Rejecting cruelty and polarization

To the editor,

On Sunday, May 31, members of the Riverdale Jewish community marched in the “Israel Day on Fifth” parade in a contingent organized by the Riverdale Jewish Community Partnership, or RJCP. As active members of this community, we were deeply troubled by our leadership’s silence before, during and after the event, in the face of several disturbing displays at the parade.

Most visibly, the Israeli government delegation, the composition of which was announced and known beforehand, included ministers who were invited as guests of honor whose words speak for themselves.

The delegation was not our only concern. The RJCP banner — behind which our elected officials and our community marched — displayed a “Greater Israel” map absorbing the West Bank and Gaza. And when a marcher in our own contingent carried a “Mamdani ‘hearts’ Hamas” sign, no communal leader stopped him. Whatever one thinks of Mayor Mamdani’s criticism of Israel, casting him as aligned with a terrorist organization is not accurate and only deepens the polarization tearing at our city.

History, and Jewish history in particular, shows how extremism takes root through slogans, images and through the slow dehumanization of the other. We call on our rabbinic, communal and political leaders to speak out and reject the normalization of hatred. For our future, our neighbors’ futures and a democratic future here and in Israel and Palestine, silence is not an option.

It is time for our leaders to take a stand and publicly reject the normalization of cruelty, to model moral courage, and to engage our community in honest, open and constructive dialogue rather than enforced silence. We need your leadership now more than ever.

JULI BERMAN; LAUREN BROWDY WEINER, ESQ.; SARAH CASTEEL, ESQ.; AARON STAYMAN; DAVID KNAPP; GAY ROSENBLUM-KUMAR AND RABBI DR. YAAKOV WEINER