Antisemtism - America and Europe

Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration in Chicago's Loop yesterday

How bad is antisemitism in this country? I honestly don’t know. It’s hard to tell based on what the media reports. Or even based on statistics provided by the ADL. Those sources do not always tell you the story. What they do tell you is what the want you to hear. 

I have been thinking about this a bit in light of all the pro Hamas antisemitic protests plaguing college campuses all over the country. Are they representative of an overall national trend? Or are they mostly limited to college campuses? 

As time goes by, I think the latter is the case. I haven’t seen any protests beyond those limits.  I doubt that most Americans pay much attention to those protests anyway... much less what they are all about.

The Amercian public is not antisemitic. While there are pocket sof antisemitsm on both the right and left fringes of society (increasingly so there) it is definitely not mainstream

Yesterday there was a huge Yom Ha’atzmaut rally for Israel in Chicago loop’s Daley Plaza. It was attended by hundreds of people. (I believe I saw one estimate that said 2000 people were in attendance) There were as many Israeli flags being waved as there were American flags.  

Although it was a bit more somber because of the war in Gaza, and the hostage situation - it was otherwise a very positive event that went off without a hitch. The only other people there were a much smaller group of Palestinian protesters. The police were there. There was no violence and  no arrests. 

The American people are far more concerned with pocket book issues than they are with what’s going on in Gaza. The big issue is inflation. Not a war taking place 7000 miles away where there are no American boots on the ground. That is way down on the American list of priorities. The sharp increase in the cost of food at the grocery store being on top. This does not bode well the the president’s chances in the next election. But I digress.

Point here is that I do not believe for a moment that our image as Jews has suffered. Even though there has been a sharp increase in antisemitism in this country - it is still limited to the fringes of society on the right. And on the fringes of the progressive left. Which has increasingly  been vilifying Israel and - by association - the Jewish people.

I still believe that the vast majority of the American people do not think of Israel or the Jewish people that way. Even if some have been influenced to criticize Israel’s conduct in the war, that does not translate into becoming antisemitic or even anti Israel. 

What about Muslim Americans?

I live in a neighborhood that is heavily Jewish. A lot of Muslims live there too. I frequently pass them in the street. I have not experienced the slightest bit of antsemitism from any of them. Occasionally I will wish a woman wearing a hijab a good day and get a smile in return. I walk freely wearing a Kipa in my very ethnic neighborhood without the slightest fear that I will experience an antisemitic attack or even an antisemitic comment..

I know that there have been antisemitic attacks in other parts of the country. Most notably New York. But as far as the heavily Jewish neighborhoods in Chicago are concerned. There is nothing there.  Although one does occasioanlly hear about an act of antisemitic vandalism here and there, incidences of that are minuscule as far as my own experiences go. Or the experiences of anyone I know.

This is however is not what is happening in Europe. Which does not surprise me in the least. As I have always said, Jew hatred is in their mother’s milk. Furthermore the massively huge  influx of Jew hating Muslims exacerbates the situation. How bad is it?  In an interview reported by Arutz Sheva, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis made the following observation:           

"The statistics show an increase of hundreds of percent in antisemitism throughout Europe. Many Jews are trying to hide their Judaism. One of the most common questions to Rabbis since October 7^th is whether it is possible to take the mezuzah off the door. This says a lot…" 

"Other precautions that some people took included wearing hats instead of the traditional yarmulkah (skullcap) on the street, and avoiding speaking Hebrew when riding in Ubers. There used to be a red line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. We have seen this red line disappear. I think that ultimately this is not a problem for the Jewish community. Ultimately, this is a big problem for Europe at large. This situation in the streets is destabilizing our society." 

Rabbi Goldschmidt was asked if he was afraid that the verbal threats would also turn into physical violence, to which he replied, "It never stops with words." 

Indeed. Europeans have a centuries long history of persecuting Jews. Which culminated in the Holocaust. It’s true that things have changed for the better since then. But I believe that latent antisemitism still exists somewhere in the deep recesses of the collective European mind. Which seems to be rearing its ugly head once again. 

This is not the case n America. I don’t know of s single Jewish community that has experienced the kind of antisemitism that has moved them to remove all Jewish symbols from their lives. That is certainly not the case here in Chicago. Is it the case in New York?

As I always say, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be vigilant even here in the US. One never knows. But based on my own personal experiences we are nowhere near any kind of antisemitic Armageddon in this county. A country founded by people that knew what religious persecution was all about and unlike Europe built in religious freedom into the fabric of the nation at its founding 250 yeas ago.