MACON, Ga. — An Anti-semitic group protested outside of Temple Beth Israel just under a month ago causing outrage but ultimately leading to a show of solidarity within the Macon community.
On Tuesday, Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar was the guest of U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock as the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, spoke to Congress.
"I was especially glad to have Macon Temple Beth Israel’s Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar attend today’s address as my guest," Warnock said in a press release. "Her leadership, resilience, and grace after the recent vile Anti-Semitic episode in Macon is a clear reminder why we must actively and urgently combat antisemitism and prejudice in our world."
In June, after an Anti-Semitic group demonstrated outside the temple, shouting what Bibb County deputies called 'obscene language' through a bullhorn. Bags with Anti-Semitic literature were found outside homes in several Warner Robins neighborhoods earlier in the day.
These events led community members in Macon to organize a demonstration outside Temple Beth Israel the next day. People held signs that read things like "We are all in this together," and "Stop the hate."
The next weekend, around 900 people attended the Service of Love and Unity at Mulberry United Methodist.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff attended the service and thanked all the leaders present for the defense of the Jewish community -- both on the weekend of the hateful demonstration and for attending on Sunday.
Ossoff spoke about his relatives who survived the Holocaust and eventually made it to safety in the United States. He said he told the story so people remember the effects of antisemitism and because his relatives came to America because they believed it was a land of freedom and tolerance.
"America still is and still represents to the world, the values of universality, of human rights, of tolerance, of love, of kindness. They are the only antidote to the forces of hatred and genocide which have and will throughout human history risen and continue to rise and rise again," Ossoff said. "This right here is what makes America great. This is the community in Macon-Bibb County and Middle Georgia saying that we understand and we believe in and we will fight for and we are committed to the values that all are created equal, that we are out of many one, and that we are one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."