Bishop Scharfenberger decries anti-Semitic attack

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger has condemned the anti-Semitic attack at the home of a Hasidic rabbi in Monsey, N.Y., on Saturday, saying 'every human person is to be respected and loved as a child of God." 

"(Saturday night’s) attack against a Jewish family celebrating Chanukah in their Monsey, N.Y., home — the latest in a string of violent actions targeting innocent people simply because of their Jewish faith — must be universally condemned. This is yet one more reminder to us how important it is to promote a culture of life everywhere,” Bishop said in a statement released Sunday.

“My own faith is one of many that teaches that every human person is to be respected and loved as a child of God, a human being of ultimate moral worth. It cannot be denied that there is, across the globe, an escalation of violence against people simply because of their religion, some targeted more than others, as seen in such anti-Semitic attacks — nine in as many days in New York alone.

“Such acts must be condemned in the name of God who loves all of humanity and, indeed, humanity itself. Those who directly promote or execute such actions must be identified and brought to justice to the full extent of the law. I extend my heart and my prayer to my brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith and all of those affected in mind and conscience by these crimes against our humanity."

Five people were stabbed on the seventh night of Chanukah when suspect Grafton Thomas burst into Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg’s house and started wildly stabbing people. Anti-Semitic attacks have been on the rise globally. Two weeks ago, three people were killed, including two Hasidic Jews, in a shooting a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, N.J.

Bishop Scharfenberger, whose mother’s father was Jewish, was appointed as a consultor to the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews in July of 2019. During his ad limina visit to Rome in November, Bishop Scharfenberger addressed the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, telling The Evangelist that he wanted to “emphasize the importance of our ongoing relationships, particularly with the Jewish people.”