Here's some help in understanding resurgent antisemitism

The recent trial, conviction and sentencing of the man who murdered 11 worshipers and wounded six more at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 has, once again, put the spotlight on resurgent antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world.

What are the origins of what often is called the world's oldest hatred and why is it more present today than in recent decades?

For help with answering that question, I'm going to link you first to this article by Alvin H. Rosenfeld, the director of Indiana University’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. I first met Rosenfeld, a prolific author, when he and I were on a panel together at I.U. some years ago. (For my review of one of his books, click here.)

Second, I link you here to this longish essay that I keep elsewhere on my blog about the bleak history of anti-Judaism in Christianity. It argues that from its earliest days until quite recently Christianity preached against the Jews and that theology has deep connections to what, in more recent times, became modern antisemitism. Anti-Judaism is theological in nature while modern antisemitism is rooted more in racial, ethnic and economic thinking (or the lack of it).

Rosenfeld begins his article by noting that "the 22nd annual Antisemitism Worldwide Report from the Anti-Defamation League and Tel Aviv University showed that reported or identifiable antisemitic attacks rose steadily from 751 in 2013 to just shy of 3,700 in 2022 — an increase of almost 400 percent. This is the largest number of such reported incidents since the ADL started recording the data in 1979."

Disturbing statistics, for sure. But worse, as he notes, "We are now in an era where antisemitism is not only growing, but antisemites also feel much more free to express themselves in both word and deed."

Rosenfeld spends much of his article detailing his contention that "there are two important sources of antisemitism. One, popularized in modern times by the malicious 1903 Russian hoax The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, is the figure of the conspiratorial Jew. The other is his figurative brother, the diabolical Jew. Bring the two together, and you have the delusional but abiding portrait of Jews as a community inherently hostile to non-Jews, intent on bringing endless suffering to mankind — a community that must be dealt with decisively before it is too late."

I would add theological anti-Judaism to that, as I do in my essay, to which I linked you above.

As for the Pittsburgh killer, Rosenfeld writes this: "To judge from his social-media postings, he was enraged: 'HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.' HIAS, formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, helps settle refugees and immigrants of all backgrounds."

Well, I invite you to read Rosenfeld's helpful piece and then to find ways to help combat antisemitism. I can immediately suggest two ways -- by supporting the work of two agencies on the boards of which I now serve, the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and SevenDays. That would be a good start.

Oh, and as for the death sentence in the Pittsburgh shooting case, capital punishment itself needs to die, a case I made recently in this Flatland column.

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CO-FOUNDER OF MIDWEST CENTER FOR HOLOCAUST EDUCATION DIES

It's fitting that I wrote about antisemitism here today because we learned on Monday that Kansas City and the world lost a jewel of a man this week with the death of Jack Mandelbaum, one of the co-founders of the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. (He's pictured here.)

As the MCHE website says, "MCHE was founded in 1993 by Holocaust survivors Jack Mandelbaum and Isak Federman. We teach the history of the Holocaust, applying its lessons to counter indifference, intolerance and genocide. Jack and Isak’s founding vision was of an outreach center focusing all resources on education. Because of this, MCHE is not a museum, but rather a nimble, responsive organization that is able to adapt to the audience and their need."

Steve Cole, MCHE board president, in a note to other board members, wrote that "while Jack’s impact was broader than just the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, I marvel at the part of his legacy that is manifest in our organization. To have overcome his life’s experiences and to then have had the foresight to create MCHE specifically as a teaching enterprise leaves me in awe. MCHE has gone on to impact hundreds of thousands of people over its 30-year history, a great accomplishment that we honor as we continue our organization’s work in Jack’s memory."

I was blessed to have Jack's help when Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn and I were writing our book, They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust. That work involved quite a few interviews in Poland, and Jack served as our translator for several of them there in his native land. Jack was the subject of the 2002 book by Andrea Warren, Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps. Last year the play version of that book was performed at the White Theatre at the Jewish Community Center Campus. As Jacques and I talked via email this week about Jack's death, he summed him up this way: "He lived a truly remarkable life." Indeed. (Here is a link to Jack's obit from the website of Louis Memorial Chapel.)

(This photo shows a few of the family members and friends who came Tuesday afternoon to bid Jack farewell at the beautiful chapel at the Kehilath Israel Blue Ridge Cemetery in Independence.)

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