For many Jews in the United States, Passover is expected to be a time for prayer, reflection, and gathering with loved ones for festive Seders, which commemorate the story of Israelites being liberated from slavery in ancient Egypt. But for at least three different American Jewish communities, the beginning of this year’s week-long religious celebration was marked by something else: fear.
On Tuesday morning, members of the Shaare Torah Congregation in Gaithersburg, Maryland awoke to find their synagogue covered in offensive graffiti, with several windows and walls spray-painted with white swastikas and offensive words and phrases.
“When I heard the news, I wanted to cry,” Connie Liss, president of the synagogue, told ThinkProgress.
Members of the congregation rushed to remove the markings, but Liss said the damage could take some time to undo.
“A team is there trying to spray wash it off,” she said. “We’ll get it off eventually.”
Members of the synagogue tweeted pictures of the vandalism Tuesday morning.
https://twitter.com/mikeyfranklin/status/585459378226126849
Yet Shaare Torah wasn’t the first American Jewish community confronted with anti-Jewish hatred this week. On Monday, over 1,600 miles away in Boulder, Colorado, the Boulder Jewish Community Center was evacuated after officials received an envelope filled with white powder and a note reading “your (sic) have enemies.” A few hours later, another powder-filled envelope was found two miles away at the Congregation Har HaShem synagogue. The powder was determined to be benign in both cases, but the FBI is reportedly investigating the crime, and local Jews are working on how best to react to the threats.
“Jewish institutions face unique security concerns, which is why we are continually reviewing and evaluating our security protocols,” read a statement from leaders posted on the community center’s website. “We are committed to maintaining the highest level of safety for everyone who walks in our doors and for the community at large. At this time we are still working with authorities who remain on site.”
Anti-Semitism has been on the rise globally over the past few years — especially in Europe, where Jews are fleeing to Israel and other countries in record numbers to avoid harassment. Yet the United States, home to about 40 percent of the world’s Jews, has long been viewed as a safe-haven from this kind of vitriol, and has observed a decade-long decline in anti-Jewish attacks since their peak in 1994.
But new studies hint that this happy trend could be ending. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a new report in March declaring that anti-Semitic incidents spiked 21 percent across the country in 2014. The ADL, which categorized anti-Semitic incidents as assaults, vandalism, and harassment targeting Jewish institutions, counted 912 incidents in 2014, up from 751 the previous year. This is especially significant given that anti-Jewish incidents already made up almost 60 percent of religiously-biased hate crimes in the United States in 2013, according to statistics collected by the FBI.
The hatred isn’t limited to houses of worship, either. In February, Trinity College published the National Demographic Survey of American Jewish College Students, which reported that 54 percent of Jewish students at universities experienced anti-Semitism on campus during the first six months of the 2013–2014 academic year. Researchers noted that Jewish students experienced anti-Semitism regardless of their personal religious observance, with 51 percent of secular Jews also reporting incidents of hostility towards Jews or Judaism at their college.
Unsurprisingly, several American Jewish communities are responding to this disturbing new wave of intolerance with an abundance of caution.
“We are aware that there are times we have to be careful,” Liss said.
Analysts offer various explanations for this sudden uptick in hatred towards Jews, but many note the spikes often track with Jewish holidays and world events, such as last year’s war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Some are also concerned that this trend is partially due to weakened relationships between different American religious groups, and are experimenting with different ways to address strained interfaith bonds. Last week, Nadine Epstein, editor of the prominent Jewish magazine Moment, launched a campaign asking Jews to fight anti-Semitism by inviting non-Jews to Passover Seders. The idea, she says, is to combat hatred by exposing a wider net of people to Jewish hospitality, stories, and community.
“I am delighted to hear that so many people will be making a special effort this year to include non-Jews, including Christians and Muslims,” Epstein said in a statement. “Fear is deeply entrenched on all sides, and to fight anti-Semitism and all prejudice we need to move beyond it.”
Other Jews are also doing their best to respond to anti-Semitism with graciousness and prayerful defiance. Liss told ThinkProgress her community planned to host a service Tuesday evening at the damaged synagogue, where attendees were expected to pray for healing as a congregation. She said that if she were able to meet the vandals, she’d ask them to spend a few days with her congregation in hopes of building community — not hatred — by encountering religious difference.
“I’d ask them: what exactly is it that is so offensive to you?” she said.