A lost pluralism can be seen in the history of U.S. synagogues

[Mosby]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP)

In October 1882, the Jewish community of Charlottesville, Virginia, laid the cornerstone for the city’s first synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel. It was not a private event. The Freemasons presided, joined by “a multitude of citizens,” as one newspaper put it. Civic leader Richard T.W. Duke Jr. praised Judaism’s moral teachings and called Jews “well worthy of emulation by their Christian brethren.”

When the congregation dedicated a new home in 1904, Christian clergy and choir members joined in the service.

But a little more than a century later, on Aug. 11, 2017, neo-Nazis with torches marched past that same synagogue during the Unite the Right rally, chanting “Jews will not replace us.” The next day, Beth Israel’s members evacuated during Shabbat after threats, including calls for arson.

The contrast could not be starker: A space long embraced as part of the city’s civic fabric had become a target of menace.

Charlottesville’s history is not unique. Across the United States, synagogue dedications in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were civic occasions that drew neighbors, clergy and officials. They demonstrated what pluralism looks like when it is not just tolerated but celebrated. Today, they remind us how fragile it can be.

Washington Post