A head rabbi at the New York City synagogue attended by President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law denounced Trump's response to the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., joining a chorus of political and religious leaders who say the president was wrong to blame "both sides" for the violence.
In a letter Wednesday to his congregation, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein wrote that his community had been "consumed" by the "frightening message and fallout" from the hate-fueled mayhem that left one woman dead and others injured last weekend.
"We are appalled by this resurgence of bigotry and antisemitism, and the renewed vigor of the neo-Nazis, KKK and alt-right," read the letter, which was signed by Lookstein and two other rabbis. "While we always avoid politics, we are deeply troubled by the moral equivalency and equivocation President Trump has offered in his response to this act of violence."
"We pray that our country heeds the voices of tolerance, and stays true to its vision of human rights and civil rights," it read.
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The five-paragraph letter came a day after the president defended his remarks about the Unite the Right rally and his portrayal of the participants as a mostly benign force.
A broad array of politicians and others have criticized the president for waiting a full day to condemn the white supremacist groups that converged on Charlottesville and for stating repeatedly that counterprotesters were equally culpable for the street skirmishes that paralyzed the city.
"I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it," Trump told reporters Tuesday. He added later that he believed many rally participants were not members of hate groups and were there to demonstrate against the city's removal of a statue of the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Lookstein is rabbi emeritus of the Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Manhattan that is attended by the president's daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who is also an adviser to the president. In 2009, Lookstein presided over Ivanka Trump's conversion to Judaism before she married Kushner.
Lookstein declined to say Wednesday night whether he had spoken directly with the couple about the president's remarks on Charlottesville.
"My colleagues and I felt we had to make a statement that we felt was important for the congregation. And that's it," he added. "It was very important to respond to the needs of my community."
Ivanka Trump, who has previously bucked her father on certain issues, has remained mum on the situation except for a pair of tweets she posted Sunday.
"There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis," she wrote. "We must all come together as Americans -- and be one country UNITED. #Charlottesville."
A Section on 08/18/2017