LIVINGSTON, NJ — Hundreds of community members from Livingston and neighboring municipalities gathered at the Livingston Memorial Oval on Sunday afternoon for a "Strength and Courage Against Antisemitism" rally, held in collaboration between Livingston’s Temple B'nai Abraham, Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, Temple Beth Shalom, Congregation Etz Chaim, the Synagogue Suburban Torah Center and the Livingston Clergy Association.

The event was held in response to the recent spike in antisemitic sentiment throughout the area, which most recently included an incident in which the suspect in the theft of a Livingston Board of Education school bus was identified as the owner of a journal found during the investigation that contained notes about jihad and other language against Jewish people and law enforcement, according to federal officials. Administrators at Livingston Public Schools have also recently reported multiple incidents in which drawings of swastikas and messages containing antisemitic language were found at both Livingston High School and Heritage Middle School.

“Livingston is a town of diversity and inclusion,” said Livingston Mayor Michael Vieira. “We are a town with residents who represent many different nationalities, races, cultures, beliefs and religions. We are a community that comes together to support one another in times of crisis and despair.”

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Vieira emphasized that antisemitism “not only affects Jewish people individually or collectively,” but that as “a belief based on hate and prejudice,” antisemitism also “attacks all societies, threatening human rights and the security of all where it occurs.”

“Antisemitism also violates the right to freedom of religion or belief,” he said. “Not just to Jews, but to everyone who values freedom, compassion and humanity.”

In his assertion that hate in any form does not belong in the immediate community, the county, the state, the country or the world, the mayor shared a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that reads, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”**BULLSEYE

He also shared the words of Councilwoman Rosy Bagolie, who expressed the belief that hope and love can unite the community in a collective effort to “drive out the hate that hurts” and “come together in love to heal.”

“For those who hate, we will pray for you, but we will not tolerate you,” said Vieira. “We are one voice. We are one heart. We are one community standing together against hate, against violence of any form, against any one culture, religion or creed who wants to hurt us. We are united in hope, and we are united in peace, and hate has no home in this state or in Livingston.”

In addition to local dignitaries such as Vieira, council members Bagolie, Shawn Klein and Ed Meinhardt and Essex County Commissioner Patricia Sebold, other notable attendees included U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer, a member of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating antisemitism as well as Sen. Richard Codey, Sen. Nia Gill, Assemblyman John McKeon and more. Vieira noted that Gov. Phil Murphy also called in to express that he was with the Livingston community in spirit.**STANDARD

As the only Jewish member of the New Jersey congressional delegation, Gottheimer shared during the rally that the surge in anti-Israel sentiment in the area has “hit [him] and [his] family particularly hard.”

Gottheimer—whose recent efforts to combat antisemitism across the country have included leading a group of 85 Congress members in condemning anti-Semitic celebrities and public figures and another group of 35 Congress members in introducing a new resolution that recognizes Israel as America’s “legitimate and democratic ally”—referred to the local incidents as well as one that recently occurred in nearby Bloomfield, where an unknown actor tossed a lit Molotov cocktail at the front door of Temple Ner Tamid on Broad Street.

“I know what it feels like to be persecuted and attacked for your religious beliefs,” said Gottheimer. “Like many of you, I also lost loved ones in our family in the shoah, and I have been on the receiving end of antisemitic attacks. So, when I see a surge in swastikas in schools and communities, what’s happening on our college campuses and on social media, a Molotov cocktail at a temple, it’s personally gut-wrenching.”**BULLSEYE

He added that there is “no room for indifference” in the fight against terrorism, sharing the words of famed writer and Jewish prisoner Elie Wiesel that indifference “is more dangerous than anger or hatred.”

He called on the community to continue to stand up against antisemitism and expressed gratitude toward all those in attendance “for demonstrating what it means to live with Jersey Values.”