Shortly after the slaying of 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the Rev. Patrick Feren of the Center for Spiritual Living in Kapaa was asked this question: Are you going to lock your doors now?
His answer: Absolutely not.
“We are all a part of this tribe,” Feren said. “No matter what my background is, we are part of this tribe and I stand for love. And I will never lock my door and I will never lock my heart.”
About 100 people attended a candlelight vigil Sunday night at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Lihue, held to commemorate the 11 lives gunned down at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The goal of the informal gathering organized by the Jewish Community of Kauai was to express unity with Pittsburgh and with the families of those slain.
Feren looked at the 11 candles burning for those who were killed last weekend, and added, “In honor of these wonderful people, I open my door from love, as love.”
“This is the time we are needed the most,” he said. “This is the time for love to really shine forth, to be able to say I am love. I am love.”
The names of the victims were read, one by one, as was a Hebrew prayer. At one point, everyone stood and gathered around the altar, held hands, closed their eyes and listened to prayer. Everyone was invited to speak if they wished.
It turned political at times, with one man calling for tougher gun control laws, and another expressing disappointment with how the country receives hate speech.
Emotions ranged during the
one-hour ceremony. One spoke of rhetoric and violence darkening the country’s mood.
One Jewish woman spoke of hearing and seeing anti-
Semitic actions and words, and it left her angry.
“This is not a Christian country,” she said.
Steven Backinoff led the group in the song, “Lift Every Voice.”
“I think hope is what we need,” he said.
Sally Wilson, one of the organizers, said tragedies make her feel alone and isolated. “So it’s great to see you all here,” she said.
Wilson recounted many of the recent shootings in America and said they affect everyone.
“This isn’t happening somewhere else and to someone else,” she said.
Insults shouted at one person, one religion, one faith, are shouted at everyone, she said.
“They are denigrating each and every one of us,” Wilson said.
The Rev. Arthur Kaufmann of Lihue Hongwanji Mission, Shin Buddhist Temple, talked of the three poisons — greed, hate and ignorance.
“If there is going to be peace in this world, if there is going to be love in this world, we have to face them, and defeat them to the best of our ability,” Kaufmann said.
“It’s not that we’re bad people. We’re just human beings,” he added.
People are brought up certain ways, Kaufmann said. Greed is taught to us. Anger is taught to us. He called on the crowd to look for the three poisons within, not to judge themselves, but to acknowledge they exist. Then, he called on them to do something about it.
“Your choice,” he said.
Kauai’s Jim Jung said people should focus on good deeds, thoughts and expressions. “If we all do that, we can have perfect peace,” he said.
Jung said a way to deal with those who would harm us is to treat them as friends, care for them, be kind.
“Show them,” he said.
Russ Josephson spoke, too, of facing anti-Semitism growing up and a lesson he learned.
“When it came down to it, Jews stand alone,” he said.
They can’t count on others to rally around them.
“I want to thank all of you folks who are not Jewish for coming,” Josephson said.
He said a lesson to be learned today is, people have to speak up and confront bigotry and racism. Take a stand, he said.
The spree of recent shootings, the acts of violence, the hate expressed by some, is not acceptable, Josephson said. It’s not normal.
“And we can’t act as if it is,” he said.
