A Jewish man beaten by a mob of protesters in Times Square. A man yelling antisemitic slurs at a rabbi outside a synagogue telling the rabbi, “Jews should die”—and then leaving a bag of human feces in front of the building. A synagogue preschool getting a voicemail from a caller threatening to be “the next synagogue shooter.”
These are only three of the incidents that occurred in the United States in a single month: May 2021. In 2020, the number of antisemitic incidents in our country was the highest since the Anti-Defamation League began keeping records forty years ago. Unfortunately, there is no sign this year that the numbers will decrease.
It should not need saying: there is never any political or social justification for targeting individuals and communities because of who they are. Attacks on Jewish individuals, schools, synagogues, and other community centers—like attacks on anyone in our country—make us all vulnerable. They are alarming signs of deeper polarization, hatred, and violence. They erode the foundations of trust and basic decency, undermining our ability as a society to address the many challenges that confront us.
The Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations (an association of centers and institutes in North America devoted to enhancing mutual understanding between Jews and Christians) stands together with our Jewish colleagues and neighbors at a time when Jewish Americans are feeling especially vulnerable. We call on all people of goodwill—as individual citizens and as communities, whatever our faith tradition—to do the same. Antisemitism can never be tolerated. We must speak out and work against it and all forms of hatred and violence whenever we encounter them.