On Monday morning, two teenagers opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Three people were murdered, among them a security guard and father of eight. Hours later, the suspects—ages 17 and 18—were found dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds a few blocks away.
Im ye’hareg b’mikdash adonai, cohen ve’navi. Shall a priest and prophet be murdered in the sacred space of G-d?! (Lam. 2:20)
Sacrilege. Desecration. Abomination. These are the words beneath the tears and disbelief that I felt. The news from San Diego is, unfortunately, very familiar. I serve as the founder and senior rabbi of Romemu, a pluralistic post-denominational Jewish congregation in New York City. In the course of my rabbinate, there have been countless moments like this one, mourning lives lost to violent bigotry and hate.
The Jewish tradition is in awe of human life; no earthly phenomenon is more precious or more reflective of divine majesty. Every life is a universe. Every human being is B’tzelem Elohim, created in the image of God. The great Rabbi Yitz Greenberg understands this to mean that all people are endowed with three inalienable dignities: infinite value, equality, and uniqueness. Human life is infinitely worthy, and thus the violence that occurred on Monday morning is a desecration that defies description. Language is insufficient. The actions of these two young men, rooted in ideologies of hate, can never be excused or justified. Full stop.
And our willingness to say so cannot falter or fail based on our politics or our differences with the victims.
