<
https://www.rawstory.com/montana-rabbi-removed-from-state-house-prayer-schedule/>
"The Montana Jewish Project asked Speaker of the House Matt Regier this week if
he could help the nonprofit understand the reason Rep. Ed Stafman, a rabbi, was
denied the opportunity to lead prayer at the end of the legislative session.
The organization, which reacquired Montana’s oldest synagogue, made the request
in a March 4 letter, citing “a sharp increase in antisemitic incidents and
attacks across Montana in recent years.”
“Last year had the most such incidents since the data began being collected,”
said the letter, from Rebecca Stanfel, Montana Jewish Project director. “We
choose not to infer antisemitic intentions in denying Rabbi Stafman the chance
to lead this prayer.
“But in this period of unprecedented antisemitism, even unintentional acts of
exclusion can signal exactly that — exclusion and unwelcomeness.
“We would be grateful if you could help us — and our many non-Jewish partners —
understand what happened,” the letter said.
ADL, previously the Anti-Defamation League, tracks antisemitic harassment,
vandalism and assaults, and in March, it said 2022 had reached a record high
number of incidents in the U.S. since it began counting in 1979. It counted
3,697 incidents, a 36% increase from 2021.
“This is the third time in the past five years that the year-end total has been
the highest number ever recorded,” the league said in its report.
It said newly formed white supremacist groups contributed, and in particular,
the “White Lives Matter” network was responsible for 15% of antisemitic
propaganda incidents, and Montana was the No. 3 state for such activity, with
six incidents. It counted 37 incidents in all in Montana the last four years."
Via Lisa Stranger and Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
