Christmas-tree episode unleashes anti-Semitism

Many residents of this community would like to put the Sea-Tac Airport Christmas-tree episode behind us. Unfortunately, for the Jewish community, a bad taste lingers. It is disconcerting — even a bit frightening — to see how much anti-Semitism lurked just below the surface in our community. Consider how quickly it came bubbling up, even though the Jewish community never asked for the Christmas trees to be removed from the airport.

As the controversy erupted, a stream of hate flowed into the Jewish institutions of Seattle. Hundreds — thousands — of e-mails, rife with raw anti-Semitism, came pouring into many of our synagogues and to many rabbis. What does this say about our society?

Can we find a silver lining in this controversy? Hopefully, it will become an important opportunity to work together to ensure that Sea-Tac — and all of Seattle — reflects the diversity that gives this city its reputation as a haven of tolerance and good will.

I say "hopefully, it will become" because we cannot talk about the positives until our broader community has addressed the emergence of such hate, bigotry and virulent anti-Semitism. We cannot wash this stain under the rug; we need to confront it. We need to question it, and we need to come up with some answers.

The Port of Seattle commissioners who agreed to pull the trees from the airport were misguided. The darker elements in our community who blamed this action on "the Jews" were more than misguided. They saw this action as yet another manifestation of a "war on Christmas," which is a figment of their own imagination.

As a result, for the past few days, our diverse and pluralistic city — which we proudly think of as a bastion of tolerance — has been anything but. Far from being a center of acceptance of many cultures and faiths, this week Seattle has been ground zero for hate in America.

So, before we can work to build something positive from this controversy, we have to repair some damage. We need to understand what was unleashed in the hearts of our neighbors — and perhaps in our own hearts — during these days of controversy. How could people believe that a rabbi would find Christmas trees offensive when he asked to have a menorah placed with the trees? What was it about a request for a menorah to be displayed that led to such hate?

It is not likely that those who send hateful e-mails will participate in any kind of reflection and dialogue about what happened here in Seattle. But we know from experience the strength of Seattle's faith communities, which responded so eloquently and so forcefully in the wake of last summer's tragic Jewish Federation shooting.

Once again, we need to call on this region's faith communities to begin a new round of healing. We cannot let hate of this intensity go unanswered, lest madmen like the man who attacked the Jewish Federation this past July heed its call.

Let's pray together, reflect together, and talk together about the hate that reared its head so prolifically — and sadly, so easily — here in our city. Let's confront it together, and reject it as unworthy of Seattle.

Robert Jacobs is Pacific Northwest regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.