14 | MAY 21 • 2020 continued from page 13 All three made their journeys at least in part aided by Orthodox Jews they had befriended while still in hate move- ments. Since other formers have found media attention and speaking engagements from their own high-profile exits, some observers have questioned whether Schoep’ s trans- formation is sincere. A recent New York Times article cast doubt on his journey, emphasizing the relative quickness between his formal exit from the NSM and the beginning of his public outreach. Complicating Schoep’ s rehabilitation is the fact that he continues to defend himself in the Charlottesville lawsuit, strongly denying that either he or the NSM played a role in organizing the march or the violence that followed. By his own admission, if the suit goes to trial, he could find himself on the same side of the courtroom as people who continue to actively preach hate and anti-Semitism. But he’ s willing to do that. “This is about being transparent, and if I go in and tell lies about something that isn’ t true, then I have no honor,” he said. For his part, Eaton believes Schoep’ s conversion whole- heartedly. “I’ ve done enough of these [hate group con- versions] that I think I have a sense of what’ s sincere and what’ s not,” he said. “And I do believe that Jeff is extremely sincere about all this. Plus the fact that it’ s not like some- thing you can do for a year and then renege on. You know, he’ s chosen his path, and it’ s a good one.” But maybe the right question isn’ t whether Schoep is serious about leaving hate groups behind — by all accounts he appears to be. Maybe the right question is what Jews are to do with a man who once led calls for their extermina- tion and is now suddenly appearing in synagogues, saying he wants to lead people like himself away from what he spent a quarter-century doing. To this point, Schoep is especially interested in doing work with Jews. It’ s why he agreed to be profiled by the JN in the first place. “The more I can reach out to the Jewish community, for me, it’ s an honor, ” he said. “I’ ll always carry the burden and the shame from my past and the things that I’ ve done, but if in some small way… I can turn a negative into something positive, then it’ s a good mission to be on. ” COVID-19 interrupted Schoep’ s anti-hate tour before it could really begin, but his first Jewish stop in February was already life-changing for him. At Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob, Rabbi Ari Hart welcomed him and showed him the congregation’ s Torah scrolls, though Hart did not plan the visit. Hart told the JN he still struggles with the question of how to respond to figures like the one who entered his synagogue. “On the one hand, we believe in teshuva [atonement] and we should show the beauty and dispel the myths and lies people say about our people,” Hart wrote in an email. “On the other hand, we need to stay safe when we know that there are so many out there who seek to do us harm.” At his talk in Skokie, which was posted to YouTube, Schoep confessed that, though he is free of it now, his anti-Semitism was the very last prejudice to leave him. More than a month after hearing that, Hart admitted, “I am still processing that statement.” But if others struggle with what Schoep stands for today, Schoep himself is more confident than ever about his new path. He has already seen enough of this new world, he says, to reject the conclusions that informed his old one. “I once believed, and many of the people in the movement believe, that the Jewish people hate non-Jews,” he said, adding that after he left the NSM, “a guy I once knew for years told me the Jews will hang me one day, and hang all of us that fought against them, and I would never be forgiven. “That’ s the kind of message I get, but I don’ t believe it anymore. I used to think that way, too, so now I try to fix others’ way of thinking. If nothing else, it’ s less people hat- ing each other.” Schoep and Acacia Dietz, former National Socialist Movement propagandist, look to leave their past behind. They have formed a new anti-hate group called Beyond Barriers. on the cover