Ecumenical gesture shows love trumps hate

The anti-Semitic incident between a now former member of the Gateway School District board and Rabbi Barbara Symons from Monroeville is bad enough (“Gateway school board member accused of anti-Semitic comments resigns, apologizes,” April 6). But the email that Rabbi Symons received from a cowardly bully who doesn’t even have the courage to sign his name is beyond disgusting.

Fortunately I saw a gesture this weekend from a Catholic priest that restored my faith in humanity. I was attending the bar mitzvah of the older son of the rabbi of my congregation. Two rows in front of me was Bishop David Zubik of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese and his delegation of priests.

As the bar mitzvah boy and his family paraded through the congregation carrying the Torah scrolls, I watched a priest reach over to touch the Torah with his prayer book and then kiss the prayer book. What a delightful ecumenical gesture it was to witness this from a man who not only isn’t Jewish, but who is part of a totally different faith tradition.

I spoke with this priest and I told him how touched I was to witness this.

Love really does trump hate.

Ruth C. Yahr
Greenfield

Opinion