DARKNESS, LIGHT AND ANTISEMITISM

For almost all of the 20th century, the word “antisemitism” did not appear in Chattanooga newspapers related to any local incident.

Not during World War II. Not during the civil rights era when many white supremacists proved to be equal opportunity domestic terrorists and turned their hatred on Jews as well as Blacks. And not even after perhaps the most antisemitic attack on local Jews in the last century.

The latter reference is to the July 29, 1977, bombing of Temple Beth Sholom, a small Jewish synagogue in Brainerd that was almost completely reduced to ashes not long after the few people in the building left it for the night.

Indeed, Morris Ellman, the treasurer of the congregation at the time, seemed unable to imagine that someone might target the temple because of those who worshiped there.

“It’s hard for a normal human being to envision someone else’s mentality,” he said several days after the bombing. “The only thing I can think of is some poor, sick character. Why do they bomb schools or other places?

“It could have been someone carrying on a vendetta or with ill feelings,” he added, “but there’s never been any indication of that. We’re not a militant organization … I can’t understand it.”

Investigators probing the incident also didn’t chalk it up to antisemitic feelings.

“Several investigators privately said they do not believe the synagogue was singled out as the target for the bomb blast because it was Orthodox,” an article in the Chattanooga News-Free Press said, “but because of its secluded location away from heavy traffic.”

Several years later, while jailed for other crimes, serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin confessed to the bombing. He was convinced, he said at one time, the Bible advocated killing those he felt were inferior. He was on a mission from God, he said.

During his trial for the synagogue bombing in 1984, just as his lawyers were about to conclude their closing arguments, he popped up from his chair, asked to defend himself, was allowed to, and said, “I admit to you I bombed the synagogue. You know I did it. You know, and I’ll tell everybody around. It was a synagogue of Satan.”

The jury found Franklin guilty, but it was for another 1977 crime, the murder of a congregant at a synagogue near St. Louis, that he was executed in 2013.

On Monday, Michael Dzik, executive director of the Jewish Cultural Center, felt that “the significant rise in antisemitism throughout the United States and here in Chattanooga” required the public launch of an antisemitism awareness campaign.

“Hate speech and blatant antisemitism are increasing on social media,” the organization’s news release said. “Violence against Jews in the United State is happening almost daily; in Chattanooga, more recent antisemitism incidents include fliers near UTC’s campus and on church property.

“Our goal,” the release said, “is to educate and inform the community about the immediate and long-term challenges that face the Jewish community while creating advocates to help in this fight against antisemitism. We invite people in all faiths and cultures to join the fight against antisemitism.”

Chattanoogans in the post-World War II era enjoyed a community largely free of antisemitism, as the lack of mention of instances of intolerance against local Jews in both the Chattanooga Times and Chattanooga Free Press would indicate. Since the Times was owned by the Jewish Ochs family and the Free Press had a Jewish man in a prominent newsroom role, such instances were unlikely to be hidden.

Young people who grew up locally in the post-WWII era were educated on the Holocaust and other atrocities committed on Jews in Eastern Europe and couldn’t imagine another rise of something so unthinkable. Jewish students mixed freely with non-Jewish students, even sharing their Hanukkah and Passover traditions during that era’s public school Bible classes. Many Jewish-owned businesses thrived downtown, and the Jewish Community Center in Brainerd was a place frequented throughout the year by people of all faiths.

We even admit to the thought several decades ago, when antisemitism began to rise in Europe, that it would never happen in the U.S. because Americans were too smart for such hate. Sadly, we were wrong, because antisemitism was always likely here, just under the surface.

A video message that our local Jewish Cultural Center said is airing nationwide notes that “Hate doesn’t exist in a vacuum. One form of hate leads to another.”

The same message said antisemitism is often passed off as legitimate discourse or just ignored. But it is never legitimate discourse and should never be ignored.

We’ll give the Bible the last word on this subject because its messages are echoed throughout the religious texts of almost all faiths.

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother,” reads John 4:20, “he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

And, “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother,” says John 2:9, “is still in darkness.