The following letter was delivered to Rabbi Adam Feldman and the Jewish Center on November 17, 2017.
Dear Rabbi Feldman and the Community of Faith at the Jewish Center,
We are aware again this week of a regrettable incident of racist, Anti-Semitic hate speech among young people in our Princeton community. When combined with similar events in the region and the prevalence of such distasteful and, indeed, evil rhetoric in our nation, it is clear that those who stand for respect, love of neighbor, and inclusion must stand together to resist hatred while working tirelessly to shape communities of peace and future generations of peacemakers.
On behalf of the leaders, pastors, staff, and congregation of Nassau Presbyterian Church we want to express both our regret for such bigotry and our determination to work for the more excellent way of love. We believe there is absolutely no place in the Christian life for such sinful hatred. Our response to the steadfast love and grace of God is to repent of our own participation in the sinfulness of racism and Anti-Semitism and to act with boldness and courage to work for love, justice, and truth. So that, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once preached, “we can make of this old world, a new one.”
The Session, which is the ruling body of Nassau Church, would like to express to the Jewish Center, our most sincere gratitude for your presence in our community and the many ways we have and will continue to work together. And we humbly commit ourselves, with God’s help, to work with you to be a voice for unity and reconciliation in Princeton while modeling for others how God intends people of different faiths to live and thrive and reflect God’s love.
We offer our prayers for your congregation and for our community and for an end to the evils of racism, Anti-Semitism, and bigotry.
Faithfully yours,
David A. Davis
Session Moderator
Carol Wehrheim
Clerk of Session
Approved by the Session at its stated meeting, November 16, 2017