In December of 2016, Andrew Anglin, the producer of the Neo- Nazi web site 'The Daily Stormer' at the behest of Whitefish, Montana’s resident - white Supremacist, Richard Spencer - charged his followers to troll three Jewish families in the area. What followed was a month of thousands of hate filled screeds directed at the families. These included; death and gassing threats, and photos of the families with the Yellow Star on their foreheads - superimposed over the gates of Auschwitz. Amazingly, the residents of Whitefish responded with loving open arms, even offering matza ball soup to counter Anglin’s threatened march with armed skinheads through the town. Rabbi Allen Secher and his wife Ina Albert were one of those families victimized.
Bio:
Rabbi Allen Secher retired to Montana in 2000 and for many years was its’ Lone Rabbi.. Ordained by Hebrew Union College, New York, in 1962, he subsequently earned his Doctor of Divinity degree. Rabbi Secher served pulpits in Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York and to fill a void was part time in Bozeman and Whitefish, Montana. In Chicago, he and his wife, Ina, founded Makom Shalom, a Jewish Renewal congregation that explores both traditional and holistic paths toward building spiritual intimacy.
Bio:
Ina Albert is co-author of Write Your Self Well...Journal Your Self to Health a journal/workbook written for people suffering from illness and stress based on research demonstrating the health benefits of expressive writing. She has been interviewed by print and radio media, including NPR stations in Chicago and Missoula, MT. Today, she lives and writes in Whitefish, Montana where she is a certified professional workshop leader for the Sage-ing International and Private Paths Common Ground-Adult Rites of Passage.
Bio
: Dr. Jay Jacobson, now retired, was Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, as well as Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities at the University of Utah School of Medicine and LDS Hospital. Jay is the Chair of the United Jewish Federation Anti-Semitism Task Force. He has worked tirelessly with our schools, government leaders and community partners to build relationships and insure that Utah is no place for hate. Jay and his family have lived in Utah and been part of the Jewish community since 1976.
