‘An attack on the Jewish community is an attack on all of us’
Sounds of excited chatter, the sizzling of a skillet and smoke from the kitchen wafted through the room at Char Bar in Washington, D.C.
After having two of their windows shattered earlier in November on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, staff of the kosher restaurant welcomed Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) to a private dinner on Thursday. He arrived at 7:18 p.m. to applause from the dozens of guests gathered inside.
Rabbi Yossie Charner, the director of congressional affairs for Agudath Israel of America, said when he heard the news that Char Bar had been vandalized, he contacted the restaurant’s owner, Michael Chelst, a friend of his.
Noting how outspoken Torres was about the vandalism on social media, Charner texted Torres on Monday morning, asking him to visit the restaurant in solidarity.
“He’s such an amazing friend of the Jewish community here and also overseas of Israel as well,” Chelst told Washington Jewish Week. “We’re honored that he’s taking his time to come show support and to help us in our fight against antisemitism.”
Throughout the evening, Torres made his rounds, shaking hands with community members as they thanked him for his support. The guests — friends of Chelst’s, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch Rabbi Levi Shemtov, members of George Washington University’s chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, and D.C. Sen. Paul Strauss — dined on filet mignon, smoked potatoes, green beans and chocolate lava cake.
Charner introduced the congressman with a brief speech in front of the broken windows, which were boarded up.
Torres addressed the crowd of several dozen guests to condemn the vandalism and antisemitism and affirm his allyship: “It’s an honor to be here with you to show solidarity; to show support.
“I reject the notion that you have to be Jewish to condemn antisemitism,” Torres said at the event, speaking to his Black and Latino identity.
Torres presented Chelst with a congressional record titled “Standing with Char Bar in Combating Antisemitism.”
“Although the purpose of the attack was to strike terror in the heart of the Jewish community, the leadership and loyal clientele of Char Bar refuses to be cowered by hate,” Torres read to the crowd. “An attack on Char Bar as a Jewish business is an attack on all of us.”
He added that “every American” has the responsibility to combat antisemitism, as he said the Jewish Diaspora should be able to lean on the United States as its greatest ally.
“I feel it’s more urgent than ever that public officials like me stand up and speak out forcefully against antisemitism,” Torres told Washington Jewish Week. “It’s nothing short of an outrage that Char Bar was the target of antisemitic vandalism on the eve of the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht.”
Torres said he had one message: “An attack on Char Bar is an attack on all of us; an attack on the Jewish community is an attack on all of us, and America should be a place where there is zero tolerance for antisemitism.”
As of Sunday afternoon, D.C. Metropolitan Police have not made any arrests, according to The Washington Post. MPD spokesperson Tom Lynch said there was no information or evidence to suggest that the vandalism was motivated by hate or bias — Chelst and Torres feel otherwise.
“That timing is not accidental,” Torres said of the attack taking place on the anniversary of Kristallnact.
“I want Michael and the ownership of Char Bar to know that I have your back,” Torres said. “It’s my first time at Char Bar, but it won’t be my last.”
Chelst spoke to the importance of banding together as a community after an antisemitic incident: “It’s very nice to see all this love and support.”
Michael Greene, a North Potomac resident and friend of Chelst’s, attended the dinner to raise awareness about the vandalism and respond positively to the situation.
“I’m a member of B’nai Israel in Rockville and we are all abuzz over what happened here. People are really disturbed,” Greene said. “Decades, generations later, this is still real and it’s still painful — at least for me, and I think anyone who’s here.”
Chelst’s wife, Kathy Chelst, who welcomed guests into the restaurant in anticipation of Torres’ arrival, said the vandalism hits close to home as she is the daughter of Holocaust survivors: “I was shaken to my core.”
“We really need answers and you cannot brush this under the rug,” Kathy Chelst said in an interview. “It’s a very trying time to be Jewish right now.”
Rabbi Abba Cohen, the Washington director and counsel for Agudath Israel of America, thanked Torres for his speech. Cohen described the congressman as courageous, compassionate and consistent in his willingness to speak up when others have not.
“Once in a while, you come across a person who we say after we hear him, ‘That person really gets me. He gets us. He understands us,’” Cohen said at the event. “And I think that’s what Ritchie Torres is all about; that’s why he deserves our honor and our respect.”
