A Troy man was arrested last week for allegedly being behind antisemitic social media postings directing threats toward members of the Jewish community, including a local rabbi, and President Donald Trump. Rabbi Matt Cutler of Congregation Gates of Heaven in Schenectady has since confirmed he was the subject of the threats. WAMC’s Andrew Pugliese spoke with him Wednesday.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Andrew Pugliese: So, Rabbi Matt a joint [New York] State Police-FBI investigation led to the arrest of a 45-year-old man named Joshua J. Wood for threats against so many people, but specifically you. Please take me through how you heard about these threats and your initial reactions to them.
Rabbi Matt Cutler: This was a post on Facebook that was relayed to me through people I know who saw it. I was not the one who reported this to the police. Others did that. It was a comment that was made that was seen as threatening, and as I understand from investigation, there was a lot more to his comments and other posts in other places that created a real sense of concern for this issue. We live in a time of real polarized hatred. In fact, the current climate in America, hate has been given the oxygen to thrive, and social media is really a place where it is you're screaming what you perceive into the void. But there are consequences. So, I learned about it from this post after, I think it was WTEN posted something on Facebook about a report they did, and this was some of the comments that came from it. That's how it escalated.
Pugliese: And these threats came on the same day as the attack on Temple Israel near Detroit, and they're amongst just the latest examples of attacks on the Jewish community. How does it make you feel to have now experienced this firsthand, both yourself and the local community at-large?
Cutler: Unfortunately, this is not the first time I've had a deal with this type of hatred. It's probably the third or fourth in the last 15 years. What is concerning is that the political climate and the emotional intensity is coming to a point that people are learning that they are using violence as their outlet for hatred. This is concerning because the situation in West Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the situations in Toronto, Canada, the synagogue situations in Europe. This is just yet another manifestation of it. Where is it coming from? There is a long-embedded sense of hatred; there is a festering issue of antisemitism; and the political climate right now permits the Jew and their connection to the State of Israel and to other things to be the place where you can vent inappropriately this type of animosity.
Pugliese: And that kind of takes me to my next point, that while the latest threats and attacks are being associated with the war with Hamas and now with Iran, antisemitism doesn't stop when a particular conflict stops. So, I guess I would ask, what would you like to say to listeners in regards to addressing antisemitism beyond just how it relates to a war going on and how it affects the people that they - even if they see them as if they want to say, ‘Oh, well, I'm speaking to a group. I'm speaking a particular person. In this case, it was, it was you. How would you want to address with listeners that antisemitism goes beyond a particular war?
Cutler: Antisemitism is an issue that isn't antisemitism is a real challenge for every individual in every Jewish community, where we need help is in solidarity and support. We need others to lean in and to be supportive and to give voice to the fact that we're people and that hatred should not be directed to us in that regard. You'll see that on the Super Bowl, for example, there was a commercial for the little blue square that [New England Patriots Chairman and CEO] Bob Kraft and others were pushing to raise awareness of the antisemitism. The message is simple. If you see hate, respond to it. Don't ignore it. I need my non-Jewish neighbors and friends and fellow community members to lean in to show support and solidarity with us, when heat raises its ugly head, when antisemitism becomes ever present and visible in our communities. This is an essential piece in combating it. We need each other to let us know that we're not alone, and just when you see hate, to speak out against it, not to ignore it and say, ‘Oh, this is just not me.’ This is something we need to do together as a community.
Pugliese: Absolutely. Well, Rabbi Matt, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me and for addressing this very concerning incident in this very troubling time.
Cutler: I thank you for your baton. Look, hatred in America right now is a license to do and to act inappropriately. Right now, we need to address that by being more righteous, to transcend the political climate and to lean into each other, to show that we care and support each other, no matter where we differ - politically, spiritually, gender orientation, however we are. We need to show that we're one people, all created in God's image, and that is how we fight hatred, like antisemitism.
Joshua J. Wood, of Troy, was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment (a bias-related form of the charge). He was arraigned in Schaghticoke Town Court, then released on his own recognizance.