By John Tredrea, Special Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — It seems quite clear that anyone who has lived in Lambertville, or who has visited the city, even briefly, knows it is a place of tolerance — a place that welcomes people of many lifestyles, political views and religious faiths.
So it’s not surprising that, during the Aug. 20 City Council meeting, longtime Mayor David Del Vecchio read an impassioned statement in response to a hate crime against a friend of the city — Rabbi Eli Kornfield.
”Last week in Clinton, an unknown person or persons drew a swastika on the driveway of Eli Kornfield’s home.” The mayor called the rabbi a “man of peace, learning, of God’s love for us all and am ambassador for tolerance and understanding.”
Clinton is about 20 miles from Lambertville, but Rabbi Kornfield is well known in the city. For a number of years, he has come to the city annually to light the Hanukkah menorah at the corner of Bridge and Union streets, in the heart of the city’s downtown area.
Clearly quite disturbed about the swastika incident, the mayor said “for us in Lambertville, this act should spur our disgust and anger for what it is, but also because it’s an assault on our city’s fabric. Our city is widely known as a place of diversity, understanding and acceptance — not just based on religious traditions, but of all families and individuals. When we learn of an act of intolerance and depravity against a friend, even one 20 miles away, it affects us all.”
The mayor added that it was his hope that the swastika incident “ was the obnoxious and thoughtless prank of some misguided youth, not an act of true anti-Semitism. Nevertheless, it should be a stark reminder that, even in this day and age, we can never let up in the fight against intolerance.”
He concluded with a message to Rabbi Kornfield and his family. “On behalf of the city and the governing body, I send our thoughts of peace to Rabbi Kornfield and his family. Our city will always welcome him, just as we welcome everyone from all walks of life.”
According to a website, the “swastika is an equilateral cross with four arms bent at right angles . . . In modern times, following a brief surge of popularity in Western culture, a swastika was adopted as a symbol of the Nazi Party of Germany in 1920. The Nazis used the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race. After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, a right-facing and rotated swastika was incorporated into the Nazi party flag, which was made the state flag of Germany during Nazism. Hence, the swastika has become strongly associated with Nazism and related ideologies, such as fascism and white supremacism in the Western world and is now largely stigmatized there. Notably, it has been outlawed in Germany and other countries if used as a symbol of Nazism. Many modern political extremists and Neo-Nazi groups . . . use stylized swastikas or similar symbols.”
