How Anti-Semitism Effects Our Jewish Pride

It really is heart-wrenching to witness a Jewish mother walking to synagogue, one hand holding onto her child and the other clutching a canister of pepper spray. Sadly, I witnessed this the other day. 

With the ongoing war in Israel anti-semitism has been at an all-time high. The ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Director said that there has been a 388 percent increase in antisemitism around the world since the horrifying terror attack that took place on October 7th. 

This attack was the most amount of Jews killed in one say since the Holocaust. The rise in antisemitism is disturbing.  

Many surveys show that a large amount of American Jews feel disconnected from their Jewish identity. As an American Jew myself, this is very disheartening. 

While Israel warns those not to show Jewish symbols abroad, I know that I will never hide who I am. I will continue to wear my Jewish star and my Kippah without shame. If we choose to hide our Jewish identity, we revert back to those in 1940s Nazi Germany, who were hiding their Jewish identity due to an imminent threat.

I think one of the best things about being a Jew myself is that I can show my pride and how special our community is. While that is my favorite part of being Jewish, it is also one of my favorite parts of this school. Spirit. 

While these acts of antisemitism are scary to many, they cannot bring us down, we cannot buy into this prejudice. We have to stand up to this propaganda spread by Hamas. 

While anti-semitism has persisted for upwards of two thousand years, in many shapes and forms, I believe that it is possibly at its worst now. The despicable #HitlerWasRight hashtag was posted over 20,000 times in 24 hours, according to Stand Up To Jewish Hate, a national campaign designed to raise awareness about antisemitism and hatred against Jews. 

While this is the sad reality, many Jewish people around the country have started arming themselves with guns, according to CNN. They fear for their life and that shouldn’t be the case anywhere. 

Despite the fact that Jewish People make up two percent of the population in the United States, over half of all religious-motivated hate crimes were committed against Jewish people in 2022, an FBI report says. 

Why are there those who condone the monstrosities of Hamas, but when Israel fights back they condemn them? Why do those call it genocide when Israel strikes back, when it is in Hamas’ mission statement to eradicate all Jews? 

While sad, I believe that the times when the Jewish people are the most united are the times when we are in crisis. Crisis brings us together and gives us something to come together for. While this bond between the Jewish people is great, why can’t this be the case whether we, the Jewish people, are at our strongest or at our lowest? 

I believe that debatably not since Har Sinai have the Jews been their strongest and most united. While Hamas tries to bring us down, we have to stop for a second and build each other back up. 

Not only as a Jewish School but as a Jewish community, we have to stick together. As a Mishpacha, we can’t fear those who don’t like us, but instead, we have to continue to show our Jewish pride. Am Yisrael Chai.