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Jews Shouldn't Have to Pay with Their Lives to Gather in Prayer
(Los Angeles Times) Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper - Something precious and uniquely American is being stripped away from us before our very eyes. Until recently, Americans of all faiths felt secure leaving our homes to go to our churches, synagogues or mosques to pray, socialize with our faith communities and return home in peace. No more. Is turning our houses of worship into armed camps the best we can offer our children? We can and should increase training and deploy technological tripwires to "harden" houses of worship. But that cannot stop the hate. We should also demand that all social media platforms stop providing the anti-Semites and racists a platform. We American Jews live with the fact that we are the No. 1 target of religious-based hatred. In 2019, we are more worried than ever because anti-Semitism is now accepted in the mainstream of society. Rabbi Marvin Hier is founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, where Rabbi Abraham Cooper is associate dean and director of global social action.