Local faith leaders react to religious violence

It has been a high-profile year for attacks against people of faith, both here in the United States and abroad.

One Pacific Grove rabbi tells KION, however, religious persecution of his people is nothing new. Jewish teachers of old once said, “All that is written in the Torah was written for the sake of peace.”

But those of the Jewish faith know peace has been hard to come by. A 2017 California Department of Justice report shows half of all religious hate crimes in the state were anti-semitic.

“This is the source of evil, just to go and beat up a Jew or kill a Jew just because he’s Jewish. I mean, to be a Jew is not a crime,” said Rabbi Dovid Holtzberg, the director of Chabad of Monterey in Pacific Grove.

Saturday’s shooting at a Jewish synagogue in San Diego County – the final day of Passover – left one person dead and several injured. The rabbi there is of the same Jewish movement as Rabbi Holtzberg, leaders of a Chabad congregation.

“This is my colleague that was injured and it happened at this center. So it’s definitely shocking and very sad,” said Rabbi Holtzberg.

Jews are not the only ones facing religious violence this year. Back in March, a gunman opened fire at two mosques in New Zealand, killing 50. And on Easter, suicide bombers killed at least 290 people at Christian churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.

“I think right now we’re going through a period of both intolerance of others that are different. As our world sort of shrinks, and we have instant knowledge of other people, they may feel more of a threat to us,” said Father Jon Perez, an Episcopalian priest and senior chaplain at CSU Monterey Bay.

Father Perez serves students of all religious backgrounds and beliefs and hosts interfaith seminars on campus. He believes our society has lost a sense of what is sacred, and at the very least, respect.

“The idea of defacing someone’s religious environment or causing harm to someone’s religious environment, and not respecting the sacredness of it. We’ve lost that respect. I’m not sure how we get it back,” said Father Perez.

He tells me while America preaches freedom of religion, sometimes it is not shown in action. He says understanding is the first step in ending the chain of violence.

It is the way Rabbi Holtzberg hopes the world will turn to.

“I tell everyone that we have to just continue to be who we are and to spread the light because we believe when things like this happen, we actually have to do more good in the world,” he said.

Rabbi Holtzberg says he believes law enforcement is doing its best to try and protect people of faith from religious violence here.