Thoughts about Paris, violence, heroism, and peace
Many of us continue to be troubled and inspired by events in Paris this past week: troubled by terrible acts of murder and violence, and inspired by great acts of kindness and self-sacrifice. I wanted to share some of the thoughts that I shared with the community last shabbat, together with some more thoughts as the situation continues to unfold. Paris may be far away from Hoboken, but this is an event that affects many people in our congregational family directly.This week I have spoken with many members of our community who are from Paris, or who have relatives in Paris, including many who have shopped at the Hyper Cacher supermarket and/or participated in the solidarity march on Sunday. The terrible events in Paris this week could very easily have affected someone with close ties to our congregation. The Charlie Hebdo murders were not random. The perpetrators were Muslim extremists who attacked those who were asserting their right to free speech, equal-opportunity l