Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff hosted Chabad of Cobb Rabbi Ephraim Silverman in Washington, D.C., this week.
Sen. Ossoff invited the esteemed Rabbi to join him for Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s historic joint address to Congress, where the President affirmed the U.S.-Israel relationship and warned of the rise in antisemitism worldwide.
Last month, antisemitic demonstrators rallied outside of the Chabad of Cobb, holding swastika flags and provoking antisemitic imagery. In response, Rabbi Silverman led his congregation through the trying time with a message of transforming darkness into light.
Rabbi Silverman has served as head of the Chabad of Cobb for more than 25 years.
“I am honored to have been invited by Senator Ossoff to this historic event celebrating the deep friendship between the United States and Israel,” Rabbi Silverman said. “The warm reception that President Herzog of Israel received in Congress sends a statement about our collective rejection of this new age antisemitism.”
“It was an honor to host Rabbi Silverman at the U.S. Capitol to hear Israeli President Herzog’s joint address. The Rabbi’s synagogue was recently targeted by neo-Nazis, and I commend him for his strong and uplifting leadership at this difficult moment for Georgia’s Jewish community. I will continue to fight antisemitism and hatred of all kinds,” Sen. Ossoff said.
Following antisemitic demonstrations outside of the Chabad of Cobb, Rabbi Silverman penned an op-ed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, urging the community to unite in response to hate.
He specifically focused on the fact that “the vast majority of our country is loving, kind and respectful of the Jewish people, the response of the wider community needs to be to combat the hate with more acts of love and kindness, and the response of the Jewish community to this darkness needs to be more light in the form of even greater Jewish pride and engagement.”
Following other recent antisemitic demonstrations in Macon-Bibb County and Warner Robins, Sen. Ossoff delivered keynote remarks at a unity rally in Macon, speaking about his experienceslearning from his own family members who survived the Holocaust about antisemitism and the importance of speaking out against all symbols of hate and murder.
Sen. Ossoff was sworn into the U.S. Senate on a Tanakh belonging to Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, the Atlanta Rabbi who served at The Temple when it was bombed by white supremacists for the Rabbi’s support of civil rights.
Last year, Sen. Ossoff secured the confirmation of Dr. Deborah Lipstadt to serve as United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism.
As a member of the Bipartisan Task Forces for Combatting antisemitism, Sen. Ossoff has also urged President Biden to establish a new interagency task force on addressing the rise in antisemitism nationwide.
