March 8, 2017
My son's bar mitzvah recently was a time of joy and pride. Seeing him grown into a young adult who can lead our Jewish community in prayer was awe-inspiring. Add family from across the country and friends to the mix, and it became a euphoric moment we will remember forever.
Yet underneath my elation, I also entered the synagogue on Saturday, where my wife is a rabbi, with a sense of trepidation, keenly aware that my son, my family, and my fellow congregants are potential targets of the recent surge of antisemitism.
Bomb threats on Jewish institutions have come in several waves since Jan. 1. Schools in four states and 54 Jewish community centers in 27 states have been targeted, including several in South Florida. Even Jewish dead have had their peace disturbed, with hundreds of headstones vandalized at Jewish cemeteries in Missouri and Pennsylvania.
Sadly, this is nowhere near an exhaustive list of the threats and hate crimes against the Jewish community and other minorities in the United States in recent months.
Heading up the Miami office of a global Jewish advocacy organization, I have followed closely and spoken out about the upsurge of antisemitism in Europe in recent years. But I had always thought that the cancer of antisemitism was alien to America. I see I was wrong.
When I spoke in front of the congregation that morning in the synagogue, I conveyed a message to my son that can also stand as advice to my fellow Jews and to our country.
First, we must learn from history. In preparing for his bar mitzvah, my son spent time with several amazing Holocaust survivors, through a program at the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach. Through their stories about the most painful period of Jewish history, he committed himself to never forget what happens when antisemitism goes unchecked, and the need to speak out.
Second, in the Torah portion that my son chanted for his bar mitzvah, God issues the profound commandment, "You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." We must live by the concepts of empathy, compassion, and respect during times when these are not reflected in the wider society.
Our nation's motto, E Pluribus Unum, out of many one, must not become an empty slogan. America promises all its citizens equal rights and equal protection under the laws. Our democracy is not based on religious or ethnic homogeneity, but on equality of all, regardless of ethnicity or religion.
A year ago, 33 mayors of cities and towns in Florida joined with more than 500 mayors from across the U.S. and Europe in signing AJC's Mayors United Against Antisemitism statement. But words alone are not enough. Efforts to fight and defeat antisemitism must follow — the goal must be zero tolerance for antisemitism in our communities. State and local governments must aggressively investigate hate crimes and update the public on the status of their investigations and fully implement existing hate crimes statutes.
For our city, our state, indeed, our country, this vigilance is vital.
Brian Siegal is director of the American Jewish Committee's Greater Miami and Broward Regional Office.
This article was originally published on Sun-Sentinel.
