Dear
Readers,
These columns began on my area of America Online, called: Judaism
Today: Where Do I Fit? People anonymously
sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response
in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become
quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many
Jewish papers and websites. I hope you find they help you
as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood
components of the Jewish way of Life. I welcome your
comments... see the end of the column.
Gil
PS
Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward
them or use them as you see fit. Please see the friendly
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ARE
JEWS SAFE IN AMERICA?
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Dear
Gil:
What
is your position on synagogues that
were recently burned in California? I
shudder to think what is next for our
people!!! Is this just another nail
for us, are we really "safe"
in the U.S.? What can we do as Jews to
stop it from happening in the first
place?
S
Dear
S:
Thanks
for your letter on a most timely
issue. Before getting to your
questions, for the benefit of readers
who may not know the details, this is
what happened:
On
Friday, June 18th at about 3 in the
morning, three synagogues (two Reform
and one Orthodox) in Sacramento
California were torched. Damage from
the arsons may reach $1 million
dollars. Nobody was hurt and no Torahs
were destroyed, but one of the
synagogues lost 5000 books and 300
videos from their library.
Left
at two of the sites was hate
literature from a white supremacist
organization called the World Church.
Their rather confusing flyer claims
"We are Slavs, we will never
allow the International Jew World
Order to take our Land. The fake
Albanian refugee crisis was
manufactured by the International
Jewsmedia to justify the terrorizing,
the bestial bombing of our Yugoslavia
back into the dark ages."
That
in essence describes the dirty deeds.
Now to your questions. I'll start with
your questions about our safety as
Jews in America--or as you put it, is
this "another nail?"
A
nail in our coffin I assume you mean.
I would not use this analogy. Part of
the reason is what has happened since
these arsons.
Days
later, a rally to protest the burnings
attracted 4500 people. On the stage,
were over 300 religious and civic
leaders including representatives of
Protestant, Catholic and Muslims
faiths. Even the Reverend from the
local Serbian Orthodox Church
attended! The Governor of California
announced a $25,000 reward for
information aiding the investigation.
The local paper, The Sacramento Bee,
published a flier topped by the name
of a newly formed group called
"United We Stand." And I
could list even more examples of
vibrant life and hope for the
Sacramento Jewish community in the
face of this attack.
Further,
I am not surprised. In this day and
age, I would be surprised if we did
not receive widespread support after
this kind of anti-Semitic incident.
Because in the words of Jay Tcath, the
incoming director of the Chicago
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
"Anti-Semites are aware that the
tide of history is against them.
Thirty, 40, 50 years ago societal
custom, and indeed law in many cases
was on their side. Now societal
customs and institutional [values]
have changed. They are in the
minority, they are marginalized."
The
statistics back up this statement.
According to the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL,) anti-Semitic incidences
have been dropping--part of a 5 and 10
year trend. 1998 incidents were up
slightly (2%) after three years of
decline.
Beyond
statistics, from an anti-Semitic
perspective, living today as a Jew,
for the most part no longer negatively
affects your day to day life nor big
life decisions like where you can buy
a house, go to college, get a job etc.
This a far cry from the situation Jews
encountered just one generation ago
and certainly two generations ago.
Which
leads me to your other question--What
can Jews do to stop incidents from
happening in the first place? Even
though I would not agree with your
suggestion that our situation is dire,
I would never advocate complacency.
Because
while trend data is encouraging, the
actual numbers are still disturbing.
While the ADL reports lower numbers,
they still did find over 1600
incidents of anti-Semitism in 1998.
Some of the incidents are quite
serious. For example, there have been
39 cases of arson against Jewish
institutions in the past 5 years. In
addition, anti-Semitism on the
Internet is widespread, dangerous and
difficult to track.
How
to proactively combat this? Three
ideas come to mind: supporting
organizations that do outreach and
education with our non-Jewish
neighbors and supporting organizations
that fight anti-Semitism. Support
means give of your time and money to
organizations like your local JCRC,
Federation and the ADL.
The
third thing I'd suggest is to remain
apprised of anti-Semitism, report it
when you see it and speak up. Online,
one way you can stay abreast is at the
ADL's website: www.ADL.org.
I'll
close with one last item. If you are
interested in helping the Sacramento
community rebuild from these arson
attacks, you can send a check payable
to The Unity Fund and send it to the
Jewish Federation of the Sacramento
Region, 2351 Wyda Way, Sacramento, CA
95825. (916) 486-0906.
Thanks
again for writing,
Gil
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© Copyright Gil Mann
These columns can be found at www.beingjewish.org. Not
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