The congregation for the Shabbat service on Friday, Feb. 3, at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield was in surprisingly good spirits for a group that had been targeted by a hate crime earlier that week. The congregants had already reckoned with the attack both privately on Monday night and publicly at an interfaith vigil on Thursday night.
Throughout the week, elected officials from across New Jersey appeared at the synagogue to demonstrate their support for the community. Gov. Phil Murphy met privately with members of the synagogue on Tuesday. Sen. Robert Menendez, U.S. Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Bill Pascrell all gave speeches condemning hate at Ner Tamid on Thursday.
Sen. Cory Booker, who could not make Thursday’s event, attended the Shabbat service on Friday.
Booker was an active participant in the service before he was called to speak. He sat in the front row, visible to all. Later, in his sermon, Booker would joke “it’s hard to miss the big black goy.”
When a sixth grader and the cantor struggled to re-cover the Torah, Booker got up out of his seat and used his height to simply place the veil over the Torah, invoking laughter from the worshipers.
Rabbi Marc Katz praised the senator when he called him up to give the sermon.
“I realize how much Senator Booker has done for the people of New Jersey,” Katz said. “I realize Senator Booker is a gift to our state and a gift to the Jewish people. It’s so comforting to have him here.”
Booker had not been expecting to give a long speech. He opened by acknowledging his lack of preparation.
“My staff always tells me what I am doing,” he said. “They told me I’m coming [to Ner Tamid] and I’ll have two minutes to give a speech. Now, I realize it’s a Jewish two minutes. The rabbi just told me I’m doing d’var Torah.”
The room erupted in laughter.
Senator Booker spoke extemporaneously for nearly 40 minutes, making two main points.
First, Booker stressed that dealing with the rise of hate crimes across the…
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