Samantha Woll, 40, was the president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue.
A Detroit synagogue president was found fatally stabbed outside her home Saturday morning.
Samantha Woll, 40, led the congregation of Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue. The synagogue confirmed Woll's death Saturday in a statement writing, “We are shocked and saddened to learn of the unexpected death of Samantha Woll, our Board President.”
“May her memory be a blessing,” the statement continued.
Far right white supremacist anti-Semitic violence is much more prevalent in the US than Muslim anti-Semitic violence. If this was politically motivated killing, my first suspects are the extreme right.
I was talking to a friend of mine who happens to be Republican (and a white Christian). He was trying to tell me that I was in danger from radical Islamic terrorists. I told him that I, as an American Jew, am much more likely to be attacked by a right wing antisemite (Proud Boy, white supremacist, Nazi, or some other faction) than I am to be attacked by a radical Islamic terrorist.
He didn't believe me, despite the many examples of times when I've seen right wing antisemitism (some of it first hand) over the years. Any antisemitism that I saw from the right was just hand-waved away as "just some small group of a few people with no power."
He insisted that because HE (a white Christian) didn't see it everywhere, that it couldn't possibly be everywhere. He refused to accept that he might have a blind spot because it doesn't affect him personally. I eventually just changed the subject because it was clear that he wouldn't accept anything other than "my life is at imminent risk from radical Islamic terrorists that Joe Biden and the Democrats personally let in through our southern border."
Counterpoint: it’s important to interact with people who don’t agree with you on everything. Maybe op’s friend has an aha moment because of that conversation down the line. It’s too easy to fall into the echo chamber online.