This past weekend, I experienced Zoombombing.
On Saturday during Temple Shalom’s Rosh Hashanah service on Zoom, the holiday service was viciously disrupted by people intent on terrorizing. We were verbally assaulted with antisemitic hate speech, screamed profanity and accosted with references to Hitler and gas chambers. They singled out some of our members in horrific ways. The vile abuse continued in written form, as the hackers added multiple messages of hate in the chat feature. Once the intruders were disabled, we continued with our service, understandably shaken.
I’m grateful to Rabbi Sruli Dresdner and his beautiful family, who continued with the service. He showed resilience and calm, despite the hatred and inflicted terror. Sunday morning, we got back on Zoom for our second day of Rosh Hashanah services and, with security precautions in place, we celebrated the Jewish New Year without incident.
This instance of Zoombombing confirms that antisemitism is still alarmingly present in our society. As we come to grips with our shared past in this country, antisemitism, racism, and prejudices of all kinds have come to light. These are not new, but we have a unique opportunity to view these terrible acts, and to work together toward positive change.
My faith in God and humanity gives me confidence that we can rise above evil and ignorance. As uncomfortable as it is, it is important to look within ourselves to confront our own prejudices, and challenge those of others when we see them.
Anne Allen, Auburn
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