In early August, I was honored to speak at two events marking the one-year anniversary of the horrific attack on the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek.
I felt lucky to represent the Jewish community as I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other people who are committed to transcending hate, to healing and to creating positive change.
Since last year’s attack, I have been touched as my new friends in the Sikh community recommitted themselves to peacefulness and to honoring the lives of the murdered by making the world holier.
Their lesson was not lost on me last month when I learned about six anti-Semitic signs posted throughout Algoma, a small town about 40 miles northeast of Green Bay.
The signs were awful, with messages including “Jew go back where you came from leave Algoma” and “Kill the Jews keep Algoma clean.” I have since spent many hours gathering information, coordinating with colleagues in the Jewish community, communicating with law enforcement and helping develop a strong community response.
I feel fortunate to be part of the solution. But what’s absolutely clear is that beyond elected officials and professionals stand the most powerful force of all — neighbors and bystanders.
In Algoma, as in Oak Creek and in every place where hate surfaces, the most powerful voices for change come from the people who live and work in those communities. Each individual has the power to stand up and act boldly to create a better world.
Our actions can be big — like the donor who funds college educations for promising students in poverty — or small and intimate — like the man who greets every passerby with empathy and heart. They can be public — like a letter to the editor — or they can be personal — like a letter to a mother who has lost a child to gun violence. But we are impelled to do something.
Jewish tradition demands that action of us. I am proud of our people’s commitment to doing God’s work on earth as expressed in the word hineni, here I am.
Elana Kahn-Oren is director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
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