It is rooted in our tradition as Jews to argue with God and to argue with each other. We talk about it, and we laugh about it. We see that every page of the Talmud supports dispute and discussion, conflicting points of view that, over time, become the foundation for a greater truth. It is this tradition from which

the rules of law are established when it seems apparent that two values or beliefs have no single answer or solution.

In the first class of our Jewish Theological Seminary course, “Beyond Dispute,” led by Rabbi Gadi and underwritten by the Marshall S. Hurwitz Fund for Special Programs, we discussed the idea of dispute as “these” and “those,” and I embraced the concept.

And then Texas happened. A tiny synagogue in a small suburban community during a Shabbat service with the Rabbi and three congregants. The parallels to our own shul in size and demographics were chilling. So too our practice of Tikkun Olam — welcoming strangers. But in Texas, the stranger was a terrorist on the British watch list, eventually deemed no longer a threat. Until he was.

A lone actor. We’ve been told that current threats are more likely to come from people working alone to carry out less sophisticated but just as deadly attacks. And as several of us heard in a Zoom meeting with senior government officials — Attorney General Merrick Garland, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wrey and others — an acceleration of anti-Semitic threats and attacks on Jews is ongoing within our nation. Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal pointed out during the meeting that these individuals are not always from abroad, but can be people within our own communities.

How do we prepare for these attacks? How do we prevent them? Somehow, these and those are no longer in play; these and those now make us vulnerable and put us at risk. Do we look to terrorist strategies and responses more akin to Israel? Perhaps with two grandchildren in the IDF now, that is my reference point. And why not? After all, active shooter training saved the lives of those Jews in Colleyville, Texas. Here in Greenport, we are stepping up our own security measures. We need to find that place, if there is one, between being safe and being welcoming.

 

—Judith K. Weiner