In 1967, members of the Ku Klux Klan bombed the Beth Israel synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, one of the oldest Jewish institutions in the state, having been organized in 1860.
The bombing was in retaliation for the civil-rights advocacy of the rabbi at the time, Perry Nussbaum, damaging the office and library but causing no injuries. That bombing and later intimidation efforts, including an attack on the Nussbaums’ home, remain a defining chapter in the congregation’s history.
Sadly, last Shabbat, Beth Israel was attacked once again by an arsonist who set fire to the building, damaging multiple rooms in the building, the contents of the congregation’s library, and some of the Torahs of the synagogue as well. Fortunately for the membership, the attack occurred very early on Shabbat morning when the building was empty, so no one was injured or killed.
The 19-year-old suspect returned home after setting the fire and told his father, “I got them,” referring to the building as “The Synagogue of Satan.” He was turned in to the police by his father and is now awaiting trial.
Nevertheless, the attempt to destroy a synagogue is the first such incident in the US in some decades. While attacks on people inside synagogues and other Jewish institutions have been a recurring feature of the US landscape in recent years – from the deadly mass violence like the 2018 Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh and the 2019 Poway synagogue shooting, to high-profile standoffs such as the 2022 hostage-taking at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas – those have all been directed against people. Attempting to destroy a synagogue conveys a different message altogether.
An attack against individuals because they are Jewish is personalized antisemitism; an attempt to kill someone simply because the attacker has a dislike for Jewish people. However, setting fire or bombing a synagogue conveys a different message: “We don’t like you, and we don’t want you in our community.” Such an act is communal antisemitism manifested in the crazed act of one person. Nevertheless, being communal, it bodes ill for the future of, in this case, Jackson, Mississippi, the state’s capital.
Population of Evangelical Christians who stand behind Israel
What is particularly odd about this instance is that it happened in Mississippi. The state is about the reddest of red states, with a population of Christian evangelicals solidly behind Israel as a home for the Jewish people.
Locally, three congregations in the state are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (B’nai Israel in Hattiesburg, Adath Israel in Cleveland, and Ahavat Rayim in Greenwood). In addition, between 2014 and 2016 then then-governor Phil Bryant brought business delegations to Israel three times in a 24-month period, demonstrating the desire of the state’s commercial community to increase economic ties with Israel.
As an aside, during one of those visits, which the company I was CEO of organized, there was a meeting scheduled with Israel Military Industries, which was cancelled at the last minute by them on the morning of the day on which the visit was to occur.
Needing to fill that open slot in the schedule and knowing that the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies had a “lunch&learn” event for lawyers scheduled in Tel Aviv’s Azriel Center that day, I asked the governor if he wanted to learn some Torah. He jumped at the opportunity and brought his (also non-Jewish) Chief of Staff with him as well as Israel’s Consul General in Miami, who was accompanying the Governor on his visit.
After the 90-minute session ended, I asked the Governor what he thought. He said there were two things that amazed him. First, that lawyers in Israel were willing to take time away from their offices in the middle of the day to study traditional texts. Secondly, he said it was truly amazing that after 3,000 years, we Jews are still arguing over Talmudic principles. But he was impressed and pleased to have been able to participate.
Although Mississippi was a hotbed of Klan activity in the first half of the 20th century, targeting Jews and Blacks, during the last 75 years, the state has been a strong supporter of Israel and what it represents.
The lesson of last week’s bombing of the synagogue in Jackson is not to be dismissed. There is a vast difference between the rising rate of attacks against individual Jews and the burning down of synagogues. Burning down synagogues, reminiscent of Kristallnacht in 1938’s Germany, sends a strongly symbolic message to the Jewish community that they are not wanted in that particular place.
This represents a significant ramping up of antisemitic activity that will either be neutralized or, if left unchallenged, be the ultimate demise of that community, and not something to be brushed off, should it occur anywhere in the world.
It should be seen as a call to communal action by those committed to retaining human rights for all the residents of any community so threatened. Let’s hope that communities that find themselves in this position understand both the demands and risks, and they will be able to right the ship before it sinks.
The writer, a 42-year resident of Jerusalem, is a former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and a Board Member of the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM).