Yet another serious physical attack on a Jewish man took place on Aug. 31. This time it was in the Maywood section of Brooklyn, New York. According to a tweet by former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, "A young Jewish man was called a [expletive] Jew and then belted over the head with a metal buckle!"
The assault happened while police were still busy investigating two other hate crimes against religious Jewish men a week earlier: In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a man hit a rabbi in the face with a paving stone, broke his nose and knocked out two of his front teeth. Also in Crown Heights, just two days later, a number of suspects threw ice at an Orthodox Jewish man who was sitting in traffic, causing severe injuries to his eye.
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This is a stark, ugly reminder that violent anti-Semitism is a growing trend in America. Unfortunately, due to political discord and the terrible rhetoric flying out from all directions, it has become fashionable again to speak against and physically lash out at Jews.
As our enemies clamor for more violence, we as a community cannot afford the luxury of apathy and smugness. We have to start uniting the various segments of the Jewish community, and not only because of street violence. Our enemies are more united than we are and dangerous extremists, with various motives, are bursting out to continue the spiral of violence.
The haters are not going to bother to determine if you are religious or non-observant. The extremists will not give pause to determine if you are liberal or conservative, Sephardi or Ashkenazi. Nor will they care if a Jew is white, black, Asian, or Hispanic. They are colorblind when it comes to hatred and don't distinguish based on affiliation, or lack thereof.
Know this: The more we ignore the fragmented landscape of Jewish life, the more they can lash out with impunity. While personal self-defense training is an extremely effective response to street violence, there is more that must be done. We must change the thinking in the Jewish community. We cannot fight this the "old" way – by depending on law enforcement, studying the the causes of anti-Semitism, having coffee with local church groups, or meeting with political officials.
We cannot afford to say "at least that wasn't a Jew from my synagogue." From Brooklyn to Pittsburgh to Poway to the July 28 shooting outside of the Young Israel of Greater Miami synagogue where an elderly congregant was shot six times (an incident that drew almost no media attention outside Florida,) violent attacks on Jews are being committed across the country. We must also remember that since the Pittsburgh massacre, police have preempted numerous mass casualty attacks that were still in the planning stages.
When American Jews unite, it is an extremely powerful and wonderful thing. Think what our community achieved for Soviet Jewry starting in the 1970s!
Let us work to increase our sensitivity to all Jews in the face of this hate and danger. We must not wait until it is too late. We are all in this together, whatever our beliefs. We need to put aside our differences and start making progress toward real unity.
Join the cause for Jewish unity. Start by simply understanding that we are all in this together. Don't wait until more anti-Semites use a brick or a bat to remind you that we have to band together!
