continued on page 14

Standing 
Together

Anti-Semitism event in Brooklyn draws a diverse 
show of unity against hate.

KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jews in the D

W

hen some 25,000 
people gathered 
in New York City 
on Sunday to stand against 
anti-Semitism, West Bloomfield 
native Rabbi Leah Sternberg 
was there. 
Sternberg, who today 
serves as assistant rabbi of 
Congregation B’
nai Jeshurun 
in Short Hills, N.J., made her 
way from the packed Foley 
Square in lower Manhattan and 
across the Brooklyn Bridge with 
another member of the clergy 
and a group of some 50 congre-
gants in a show of unity. 
“I think it was a moment 
where so much of the commu-
nity was able to come together 
and set aside those things that 
are incredibly divisive for a 
greater purpose, and in solidar-
ity with a group of people they 
may or may not agree with on 
a lot of things,
” Sternberg said. 
“I think that was the biggest 
part about it for me, the ability 

for an incredibly divided Jewish 
community to rally together in 
that way.
” 
Anti-Semitism has been on 
the rise, with a December attack 
on a kosher supermarket in 
Jersey City, N.J., and a machete 
stabbing during a Chanukah 
candle-lighting at a rabbi’
s 
home in Monsey, N.Y., making 
national headlines. The New 
York City Police Department 
also stepped up its presence in 
Brooklyn neighborhoods with 
large Jewish communities fol-
lowing a spate of anti-Semitic 
incidents at the end of the year. 
Chanting “No hate. No fear.
”
, 
marchers who had hopped 
flights, and boarded overnight 

and early-morning buses from 
around the East Coast, Canada 
and Cleveland joined with New 
Yorkers from congregations of 
many stripes as they sang and 
waved signs calling for safety 
and promoting Jewish pride.
New York politicians Gov. 
Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Sen. 
Chuck Schumer spoke ahead 
of the march, as a sea of peo-
ple, among them a group from 
the Franciscan Brothers of 
Brooklyn and representatives 
from the Sisterhood of Salaam 
Shalom, a network of Muslim 
and Jewish Women, prepared to 
cross the iconic bridge.
Event organizers included the 
Jewish Community Relations 
Council of New York, the 
Anti-Defamation League, the 
New York Board of Rabbis, the 
American Jewish Committee 
and the UJA-Federation of New 
York. 
“Today, we do not simply 
walk over a bridge, we begin 

12 | JANUARY 16 • 2020 

H TE

A N T I - S E M I T I S M

U N M A S K E D

Rabbi Leah Sternberg of Congregation 
B’
nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, N.J., a 
West Bloomfield native, and another 
clergy member came to the Brooklyn 
anti-Semitism rally with a group of 
nearly 50 congregants. 
RIGHT FROM TOP: Participants 
waited hours in Manhattan to cross 
the Brooklyn Bridge to attend an 
anti-Semitism event in Brooklyn. 
Crowds moved slowly on the Brooklyn 
Bridge. Participants displayed plac-
ards condemning hate and promoting 
solidarity. Members of the Sisterhood 
of Salaam Shalom, a Muslim and 
Jewish women’
s group, showed love 
is stronger than hate. 

COURTESY RABBI LEAH STERNBERG

