Letter to the Editor: Swastika Stands for Hatred

Editor's Note: On Friday, after being accused of painting swastikas and anti-Semetic slurs on the home of a Jewish family in Lewisboro. Rabbi Greenberg wrote this open letter to the community in response.

Dear Editor,

I regret that the teenagers who painted swasticas on the Jewish home in South Salem possess shallow and ignorant minds. And I can't help but wonder about the motivation behind their hateful act. 

So I say to them, and to all who condemn any group of people whom they perceive as worthy of such hateful feelings: "Let's take a walk through the remains of Auschwitz Concenetration Camp in Poland so that we can learn together, the meaning of that swastica." 

First, it standsfor those who are "mentally deficient" and "alien" being led into gas chambers, as you have no place in a "pre-breed" society. Jews, dissidents, homosexuals, gypsies—all of those who are labeled as "inferior" were forced into the the death chambers, and then their lifeless bodies burned. 

The swastica stands for hatred of the one whom you label as "inferior" or "alien."      You commit your act of ignorance and wickedness in the dark of night. Come out in public in the daylight so that we can all tell you that you have no place among the good and decent people of our community. 

If you can read, and if these words should come your way, I will be only too glad to sit down with you to discuss your problem. I also hope that your parents are outraged that their children were capable of such wickedness.  

Rabbi David Greenberg

Temple Shaaray Tefila     

Bedford, New York