Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | MARCH 1, 2017 | 11 City residents should vote yes for Prop. S Following a recommendation from the Ferguson Report, Jews United for Justice (JUJ) established an Opportunity to Thrive Task Force. The task force chose reduction of predatory lending as its first target. As part of its advocacy work, the task force is supporting the passage of Proposition S on the March 7 ballot in St. Louis City. Prop. S is our chance to rein in preda- tory lending, an industry that sucks mil- lions of dollars a year from our most vulnerable neighborhoods. Missouri has more payday lenders than McDonalds, Starbucks and Wal-Mart stores combined. We have the highest rate cap in the country allowing the equivalent of a 1,950 percent annual interest rate charged in two-week incre- ments of 75 percent. If passed, this ordinance would require payday lenders in the St. Louis City to pay a permit fee ($2,500 to 5,000) to operate in the city. This money would be used by the city to implement local regulations and the fee could not be passed down to con- sumers. Payday lenders would be required to change the terms of their agreements so that the interest rate and other terms of the loan are more transparent to borrowers. They would also be required to provide a list of nonprofit alternatives for short-term lending. This proposition is based on a simi- lar one in Kansas City that passed and has been working well so far. Prop. S is our chance as a city to step up. For more information, visit jujstl.org. David Lander, President Jews United for Justice Responses to cemetery desecration The desecration of Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, which has received national attention, has personal mean- ing for me. I am not Jewish, but my wife’s parents are buried there, as are many of her relatives whose services I have attended. The rise in such incidents since November, 2016 should concern not only Jewish Americans, but all Americans. They powerfully evidence that Donald Trump’s hateful and divisive rhetoric has empowered those who espouse such views, which his belated and inadequate response only reinforces. February 19 was the 75 th anniversary of the executive order condemning to forced detention more than 100,000 Americans whose only offense was their Japanese ancestry. The national and local Jewish community has historically resisted such appeals to fear, ignorance and prejudice. All Americans must resist them, against whomever directed. Alan B. Hoffman Kirkwood To our dear friends in Jewish commu- nity: I am contacting you on behalf of our community and congregation that serves mostly Bosnian Muslims. I would like to express our community’s support, as we were shocked to learn of the vandalism at the Jewish cemetery Our whole community feels the pain you are grieving, and would like you to know that we are here to help or assist in any way we can. These are challenging times for all of us, and easiest way we can get thru them is by staying together. In recent months, both Jewish and Muslim communities have been target- ed, our buildings, organizations, ceme- teries have been vandalized, our mem- bers have been singled out. Yet, this is the time when we have to stay strong. We Bosnian Muslims feel an obliga- tion to show you our neighborly sup- port, in the same way as it has been done between us many times before when, especially in World War II: We had to be and to work together to stay alive. As everyone else, we hope that they will catch the people responsible for this act, and that they will be perse- cuted to the fullest extent of the law. Alija Dzekic, Board President St. Louis Islamic Center I recently joined thousands of fellow St. Louisans to clean up the recently vandalized Chesed Shel Emeth ceme- tery, where my grandparents and many other relatives are buried. I was shocked and upset to see Vice President Mike Pence there, giving a BY ANDREW REHFELD Last week an estimated 2,500 indi- viduals gathered to show the world that St. Louis would not tolerate sense- less acts of violence, particularly those aimed at minorities. The desecration of Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery was a signal event for our community and the response was heartwarming. The Jewish Federation of St. Louis is working actively with the leadership of the cemetery to support them in man- aging the unprecedented international attention that followed the event. We will be conducting security reviews with them and our other community cemeteries and making sure the dollars that were raised from multiple sources get to work as soon as possible. Sadly, among this demonstration of unity and support there is now a terri- ble rumor circulating that the Jewish Community of St Louis is shunning contributions by the Muslim commu- nity. It is false and despicable. Let me explain. In the wake of the cemetery vandal- ism last week a number of fundraising efforts began, including at least two very specifically from the Islamic com- munity outside of St. Louis. Our community is grateful for any support for a safe and secure Jewish St Louis. I have very publicly expressed my thanks in a general way for these efforts, noting the contributions by our Muslim brothers and sisters at my pub- lic remarks during the interfaith vigil in St. Louis. And I have reinforced this in every interview I have given to the media. But it is true that the Federation did not publicly name any specific effort being undertaken on our community’s behalf beyond the general note of thanks. Why — at this point — did we only thank these efforts in the broadest terms without specifically mentioning the names of the other charities? Sadly, one common phenomenon of crisis fundraising is that it is a market- place of deceit. False charities open up that have no oversight to take advan- tage of people’s