No place for swastikas

Posted

To the editor:

For at least the second time in a year, a swastika was carved into a baseball field in Riverdale (Riverdale Press, 8/13/2014). The swastika is a symbol of hatred, of Germany’s attempt to dehumanize people perceived to be different because of race, religion, sexual orientation or political view. 

This ideology led to the Holocaust, the murder of six million Jews and so many others. There is no place for this display of hatred in our community — not on a baseball field, not anywhere.

Baseball great Jackie Robinson, a man who experienced the effects of prejudice, once said,   “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”

The swastika is disrespect. It is raw prejudice. It is a reminder of the depths to which humanity can sink. We applaud the 50th Precinct for investigating this as a hate crime.

In a world where violence is rampant, we need our baseball diamonds, playgrounds, schools, places of worship, shopping areas and community gathering places to be places of respect. To paraphrase Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, our community should be one that recognizes that human beings are infinitely different and therefore infinitely precious.

Rabbi Barry Dov Katz
Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale

anti-Semitism, vandalism, Rabbi Barry Dov Katz, Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale

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