Rabbi Ronne Friedman of Temple Israel of Boston, has told the Boston Herald that Boston-area Jews are feeling a “sense of anguish” over the Copenhagen attack on Jews at a Bat Mitzvah party.
Friedman is active in the interfaith arena, and he cautions that it’s crucial that religious leaders stress that not all Muslims are made of the same cloth.
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“We’re very much aware of the fact that there are terrible actors in every culture, from every religion, ” Friedman said. “The issue for those of us who are fair-minded, good citizens is to ensure that the reaction doesn’t spill over, and those who ought not to be incorporated in any sense of blame for the actions of the fanatics (are not).”
Rabbi Friedman has been criticized by members of the Boston Jewish community for his close ties with local Muslim religious leaders, even when these leaders have been strongly critical of Israel, occasionally losing their sense of proportion.
But the anguish being felt by Boston Jews, as well as Jews everywhere in diaspora, may not be so much over how good Muslim’s are being thought of, but rather how to keep from getting hurt by those bad Muslims.
Bradley Schreiber, a former senior adviser at the Department of Homeland Security and a vice president at the Applied Science Foundation for Homeland Security in New York, responded to the Copenhagen attacks with more practical advice:
“All Jewish organizations should take a look at their emergency response plans and their security posture in order to ensure that they have the best level of security that would be appropriate, ” he said.
“I think that you’re going to see an uptick in what we could call ‘lone wolf’ and coordinated cell attacks going forward, unless some of these governments take a more dramatic role in trying to address a lot of the social ills that are facing the Muslim community in their own countries, ” Schreiber added.
