Temple Israel in West Bloomfield

I went to our synagogue in Tulsa on Thursday for reasons that I don’t fully understand. It was an hour or so after the events in Michigan, the ramming attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. Part of it is that I needed reassurance that everything I have known was still intact. Children I love go to school in that building. The professional family I still claim as my own was already reviewing the episode and responding to our community. Everything was exactly as it should be: tight and secure, with a watchful staff.

I’m sure that the good people of Temple Israel felt the same, at least early in the morning of Thursday, March 12. We have all been schooled in the rudiments of security, spending philanthropic dollars on systems and personnel. Detroit is my birthplace and I have spent many hours at Temple Israel. It’s one of the great, historic congregations in the country, and purportedly the largest Reform congregation in the world. When I was growing up, it was way above our station, far beyond the reach of a middle-class family living on the salary of a tile-and-carpet salesman. Its resources were princely and remain so today. In addition, it occupies a quiet compound, set back from street and public view. You have to know where it is and work to get there. It had every reason to take confidence in its security.

Mohamad Ghazali, regrettably, was a determined assailant. A naturalized American citizen born in Lebanon, he drove his truck through the front door of the school wing, clearly intent on causing destruction. There was a firearm in his hand and explosives in the cab. The most alarming thing about the first round of footage was the plume of smoke escaping through the ventilation system. It came from a spot deep in the complex, meaning that Ghazali succeeded in penetrating security.

But that turns out to be the extent of the damage, and the first important takeaway from this episode, With a little bit of luck and the bravery of Temple security, there was no loss of life in the Temple community. This could have been another Squirrel Hill, but it wasn’t. I hope we can concentrate on the silver lining, that Temple Israel will repair its facility and harden its perimeter still more forcefully. The system held. All the children made it. Whatever else, we need to experience relief, express our gratitude, and rejoice in our good fortune.

At the same time, of course, this is a moment for caution. Wherever you are in the Jewish world, these are the dangerous times we saw on the horizon. That applies to the Mideast, Europe, and North America, an interconnected set of communities bound by fate and public perception. What happens in Detroit influences developments in Toronto and Trondheim. Decisions made in Jerusalem have an impact everywhere. It’s delusional to imagine that we can escape this hostility. We are likely to find out that Mohamad Ghazali was stirred by events halfway across the world. Our own community needs to reckon with that reality.

But we need to do so with confidence and certainly, not minds befuddled by panic or fear. That’s the other reason I went to the Synagogue yesterday. Our natural tendancy is to back away from trouble, but the Synagogue is too precious, too important for that. In the very first hour after the attack in West Bloomfield, I wanted to practice courage and nerve. I never want to live my life in the shadows, What I want for myself, my family, and my community is to live a joyful, public Jewish life, at home in my Synagogue, the center of Jewish experience. I went to the Synagogue to declare my true self.

If you feel the same way, practice that commitment. So may it be the will of the living God. And let’s all say “amayn, amayn.”