Greater Rochester Community Interfaith Call to Action on Anti-Semitism

More than 60 members of Rochester interfaith community sign the Call to Action

Rochester, NY (02/04/2020) — Dear Community and Friends,
As people of faith, we have come together to share with you the deep concern in our hearts. The ongoing anti-Semitic violence in New York City and beyond will not leave our thoughts; its impact has hurt us deeply.

Part of the reason this hate hits home is because we are so aware of having just experienced the joy, contemplation and celebration of winter holidays that beckon us to pause and reflect upon the virtues and values which we hold most dear. They invite us to find gratitude in our blessings big and small, and to release kindness into our homes and into our communities. For all our differences, this season of generosity of spirit calls each of us to bear witness to what is right, just and good. Each of the holidays and our celebrations call on us to embody what it means to be human beings at our best.

We are speaking out in unison to make clear that anti-Semitism, as all forms of racial and religious hatred, is unacceptable to each and every one of us. It is imperative to spread the message of interfaith caring, concern, and allyship.

And so we are wrestling mightily with how to respond in meaningful and effective ways to these violent, hatefilled acts that stand in stark contrast to everything Judaism is about, in stark contrast to the meaning of living a Jewish life, and in stark contrast to the aspirations faith raises for us in so many traditions. We are thinking deeply about how to better focus our teaching, our activities, our sermons, our events, our programming, our outreach, our interactions with one another.

Thus, we call upon all people of good will, across the city of Rochester and beyond, to step forward with their ideas, energy and hope. Kindest regards,

Muhammad Shafiq, Ph.D.
Executive Director,
Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue

Jamie R. Fazio, M.Div.
Nazareth College Center for Spirituality, Director

Hava Leipzig Holzhauer, J.D.
Executive Director,
Konar Center for Tolerance and Jewish Studies

Susan E. Nowak, SSJ, Ph.D.
William H. Shannon Chair of Catholic Studies,
Nazareth College

MEDIA: Hava Leipzig Holzhauer, J.D., executive director of Nazareth's Konar Center for Tolerance and Jewish Studies is available for media inquiries. Reach out to Julie Long, Nazareth College PR officer at (585)389-2456.

List of Signatories for Interfaith Call to Action on Anti-Semitism (02/04/20):

Mubarak Bashir, President, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Rochester

Rev. Dr. Sandra L. DeMott Hasenauer, Executive Minister, American Baptist Churches of the Rochester/Genesee Region

Rev. Dr. Stephen Cady, Senior Minister, Asbury First United Methodist Church

Dr. Irshad Altheimer, Executive Director, Barakah Muslim Charity

Marcus Ebenhoe, Director of Advocacy & Parish Social Ministry

The Rev. Ruth E. Ferguson, Rector, Christ Church, Episcopal, Rochester

Angela D. Sims, Ph.D. , President, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School

Rabbi Avi Kilimnick, Congregation Beth Sholom

David Abrahams, Rabbi, Congregation Etz Chaim

Sue Kochan, Spiritual Director and Buddhist Teacher, Dharma Refuge

Rev. Dr. Pat Youngdahl, Ph.D., Senior Pastor, Downtown Presbyterian Church

Rev. Raymond H. Fleming, Pastor, Emmanuel Church of the Deaf, St Monica Church, Immaculate Conception/St Bridget

Retired Reverend Prince G Singh, Eighth Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Rochester

The Rev. Dennis Wienk, Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, retired priest

The Rev. Peter W. Peters, Ph.D., retired Episcopal Priest

Carolyne Griswold Garman, Parishioner, Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, Parish of St. Luke and St. Simon Cyrene

Rev. Shari Halliday-Quan, Senior Minister, First Unitarian Church of Rochester

Rev. Lane Campbell, Minister, First Universalist Society of Rochester, NY

Rev James Paul Womack, Former President, Greater Rochester Community of Churches

Sr. Beth LeValley, SSJ, former President, Greater Rochester Community of Churches

Rev Cheryl Frank, Associate Pastor, Greece Baptist Church

Dr. Natasha Sodhi, Gurdwara Of Rochester

Sanjay Mathur, Board of Trustee, Hindu Temple of Rochester

Peter and Gail Mott, Organizers, Human Rights Day

The Rev. Dr. Nancy J. Farrell, Pastor, Huron Presbyterian Church

Rev. Richard Myers, Pastor Emeritus, Immanuel Baptist Church, Rochester, NY

Abu Saeed Islam, Trustee, Islamic Center of Rochester

Dr. Tabassam Javed, President Board of Directors , Islamic Center of Rochester

Meredith Dragon, CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester

Julie Nusbaum, President, Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester

Karen Elam, Director, Levine Center to End Hate

Rev. Dr. Deborah Lind-Schmitz, the Presbyterian Church in Geneva

The Rev. Amy Williams Fowler, Presbytery of Genesee Valley

Thomas Donlin-Smith, Professor and Chair, Religious Studies Department, Nazareth College

The Rev. Gordon V. Webster, Chaplain, Rochester Presbyterian Home

Barry A. Swan, Madrikh, Beth Haskalah, Rochester Society for Humanistic Judaism

Trueman Taylor, Head of Zendo, Rochester Zen Center

The Most Reverend Salvatore R. Matano, Bishop of Rochester, Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester

Virginia Fifield, Associate, Sisters of Mercy

Rev. Laura M. Bachmann, Associate Pastor, South Presbyterian Church

Rev. Deborah Fae Swift, Pastor, South Presbyterian Church

Rev. William V. Spilly, Pastor, Pastor, St Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Hamlin, NY

Rev. Lee P. Chase, V.F., S.T.L. , Pastor, St Lawrence Church

The Rev. Canon Robert A. Picken, Rector, St Paul's Episcopal Church

Mary Morich, parishioner, St Marianne Cope

Rabbi Peter Stein, Senior Rabbi , Temple B'rith Kodesh

Rabbi Michael Silbert, Temple Beth David

New York and the Geneva Area Interfaith Counci

Rabbi Alan J Katz, Temple Sinai

Rabbi Debbi Till, Temple Sinai

The Rev. Keith F. Patterson, Rector, The Episcopal Church of St. Luke & St. Simon Cyrene.

Tom Foster, The Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Rochester Chapter

Nathan L. Jaschik, Past President, current member, The Interfaith Alliance of Rochester

Gaynelle Wethers, President, The Interfaith Alliance of Rochester

Phyllis Tierney, SSJ (for the Congregation), Coordinator, SSJ Justice & Peace Office, The Sisters of Saint Joseph, Rochester

Rev. Lynette K. Sparks, Acting Head of Staff, Third Presbyterian Church

Rev. Peggy Meeker, Minister, Retired, Unitarian Universalist

Reverend Joy A. Bergfalk, Coffee Connection/Project Empower, United Church of Pittsford

Michael Farrell, Professor Emeritus, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Member, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

The Rev. Dr. C. Denise Yarbrough, Director, Religious and Spiritual Life, University of Rochester, Interfaith Chapel

The Rev. John S. Macholz, Bishop, Upstate New York Synod-Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Rev. Phyllis Jackson, Associate Pastor Joint Heirs Kingdom Ministries, Founder and Director of Interdenominational Health Ministry Coalition

Nazareth University

Greater Rochester Community Interfaith Call to Action on Anti-Semitism

More than 60 members of Rochester interfaith community sign the Call to Action

Nazareth College

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