Charlottesville’s Jewish community uses dialogue to combat white hate, 5 years after Unite the Rig
On Friday night in Charlottesville, Va., an interfaith group of religious leaders will hold a service called Unite the Light.
The name is a play on Unite the Right, the neo-Nazi march in the city that took place exactly five years ago and sparked violence that led to the death of a counter-protester. Chanting antisemitic slogans, the marchers walked right past the city’s only synagogue: Congregation Beth Israel.
Half a decade later, Charlottesville’s Jewish community is still processing the events of August 2017.
“I grew up as a child watching these old black and white newsreels of the rise of Hitler and of the Nazi Party,” says Rabbi Tom Gutherz of Congregation Beth Israel. “They always
