Bernie Farber: Rabbi Hier to pray for Jews at Trump inauguration disgraceful

SWC dean and founder Rabbi Marvin Hier, left, with former U.S. president Ronald Reagan on a tour of the Museum of Tolerance in 1993. FACEBOOK

The English-Yiddish dictionary defines “shande” as “scandal.” In reality, it’s much more than this. The term holds the kind of opprobrium reserved for only the vilest and most disgusting of acts. For example, during the U.S. presidential campaign, many Jews who openly supported Donald Trump were accused by others in the community of committing a “shande.”

This characterization of Trump supporters may seem hyperbolic, but given that the president-elect violates virtually every ethical and moral human value many of us in the Jewish community hold dear, it is, I would argue, understandable.

What isn’t far-fetched is the “shande” that Rabbi Marvin Hier, the-up-until-now well-respected dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Los Angeles-based Museum of Tolerance, has committed. Rabbi Hier has agreed to deliver a prayer on behalf of the Jewish community at the upcoming Trump inauguration ceremony, thereby legitimizing the president-elect’s unethical and outrageous behaviour.

It appears as though the Trump people had some significant problems finding a “Rabbi” willing to take this duty on. Even Rabbi Haskel Lookstein – the chief clergy at Ivanka Trump’s New York synagogue, who himself presided over Ivanka’s conversion to Judaism – refused to recite the invocation at last summer’s Republican National Convention. So, where better angels feared to tread, Rabbi Hier is jumping in head first.

‘How can one come to terms with this esteemed institution’s dean and founder giving support to a man who so clearly disrespects the very values upon which the Museum of Tolerance was built?’

Full disclosure, I was for many years a great fan of Hier. I’ve long admired how he’s been able to use the star power of Hollywood to inject importance into what I always believed was his goal, to advance the vision of the Museum of Tolerance, an institution that is, according to its website, “a human rights laboratory and educational center dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts and confront all forms of prejudice and discrimination in our world today.”

Indeed, much of my work in the field of human rights, and the work of many of my contemporaries in the social justice sphere, is modelled on the values of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and specifically on its museum, seen in many ways as the Center’s guiding light.

READ: WHY DID SO MANY JEWS BACK THE U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT?

How then can one come to terms with this esteemed institution’s dean and founder giving support to a man who so clearly disrespects the very values upon which the Museum of Tolerance was built?

While Mr. Trump was not the choice of the majority of American voters, the American electoral college system made him president. This doesn’t mean we should now ignore Trump’s explicit bigotry and bullying. To the contrary, we must double down on our efforts to promote decency and acceptance.

Many in the United States understand that there is much to fear with a Trump presidency, and have therefore looked towards human rights heroes like Marvin Hier to lead the battles that are surely to come.

The Islamic Society of North America and the American Jewish Anti-Defamation League recently banded together to confront Trump’s notion of a “Muslim registry” and his rhetoric about keeping Muslims out of the U.S. The National Hispanic Media Coalition challenged Trump’s hateful speech targeting Hispanics and referred to the PEOTUS as “a man who has either failed to realize or accept that hate speech against any and all communities will no longer be tolerated.”

African Americans appear to feel particularly vulnerable. After the election, Cornell William Brooks, head of the NAACP, noted that, “The 2106 campaign has regularized racism, standardized anti-Semitism and mainstreamed misogyny.”

Racialized communities as well as Jews should be horrified that Steve Bannon, a white nationalist and former CEO of the extreme right-wing propaganda piffle Breibart News, is chief advisor to the soon-to-be-president of the United States. This appointment, and Trump’s rise to power generally, has undeniably caused racists, members of the Klu Klux Klan and other violent bigots to rise from the dung heap, brush themselves off and prepare to go about their dirty business in an environment they see as favourable to their ugly agendas.

So yes, this is a “shande” in the making. I’m hoping saner heads will prevail and that Rabbi Hier will rethink his decision. Perhaps he will even use the dais to admonish Trump’s deplorable behaviour. If not, he will diminish both his own light and, by extension, that of the Museum of Tolerance, an institution whose motto may otherwise be forever tarnished.

Bernie M Farber is a CJN columnist and executive director of the Mosaic Institute.

The Institute will host a public forum on “Canada in a Trump World” Jan. 18th at the Miles Nadal JCC’s Al Green Theatre.