We all likely know someone who serves as a volunteer for TVAC, Hatzolah, CSS or even a neighborhood watch program. Perhaps you are one of the men and women who choose to be a trained first responder or an important “extra” set of eyes for local police and security agencies. There are rabbis across the country who gladly serve as needed chaplains as a way to give back to police and fire departments.
The connection these Jewish volunteers have with general public safety agencies opens up an entire world, and the Jewish community has never been short of appreciation for these incredible men and women, no matter their religious affiliations.
That makes the brutal killings of police officers from Dallas and Baton Rouge all the more personal for all faith-based communities. The very people who protect us have in these instances been targeted by domestic terrorists.
It has become our appropriate societal custom in recent years to applaud when our soldiers return home from deployment in hostile lands. Many of us openly thank uniformed military personnel when we see them in our communities, and rightly so.
When police fall victim to extremists, we are all impacted. Police department ranks are filled with individuals who put their lives on the line as a matter of profession and commitment. The Jewish Link wants our officers and security personnel to know, be they town police officers or New Jersey State Police officers or members of any other agency out there, that we appreciate and applaud your service every hour, every day.
Montrell Jackson, 32 and a new father, was one of the Baton Rouge officers murdered last Sunday.
Jackson posted the following on Facebook after Alton Sterling, a black man, was killed by police officers in Baton Rouge:
“These are trying times,” Jackson, an African-American officer with 10 years on the force, wrote. “Please don’t let hate infect your heart. This city MUST and WILL get better. I’m working in these streets so any protester, officer, friend, family, or whoever, if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer. I got you.” Let’s show the police every day that we appreciate them as well. They deserve to hear it.
Especially now.
