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By William E. Silver, DDS
Past President Temple Beth Am
Antisemitism expresses itself in many forms but few are more lethal or more persistent as the cartoon caricatures of the hook-nosed Jew sitting on a pile of cash looking pleased with himself. This kind of image has appeared countless times over the centuries in a range of countries and cultures, even our own, always with the same goal of depicting the Jew as a sinister other who pushes his own sectarian interest at the expense of society as a whole. The most recent example came from the British newspaper THE GUARDIAN .Not the first time this publication has been taken to task for featuring antisemitic caricatures and probably not the last time either!
From celebrating Hitler’s birthday in Southern California to a Jew assaulted at a Florida Walmart to the Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting in the Squirell Hill neighborhood in Pittsburg, it is an omnipresent problem.It became even more specific, during the trial, the accused perpetrator allegedly declared loudly “All Jews must die!” However it is comforting to know that the congregational representative declared that “the love of our community is stronger than the action of any one person!”
In world history, we may recall the expulsion of all Jews from Spain in 1492 by Queen Isabella to the most recent rant in our own State of Virginia when “some good people” marched the streets chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” Sometimes, it is more subtle, such as with the BDS movement when action against the State of Israel is equally destructive to Jews as well as Israel.
In the history of our country, from the highest level, it was the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who refused to sign an executive order giving priority to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution to allow 900 plus refugees to enter our country causing them to return to Germany aboard the ocean liner St. Louis only to be sent to death in the Holocaust.
Even today, the Goyim Defense League is active. They are a conspiracy of theorists who conducted a recent tour throughout central and south Florida in a van covered with hate symbols, hurling antisemitic slurs and distributing racist propaganda. The FBI’s most recent statistics found the number of reported hate incidents had grown from 949 in 2019 to a total of 8,263 incidents in 2020. Demonstrators associated with the Goyim Defense League waved swastikas, held signs with antisemitic and LGBTQ messages and handed out bigoted flyers in Tampa. And again , in 2022 from Parkland to Coral Gables.
The ADL has referred to the January 6 insurrection at the US capital as ” an inflection point for extremism in America”. Of 850 capital riot defendants catalogued by the ADL, 90 of them were from the Sunshine State! Among that group was the chairman of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio of Miami!
Antisemitism does not stand alone. Jews are just the center of prejudice and discrimination. Ask a member of the LGBTQ community or a person of color. In addition , vulnerability is omnipresent. Those who are most vulnerable are the least equipped to protect themselves.
Those who can hear must listen. Those who are most able must act. Those who care about the future must bond together.
We form the organizations that multiply the efforts of the forgotten individual who is powerless to act alone.
Just recently , and I hope not superseded by another event, the shooter outside a mall in Allen, Texas was obsessed with violence and subscribed to a range of ideologies including antisemitism and white supremacy .
The ADL has documented right wing extremism as the greatest threat to America.The ADL of Florida has recently conducted a “No Place for Hate Day”!
Personally, I belong to Temple Beth Am , a reform congregation in Miami where we have created an antisemitism task force, in partnership with ADL. We have presented many programs at our new facility,THE HUB where we welcome anyone who has been affected by bias or racism to our programs.
Speech is not a one way street. We will continue to be at the forefront of any discussion regarding antisemitism or hate in any form.
THINK NATIONALLY! ACT LOCALLY!
