Leader of Lodi’s Beth Hallel calls for unity against hatred

On Saturday, a gunman entered a Pennsylvania synagogue and opened fire. Eleven people were killed and six more wounded before the suspect surrendered to police.

The suspect had shared his anti-Semitic beliefs on social media ahead of the shooting, and Pittsburgh police said afterward that he told them he had targeted his victims because of their Jewish faith.

The act of violence has sparked fear among many Jewish Americans — but in Lodi and the surrounding region, they are refusing to let the shooting scare them.

When reached for comment on Monday, Dennis Peck debated whether he wanted to respond.

“I kind of didn’t want to make anyone aware of our existence,” said Peck, who is the executive director of Beth Hallel Messianic Fellowship in Lodi. “But if you think about it, that’s pretty much what they want.”

When Beth Hallel first found a home in Lodi 20 years ago, he said, they were targeted by fliers from a white nationalist group.

“It did not mention any specific actions that would be taken against us, just that they were not happy that we were in town,” Peck said.

Four years later, he received a call that has stuck with him to this day.

“The man said, ‘I didn’t know Jesus was a stinking Jew, and you should not be passing this information along to the world. You will feel the Nazi boot of Hitler crush you,’” Peck said.

While Beth Hallel has not been targeted, the shooting in Pennsylvania did churn up old fears.

“Anti-Semitism is alive and well. AntiSemitism is growing,” Peck said.

It’s not new, he added. Jewish people have been targets for thousands of years, whether of individuals hate crimes or of more wide-spread governmental or religious discrimination. And Jews who believe in Jesus are not only the target of anti-Semitism, but also lack support from the Jewish community, which considers groups like Beth Hallel to be converts.

“Being members of a Jewish congregation that believes in Jesus could potentially make someone a target,” he said.

But it’s a story many minority groups face all around the world, Peck added.

Anyone who is appalled by the violence the Pittsburgh synagogue faced should come together and support their Jewish brothers and sisters, regardless of their own faith, he said.

“I don’t have to specifically believe the same as my Muslim brother does, but I love my Muslim brother,” he said. “I don’t have to believe the same as any other faith, but I love them.”

Other members of local Jewish communities echoed his thoughts.

“Though I am not a person of many public words, my heart is crushed, once again, by the attack on our national Jewish community,” Teri Rosenmann of Fairfield told the Vallejo Times-Herald. “I like to think that, like Israelis, American Jews do not diminish their freedom of expression and practice in the face of anti-Semitism — we never would have survived as a people if we did.”

Rosenmann is a longtime associate and teacher at Vallejo High School and the Vallejo synagogue, Congregation B’nai Israel.

Benicia native Alexandra Faye Diamant told the Vallejo paper that she’s come to know the world is a dangerous place for everybody.

“Jew, non-Jew, synagogue, high school, mall, urban street. Being the target this time doesn’t make me any more fearful,” she said on Saturday.

The Lodi Police Department wants local residents to know that they take threats seriously. Anyone who sees or hears a threat against a local group — religious or otherwise — should immediately report it to the police.

“You always want to take a threat as being legit,” Sgt. Steve Maynard said.

Right now, everything in town seems calm, and Lodi is a long way from Pennsylvania, he said.

“It appears like it’s an isolated incident,” Maynard said.

For Peck, carrying guns into churches or synagogues or mosques isn’t the answer. Neither is locking out non-members who may want to visit just because they’re strangers.

The way forward is to come together — not just Lodi’s Jewish community, but everyone, regardless of religion, race, orientation, political beliefs or other differences. It’s divisiveness that leads to hate, and he’s only seen divisiveness growing in recent years.

“Where is the common faith and belief in a God of love and forgiveness?” he asked.

He encouraged people to reach out to their neighbors with different beliefs and try to bridge those gaps.

“Foster love as best you can, in whatever way you can,” Peck said. “Live your life the best you can. I pray God gives everybody out there an opportunity to do good deeds and plenty of them, so that the good deeds outweigh the bad.”