SAN DIEGO — It was horrifying to read about the wanton attack on a Catholic Church in Baghdad in which more than 50 people were violently slain and even more were injured. I’m sure I speak in behalf of the entire Jewish community in offering heartfelt condolences to the large Chaldean community of San Diego County, many of whose members may have family ties to that congregation.
From the standpoint of the Bible, the Chaldeans—the Christians of Iraq–are our cousins. According to Genesis 11:31, it was from Ur of the Chaldees that Abram (later called Abraham) began his journey to Canaan and promoted the ideals of monotheism.
The San Diego County Chaldean community, based in El Cajon, is the second largest in the United States, behind only that of Detroit in population. There is much about the Chaldean community with which we Jews can identify: they are an immigrant community hoping to preserve their traditions and culture, and at the same time taking justifiable pride in the accomplishments in the United States of their sons and daughters. Perhaps the best-known members of the local Chaldean community are former State Senator Wadie P. Deddeh and his son, Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh.
While we Jews and Chaldeans don’t agree on everything, there are moments when our hearts can unite in a common bond. Today is such a moment, when according to our own faiths, we offer prayers that the violence of the Middle East should end and that peace, harmony, understanding, and common respect prevail in that region and around the world.
—Donald H. Harrison