As community religious leaders, we take pride in serving diverse and integrated congregations in the proudly inclusive towns of Maplewood and South Orange. We are deeply saddened by recent posts on SOMA Facebook groups that aim to undermine the use of local synagogues as part of the SOMSD District Preschool Program.
Our synagogues proudly partnered with the district to help offer free, high-quality preschool education for all families. When the district sought additional space to accommodate hundreds of students eligible for the program, it reached out to churches, synagogues, and private schools. After thorough vetting and significant investments of time and financial resources, we worked to meet district standards. The classrooms we host are governed entirely by district curriculum and are separate from religious activities. We are honored to support this civic initiative that brings early childhood education to students of every race, religion, background, and socioeconomic status.
Earlier this week, petitions were shared on social media calling on the school district to provide ranked school preference for student placement in the SOMSD Preschool Program. The call for residents to petition the district for this shift came along with vitriolic rhetoric about our synagogue communities. This approach contradicts the significant integration efforts made by the SOMA District and seeks to alter the social fabric of the towns we have chosen to call home. In a district that is working to overcome all that divides us, how can it be that ranking school choice be granted for only one purpose – to enable families to opt out of schools housed in Jewish spaces? How is this not a segregationist idea, designed to isolate neighbors based on religious, ethnic or even political differences?
Moreover, we are alarmed by the rhetoric of these posts, including the fact that they name each local synagogue, share quotes by several of us out of context, make accusations, and list synagogue programs in such a way as to paint us as hateful or inflicting harm on others. In so doing, they make many of their Jewish neighbors deeply uncomfortable and afraid.
A few months ago, a number of social media posts attempting to derail SOMSD District Preschool at synagogue sites focused on concerns about security. As the recent antisemitic attack in Washington, DC last week, the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, and other attacks have made evident, the necessity of security at Jewish communal gatherings is crucial due to unfettered, ugly and hateful rhetoric directed at the Jewish community. We are acutely aware that such rhetoric can, and unfortunately has, escalated into actual violence. We do all we can to ensure the safety of all who enter our buildings. This includes staying attentive to the way people speak about Jews and the Jewish community.
As Project Shema, a national organization dedicated to building bridges of understanding in order to combat hate, noted, “[Last week’s] violence [in Washington, DC] didn’t occur in isolation. Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed a significant rise in language that demonizes and dehumanizes Jews, Jewish organizations, and Zionists, even justifying violence. Throughout history, when such language becomes normalized, our community faces a high risk. Standing up for Jewish safety demands that we actively resist this trend and prevent it from continuing.” These recent attacks on social media against our synagogues occur at a time when fears of violence have become a reality.
As the violent conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, we are witness from afar to suffering that is hard to comprehend. Many in the SOMA community have personal connections to family and friends directly experiencing the effects of war and violence. Our hearts are broken for the ongoing suffering of so many.
Let us not turn our pain into hateful rhetoric that incites us against each other. It is a mistake for us to incorporate this dehumanizing manner of speech and writing into our social media posts, daily interactions, and local politics. As SOMA synagogue leaders, we continually work to make our houses of worship home-bases for Jews and people who love them. We may differ widely across religious and political spectrums, but we remain committed to looking each other in the face and treating one another with respect. We ask the same from our neighbors.
We must not accept hateful rhetoric aimed at our local Jewish institutions as the new “normal.” We urge our neighbors to engage in respectful conversations, and refrain from inciting violence, whether directly or indirectly, against their Jewish neighbors. We also encourage the entire SOMA community to stay focused on and committed to the values of diversity, equity and inclusion so core to the values of our towns, starting with our youngest students who need every seat in every classroom available to them.
It will always be easier to tear down and divide, than to build up and unite. We are committed, as we always have been, to working diligently with our local partners to build a safe, open, and inclusive community which celebrates and embraces its diversity.
We implore all of our neighbors to join us in this sacred endeavor.
Co-Authored by the Clergy Teams of Congregation Beth El, Oheb Shalom Congregation, and Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel:
Rabbi Daniel Cohen
Rabbi Alexandra Klein
Cantor Eliana Kissner
Rabbi Rachel Marder
Cantor Rebecca Moses
Rabbi Jesse Olitzky
Rabbi Abigail Treu
Note: this letter also appeared in TAPInto SOMA on May 30, 2025: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/soma/sections/community/articles/a-letter-from-the-clergy-of-congregation-beth-el-oheb-shalom-congregation-and-temple-sharey-tefilo-israel