#ShowUpForShabbat tras ataque a la Sinagoga de Pittsburgh - Palabras de Frank Kardonski presidente de KSI

On behalf of Kol Shearith Israel I would like to welcome the distinguished representatives from the US Embassy:

Honorable Roxanne Cabral - Charge D’Affaires

Elias Baumann - Minister Counselor

David Foran – Director of Anti-Narcotics Affairs 

Paco Perez - Counselor for Public Affairs

Isabel Rioja-Scott – Counselor for Economic Affairs  

Peter Hamm - Human Rights Officer

Ermitas Perez Ferreira – Political Specialist

I also would like to extend a warm welcome to our guests of the Parroquia San Lucas, and all the members of our community Kol Shearith Israel.

It is truly an honor for us to have you all here, although we hope the next time it can be for a more joyful occasion.

Itgaddal Veitqaddash Shmeh Rabba, may his great name be exalted and sanctified. These words – the first four words of the Jewish mourner’s prayer /// were printed on the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this morning. While moving and inspiring, it is not something you really wish to see.

Jewish communities around the world are mourning the horrible attack which resulted in the massacre of 11 members of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg PA.  Among those who perished were a 97-year-old great grandmother, A husband and Wife married more than 60 years ago, a distinguished doctor, a University Research Specialist, an Accountant, a Dentist, two brothers who helped people with disabilities…all regular people, active and valuable members of our community, lost to the cruel hands of intolerance.

We might ask ourselves how can someone hate so much? How can someone purposefully kill another? Would they do the same if they had known who these people really were? If they had been part of his community /// or even of his family?

We are living in an increasingly precarious environment. Large numbers of people in the United States and around the world are being misled, influenced, brainwashed by the purposeful misdirection of a myriad of social media messages and websites with conspiracy theories and false information, by groups whose only objective is to divide ///// to inspire hatred in others /// to engender fear /// to inspire acts of violence caused founded on latent rage /// as we saw last week in Pittsburgh. 

These messages are taking advantage of people’s ignorance of the facts, they are feeding on a lack of empathy created by labeling others as inferior, they are spawned by the realities of economic hardship or the fear of it, or maybe by the lack of connection with other humans who may think differently, who may dress differently, who may have different color skin, or country of origin, or political affiliation, or a different country, or sexual preference ////// or religion. 

There are those who might say that Robert Bowers was simply insane.  However, we must be wary //// we must be careful to merely attribute this to a lone crazy man.  We have been witness to this kind of hatred before, to the kind of negative propaganda which resulted in wars, chaos and large scale destruction.

We must come together as members of an extended community // the community of Costa del Este, the community of Panama, the community of the world… to fight against ignorance, against intolerance and fear. We must open our doors and strive to walk into the doors of others to learn //// and to connect.

So here we are, with open doors. For those who might not know us, we are a Jewish community, the oldest in Panama, with 250 families representing a population of approximately one thousand people. Our founders of Spanish-Portuguese descent arrived in Panama from the Caribbean islands in the mid-19th century and settled on the isthmus prior to the independence of our republic. They established our community to meet the needs of Jewish life, always with a modern vision of the tradition, promoting religious, educational, cultural and social activities // successfully integrated and respected in Panamanian society. 

A significant part of our mission is to interact, to connect and help those outside our community, to celebrate diversity, to promote open conversations and to celebrate our differences and cultural wealth.

I thank you all again for being here and wish you a shabat shalom.