Kristallnacht Observance 2018, November 6, 2018
University of Louisville Interfaith Center
Bishop Bill Gafkjen, Indiana-Kentucky Synod, ELCA
On November 9–10,
1938, Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms against the Jewish population
in Germany and recently incorporated territories. This event came to be
called Kristallnacht (The
Night of Broken Glass) because of the shattered glass that littered the streets
after the vandalism and destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and
homes. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kristallnacht
Led by ELCA pastor Austin Newberry and Hillel Director Elana Levitz, Episcopal LutheranCampus Ministry and Hillel, the Jewish Campus Ministry, at the University of
Louisville convened a gathering of students, faculty, and community folk at the
university’s Interfaith Center on November 6, 2018 in observance of the 80th
anniversary of this terrible atrocity. Speakers included Fred Whittaker, a
science and social studies middle school teacher at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic
School and dedicated Holocaust educator, Fred Gross, Holocaust survivor
and author of "One Step Ahead of Hitler: A Jewish Child's Journey Through
France," students from St. Francis School, and Lauren Kasden, who sang a
part of the Kaddish with us. I was honored to speak near the end of the event.
This is what I said:
Thank you, Austin. Thank you, Elana. Thank you both for
creating this holy space. Thank you to the two Freds and Lauren and students
from St. Francis for filling this holy space this important evening. And thank
you, all of you, who are here this evening. It's important that you are here. I
believe that a Spirit bigger than all of us has drawn us here this night.
In April of 1994, the Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America – the national governing body, if you will, of the
brand of Lutheranism of which I am a part – adopted a statement called the “Declaration
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to the Jewish Community.” I want
to read some portions of that declaration.
In
the long history of Christianity, there exists no more tragic development than
the treatment accorded the Jewish people on the part of Christian believers.
Very few Christian communities of faith were able to escape the contagion of anti-Judaism
and its modern successor, anti-Semitism. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America feel a special burden in this regard because of certain elements in the
legacy of the Reformer Martin Luther, and the catastrophes including the
Holocaust of the 20th century, suffered by Jews in places where the Lutheran
churches were strongly represented.
There's a paragraph explaining why we continue to honor
Martin Luther in some ways. And then, there is this paragraph:
In
the spirit of truth-telling, we who bear his name and heritage must, with pain,
acknowledge Luther's anti-Judaic diatribes and the violent recommendations of
his later writings against the Jews. As did many of Luther's own companions in
the 16th century, we reject this violent invective. And yet more do we express
our deep and abiding sorrow over its tragic effects on subsequent generations.
We particularly deplore the appropriation of Luther's words by modern
anti-Semites for the teaching of hatred toward Judaism or toward the Jewish
people in our day.
Grieving
the complicity of our own tradition within this history of hatred, moreover we
express our urgent desire to live out or faith in Jesus Christ with love and
respect for the Jewish people. We recognize that anti-Semitism is a
contradiction and an affront to the Gospel, a violation of our hope and
calling. And we pledge this church to oppose the deadly working of such
bigotry, both within our own circles and in the society around us. Finally, we
pray for the continued blessing of the Blessed One upon the increasing
cooperation and understanding between Lutheran Christians and the Jewish
community.
In 1994, twenty-four years ago, I was serving as Lutheran
Campus Pastor at Penn State University. We had email then, just barely. When
this message arrived in my inbox that spring, I printed it off and walked twenty
steps down the hallway at Eisenhower Chapel at Penn State University and knocked
on the door of my colleague and friend Tuvia Abramson, who was then the
Director of Hillel. I knelt before him and I read this statement to him. Tuvia
embraced me and we wept.
That terrible atrocity eighty years ago...that quiet moment when
two leaders embraced one another in quiet repentance and grace on the campus of
Penn State twenty-four years ago…the death-dealing act of terror on the Jewish
community just over a week ago...place names like Pittsburgh and Charlottesville,
Orlando and Jeffersontown….this moment, right here, this particular night in
the life of this nation…even Scripture itself across traditions…all these converge
to call us, to compel us, to be active participants in God's own mission to
heal the torn fabric of human community.
It starts in our own hearts and moves from there…into our
own families…our neighborhoods…our churches and synagogues and mosques…our
communities…our nation and our world. But it begins in each of our own hearts,
as we live with humility and solidarity and advocacy.
Humility, to me, means standing under or below. It's
kneeling before each other, admitting our own complicity, our own silence, and
seeking forgiveness and reconciliation. Standing below one another, not over
one another, in humility.
Solidarity: standing alongside another, standing with one
another. As Fred Gross suggested, solidarity means getting to know one another
for who we are. It’s rejecting and overcoming stereotypes…standing together
against fear…honoring one another for who we are and getting to know each other
for who God has made us to be. Standing alongside one another.
And advocacy: standing for one another, speaking for one
another. Tweeting opposition when the bad stuff happens, yes, but advocacy is more.
It’s stepping out in every way that we can – with our voices and with our
bodies – to stand against the wave of violence and hatred that is upon us.
Standing for one another.
Dear sisters and brothers, this is a holy moment. Across
our traditions we are called to humility, solidarity, and advocacy. As we do,
wonder of wonders and by the grace of God, together we become means by which
the Holy One will knit together again the torn community of this world. There
is no more holy task. And I'm grateful to be in it with you.
Declaration of ELCA
to Jewish Community
The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America on April 18, 1994, adopted the following document as a statement on
Lutheran-Jewish relations:
In the long history of Christianity there exists no more
tragic development than the treatment accorded the Jewish people on the part of
Christian believers. Very few Christian communities of faith were able to
escape the contagion of anti-Judaism and its modern successor, anti-Semitism.
Lutherans belonging to the Lutheran World Federation and the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America feel a special burden in this regard because of
certain elements in the legacy of the reformer Martin Luther and the
catastrophes, including the Holocaust of the twentieth century, suffered by
Jews in places where the Lutheran churches were strongly represented.
The Lutheran communion of faith is linked by name and
heritage to the memory of Martin Luther, teacher and reformer. Honoring his
name in our own, we recall his bold stand for truth, his earthy and sublime
words of wisdom, and above all his witness to God's saving Word. Luther
proclaimed a gospel for people as we really are, bidding us to trust a grace
sufficient to reach our deepest shames and address the most tragic truths.
In the spirit of that truth-telling, we who bear his name
and heritage must with pain acknowledge also Luther's anti-Judaic diatribes and
the violent recommendations of his later writings against the Jews. As did many
of Luther's own companions in the sixteenth century, we reject this violent
invective, and yet more do we express our deep and abiding sorrow over its
tragic effects on subsequent generations. In concert with the Lutheran World
Federation, we particularly deplore the appropriation of Luther's words by
modern anti-Semites for the teaching of hatred toward Judaism or toward the Jewish
people in our day.
Grieving the complicity of our own tradition within this
history of hatred, moreover, we express our urgent desire to live out our faith
in Jesus Christ with love and respect for the Jewish people. We recognize in
anti-Semitism a contradiction and an affront to the Gospel, a violation of our
hope and calling, and we pledge this church to oppose the deadly working of
such bigotry, both within our own circles and in the society around us.
Finally, we pray for the continued blessing of the Blessed One upon the
increasing cooperation and understanding between Lutheran Christians and the
Jewish community.
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