The Museum of Jewish Heritage Was Desecrated With a Confederate Flag After the Attack on the Capitol. Here’s What They’re Doing About It.

Two days after an insurrectionist mob breached the Capitol building in D.C. and reportedly went hunting for lawmakers, a Confederate flag was found tied to the door of the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. It was a clear symbol of hate, in a moment that feels particularly filled with it.

Seeing blatant displays of anti-Semitism and extremism in our own backyard as well as in the nation’s capital is both disturbing and horrifying, but we are a strong and welcoming community, and even in the face of such darkness, together we can find hope and strength to overcome it.

The museum, meanwhile, is using the incident as a teachable moment in a time fraught with unsettling uncertainty and terror. On Thursday, the museum will host the Zoom webinar, “Extremism: What You Need To Know In 2021,” addressing the challenge of confronting and understanding extremist groups, radicalization and the far-right in our current climate. The webinar is a group effort by the Anti Defamation League, the museum and the New York Board of Rabbis. Speakers include journalist Talia Lavin, Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti Defamation League’s Center on Extremism and Eric Ward of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik and Kliger will moderate. The webinar is free, or you can choose to make a $10 donation; it begins at 2 p.m.

photo: iStock