desire to give and then scam them in one way or another. The Jewish Federation should not promote any specific effort until they have established a clear relationship and partnership, and can vouch for the funds being raised in their name. Now that the intensity of the crisis has passed the Federation is in the pro- cess of responding to other groups to help them get their donor’s funds to work. I have been in contact already with prominent efforts in the Islamic community outside of St Louis. Our conversations always begin with the strongest words of thanks and grati- tude and a presumption that these efforts are honest and above board. And this process works both ways. We are now working through a process to help these charities manage the trans- fer of funds in a manner that maintains their confidence in us, to make sure that they know that their dollars go to real projects in St Louis as well. This is what responsible philan- thropic management looks like on both sides. We will continue to work together in a spirit of collaborative partnership with any group. And we will be delighted to announce and celebrate those gifts and efforts—very publicly by name—when this process is completed. What we do not need is to turn a moment of tremendous unity into divi- sion because of an uncharitable response from those who insist on viewing others with suspicion and always presuming the worst in peo- ple’s motivations. Let me state once again how grateful our community is to all support—from the thousands who came to clean and pay respect, to the multiple funding efforts from other Muslims, Christians, Jews, agnostics, atheists, and many many others. We will continue to build strong partnerships with all who seek to find common ground and in a man- ner that is responsible and respectful of all. That is what last week was about. And that is what we must con- tinue to do. Last week the St. Louis region came together in a remarkable show of unity, to stand against anti-Semitism, bigotry, and racism. We “named it” and called it unacceptable. And we “condemned it” and committed to not tolerating it. Now we must “do something about it.” As a first step, let me suggest treat- ing each other with charity, avoiding the constant speculation about motives, and giving each other the benefit of the doubt. That is a good way to create a foundation on which the collective purpose to which we all joined last week might be continued for a very long time ahead. Build on unifying response to cemetery ordeal COMMENTARIES See MINK, page 20 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BY ERIC MINK I think it was the violence that got to me, the sudden consciousness that a rampage of deliberate violence had taken place sometime in the past three days on the ground where I now walked. It had left its mark in plain sight. I actually staggered − just a little, just for a second — when I saw the first group of fallen tombstones. I had to steady myself against a monument close to me, one that had not been attacked, that was not among the 154 pushed, pulled, kicked, rocked, shouldered or dragged to the ground, that was not one of the 16 damaged so badly they require repair or replacement. When staff workers arrived Monday morning (Feb. 20) at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, a place where people pray that the dead may rest in peace, they found the aftermath of violence. It had not been there when they left at 4 p.m. the Friday before. The cemetery stayed closed Monday so officers with the University City Police Department’s Bureau of Investigation could survey the crime scene and gather evidence. A helicopter for KTVI-TV (Channel 2) flew over in the afternoon and broadcast images from above, but the pic- tures, startling as they were, lacked depth, perspective and impact. None of those qualities was lacking at ground level Tuesday morning. I met my sister at Chesed Shel Emeth an hour or so after it opened. It was the first of my four visits that week. Like most of the other people we encountered, our primary mission was to see if violence had been done to the burial sites of relatives. Our mom and dad, two of four grandparents, two of eight great-grandparents and many aunts, uncles and cousins are buried there. The cemetery is barely a mile from our childhood home and only half that distance from where we went to high school. The headstone that had been in the most jeopardy was that of our great-grand- mother Sarah Serkin (1865-1931). Although it was not disturbed, it was immediately adjacent to at least 10 toppled stones and close to many more. It could only have escaped damage by chance. The stones on the graves of our other family members, most located far from the main attack area, were spared as well. But the other formidable granite slabs strewn on the ground and the knowledge that a violent attack had put them there tempered our personal relief. It was impossible to not feel connected with the families whose relatives’ stones had been so crudely assaulted. With our familial mission fulfilled, I left my sister, who had been joined by one of her sons, and went to a place I’d been before near the cemetery’s eastern bound- ary. It’s an expanse of lawn with widely scattered grave makers close to the ground and fragile looking headstones, many of which were maybe 2 inches thick, 15 or so inches wide and I’d guess no more than 30 inches tall. They are the graves of children. The ones I saw were for infants, toddlers and preteens who died at ages ranging from 3 The emotional toll of fallen headstones Eric Mink is a freelance writer and editor and teaches film studies at Webster University. He is a former columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Daily News in New York. Contact him at [email protected]. Andrew Rehfeld is President and CEO of Jewish Federation of St. Louis. See LETTERS, page 23