Officers of the Princeton Clergy Association
We are writing to you as the religious leaders of Princeton in response to the upsetting story of the young people playing Jew vs. Nazi Beer Pong.
Since the events became public last week, we have been in contact with the high school administration to support them as they create opportunities for dialogue and education on all aspects of this story. There are many parts of this story that are upsetting, including the underage drinking, the posting of a picture on social media, not speaking up when we see something that is wrong, and, perhaps the most upsetting, making a game of such a horrendous event such as the Holocaust.
As religious leaders, we want to state publicly in a multi-faith voice, that we are opposed to any form of anti-Semitism or racism or sexism or any other act that hurts or offends any group within our community. We condemn the behavior and poor judgment of the participants and applaud those who chose not to participate. What happened at the party is disturbing and shows a tremendous lack of judgment. This incident provides all of us with opportunities to have conversations with our young people and the larger community about why hate crimes are wrong and why something that may seem innocent to some, can easily be perceived as offensive to others.
We are willing to accept that teenagers and adults make mistakes and that we should all be allowed to apologize for our errors of judgment. We hope that everyone involved in this incident now understands how offensive their actions were and that something as horrible as the murder of millions of people, should never be turned into a game.
We also hope that our students can learn how important it is to speak up when they see something so wrong and they can have the inner strength and courage to do their part to respond.
We look forward to working with young people, educators and leaders in our community to move forward in mutual respect and unity, and long for a day when hurtful or hateful expressions in social media and elsewhere are ended.
Rabbi Adam Feldman
Rabbi of The Jewish Center
Reverend Dave Davis
Pastor, Nassau Presbyterian Church
Reverend Jana Purkis-Brash
Pastor, Princeton United Methodist Church
Reverend Bob Moore
Executive Director of Peace Coalition
Officers of the Princeton Clergy Association
