By Marcel Groen

My heart is heavy and sad. I mourn for the families who lost loved ones.

I wish that the massacre in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Temple took me by surprise. Unfortunately, as the vitriol in our country and communities increased over time, I often thought about the possibility of such a heinous event – whether at our synagogues or at our schools, or other Jewish institutions.

Maybe it was because I am a child of the holocaust, having been conceived in a cellar while my mother hid from the Nazis, or maybe I continue to see anti-Semitism throughout the world.

It’s ironic. My family emigrated to the United States. My father joined the Allied Marines the day after he was liberated in Holland. He went directly to train in Camp Lejeune.

When he returned home to Holland, my parents had the choice of staying, moving to Israel or coming here. They finally decided to come to the United States. They were tired of war, worried about the Soviet Union and believed that this country would be the safest and the best. That here was a safe haven.

Now my heart cries in anguish. Why us? We gave the world the concept of monotheism. We gave it the Ten Commandments, the basic moral doctrine of the world – especially the western world.

And yet so many hate us and I don’t know why. Worse yet I can’t explain it to my children or grandchildren. My oldest grandson, age 16, has been in Poland over the last week. Yesterday he was at Auschwitz. He saw the killing ovens where he knew his great-grandparents, uncles and aunts were murdered. He saw the mountains of ash and of human remains that are still there as a reminder of six million who were murdered solely because they were Jewish. Not just adults, but children and babies – the old and the young, the poor and the rich, the healthy and the infirmed. He is understandably upset and confused. How could this have happened? And yet the hatred persists.

But as humans we must also recognize the good in people. We cannot give up hope. We cannot permit evil to triumph. Our leaders need to understand that with leadership comes responsibility to lead with moral clarity. We can disagree on issues, but we cannot permit words of hatred to permeate our political discourse. Our words matter. They can motivate us to do good, but they can also motivate some of us to do evil. It is why I became involved in politics. I thought I could help people. It is why I am a Democrat, but Democrats do not have a monopoly on doing good or helping others. I respect my opponents for their views and love of country. I will spend the rest of my life fighting the forces of evil, not just of anti-Semitism, but of racism and prejudice of all sorts.

The world has called America a beacon of light to the world. It frequently has been, but not always. It is up to us, each and every one of us to make that light shine brightly. We do not have to agree with each other, but we must be civil to each other. As Judaism gave us the Ten Commandments, we gave the world democracy, but to live in a democracy is not just a privilege – it is also a responsibility.

May God bless all of us and the United States of America, and may we once again make that beacon of light shine brightly.
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Marcel L. Groen is a Partner with Fox Rothschild and the current Chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee. He can be reached in his Blue Bell office at 610.397.7987 or via email at mgroen@foxrothschild.com.