongside you to transform [our organization].

Love,

[Name], [Name], [Name], [Name], and [Name]

From a non-Jewish colleague in an organization we partner with:

"I first of all want to extend a message of support and solidarity in this time of hate, vitriol and violence. I know community and unity are crucial to combat division and we stand staunchly with our neighbors to promote peace, equality and safety."

Sending you lots of love and solidarity in this moment. If there's anything we can do for you, either individually or as [Muslim organization,] please please let us know. With you, [Friend]

This person organized his community to provide marshals/security for a vigil the next day.