![]() “We have a choice to go away quietly and give in to the hateful influences around us,” said Rabbi Zippel, 28. In fact, he hosts an annual event in Salt Lake City called “ Jewish Heritage Night with the Utah Jazz,” in which he lights a menorah on the court during half-time at a basketball game, in front of more than 18,000 spectators. Rabbi Avremi Zippel, the program director of the Chabad Lubavitch of Utah, said he’ll be putting a menorah in his window this year, like every year before. I am openly Jewish and have never been afraid to show it- Mike Goodseed December 4, 2019 ![]() I live in Brooklyn (the home to all the anti-jewish violence) not only am I not afraid, I'll be attending tens of large public lightings of the menorah. Anti Semitism has been a part of my world since birth,” he told the Deseret News.įor the life of me I don't understand this. I have NEVER felt comfortable publicly sharing my Judaism, especially around the holidays. “ have not ever done so and probably won’t start this year. “My concern is that my grandchildren would be here and could suffer from an anti-Semitic attack on our home.”Ĭolby, who lives with his family in Oregon, agreed. “We normally put an electronic menorah right on the house every year but for the last two years I have been afraid to do so,” said Brenda Claveloux, a 64-year-old in Union, New Jersey. ![]() I even strategically block line of sight from the windows.” “Because of childhood and young adult experiences, as well fear for my family, I hide my Hanukkah decorations,” said 33-year-old Stephen, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. DMs are open and feel free to share.- Gillian Friedman December 4, 2019 (Some asked the Deseret News to identify them only by their first names, out of concern that they could be targeted.)Īre you Jewish and feeling afraid or ambivalent about putting a menorah in your window this year, with anti-Semitism on the rise? Or the opposite: is it especially important to you to do so? I'd love to speak with you for a story. Several Jews told the Deseret News that like Crane, that wouldn’t be putting a menorah in their window this year due to fear for their own safety or that of their families. ![]() ‘I would be afraid of being attacked in the street’ about whether they will put a menorah in their window this year. “The message is a very inspiring one for America as a whole, about religious freedom and tolerance and Jews having the right to their own fate.”īut with anti-Semitism on the rise, the Deseret News talked to more than 50 Jews around the world - from the U.S. Steven Bayme, the American Jewish Committee’s director of Contemporary Jewish Life. “Displaying the Hanukkah menorah in the window is a time-honored tradition,” said Dr. Danger at the synagogue: The story of a shooting tragedy that could have been much worseĭuring Hanukkah, it is traditional for Jews to light the menorah and place it in the front window - symbolizing the hard-won freedom of the Jewish people to practice their faith without fear of persecution.It was the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. There have been three synagogue attacks in a little over a year: the Poway attack, a synagogue shooting in Halle, Germany, and the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting in October 2018, which left 11 dead. According to FBI data from 2016, the last year for which figures are available, 54.4% of victims of anti-religious hate crimes were Jewish. These events are part of a larger trend: the number of anti-Semitic incidents across the United States as a whole rose 57% in 2017, according to an audit by the Anti-Defamation League, the largest single-year increase on record and the second highest number since the league started tracking such data in 1979. In a recent survey of American Jews by the American Jewish Committee, one in four respondents said they “avoid certain places, events or situations out of fear” for their “safety or comfort as a Jew.” Nearly a third of the more than 1,200 respondents said they avoided “publicly wearing, carrying or displaying things that might help people identify” them as Jewish. “But if I put a menorah in my window, I’m afraid that someone’s going to break that window, or hurt me or my wife.” “I look out my window right now, and the neighbors have already decked out everything with Christmas decorations,” she said. “If I put a menorah in my window, I’m afraid that someone’s going to break that window, or hurt me or my wife” - Vicki Anne Crane, San Diego
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