The Jews are Scared. Please be an Ally.

[Anonymous]

As a Jew, I think it's because "white Jews" are an easy target for everyone. We are seen as "privileged" and any meaningful conversation about anti-Semitism includes "well at least people don't immediately know you are Jewish" and "but you are white" and "Jews are different" and "it must be a part of a larger conversation." Sure, but still.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a Jew, I think it's because "white Jews" are an easy target for everyone. We are seen as "privileged" and any meaningful conversation about anti-Semitism includes "well at least people don't immediately know you are Jewish" and "but you are white" and "Jews are different" and "it must be a part of a larger conversation." Sure, but still.

That’s because Americans can’t see beyond skin tone. In Europe, no one talks like that because they know that skin tone is not the beginning, middle, and end of privilege. If it was, Europe wouldn’t have had all manner of genocides over the centuries (multiple of which were directed at Jews, as it happens).

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry OP.
We recently moved from the DC area to the SE.
There is a large Republican presence in the south. I think Trump gave crazies permission to outwardly hate. Yes, I do think the political climate and the rhetoric used by Trump gave permission for unstable people to act out. The things that comes out of peoples mouths is chilling. These are the people we have socialized with. These are people that WORSHIP Trump. These are people who make racist comments that easily flow out of their mouth. There has always been violence and it is no coincidence that the violence has increased in the Trump era.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in exile. It's not meant to be comfortable.


To comfort you, consider that anti-Semitism has always existed and yet the Jews still exist. It's a historical miracle.

Save the martyrdom for the Christian’s. You deserve better.

[Anonymous]

I am an AA woman with mostly AA friends. I am happy to be an ally, but honestly, I only know one Jewish family IRL. How can I help? What can I do to be substantive instead of performative? I am heartbroken that we're even in this space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an AA woman with mostly AA friends. I am happy to be an ally, but honestly, I only know one Jewish family IRL. How can I help? What can I do to be substantive instead of performative? I am heartbroken that we're even in this space.

Speak out against antisemitism when you see it, even if Jews aren’t there. It will still help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in exile. It's not meant to be comfortable.


To comfort you, consider that anti-Semitism has always existed and yet the Jews still exist. It's a historical miracle.

Save the martyrdom for the Christian’s. You deserve better.

I'm not stressed about anti semitism, because I am comfortable with the idea that I don't belong in exile. The only reason that bothers you is that you think that you are not in exile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an AA woman with mostly AA friends. I am happy to be an ally, but honestly, I only know one Jewish family IRL. How can I help? What can I do to be substantive instead of performative? I am heartbroken that we're even in this space.

Donate to synagogues’ security funds.

Call out antisemitism when you see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell me more about being an ally. My adult child is seriously dating a Jew and we all want to be as supportive as possible!
I think we are a welcoming family but I’ll do anything to fight anti Semitism.

Speak out against it when you hear it or see it. Read about what is Jew hatred so you recognize it and can call it out.

[Anonymous]

Speak out when something strikes you as antisemitic.

[Anonymous]

Speak out when something strikes you as antisemitic.

I agree, but an issue is that people tend to surround themselves with others who think like them. There are many people with antisemitic views these days, based on events and interactions I am reading about in the media, but they are not people who I interact with or engage with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The spike in antisemitism is hugely concerning. When we went to High Holiday services, there was a police car outside. I had to lie to my kids and just say that the police protect any large group, rather than the truth: As a very visible temple, we are potential targets.

Still, I can't really understand the level of concern you describe: The U.S. has, by historical standards, been incredibly welcoming, and we have flourished socially, politically, and professionally. Yes, I understand that's exactly what the Jews of Germany said in the 1930s, but I just don't see any short-term risk of institutionalized antisemitism, much less expulsion.

All that nutty QAnon stuff is regurgitated blood libel, and we have politicians and political candidates for a major party openly espousing antisemitic sentiments. Antisemitic violence is way up. You don't need "institutionalized" antisemitism to be concerned; stochastic terrorism is a real threat.

[Anonymous]

For Jews, the present cannot be separated from the past. If someone is Jewish and voices concern about something you, as a non-Jew, do not see as troubling, hear them out.

[Anonymous]

Realize, too, that for 2,000 years, Jew haters have been trying to “divorce the Jew from mankind,” as E. Wiesel once put it. It’s an oppressive history that should inform anyone’s discussion about the current ugliness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an AA woman with mostly AA friends. I am happy to be an ally, but honestly, I only know one Jewish family IRL. How can I help? What can I do to be substantive instead of performative? I am heartbroken that we're even in this space.

Speak out against antisemitism when you see it, even if Jews aren’t there. It will still help.

What exactly is antisemitism? I thought I knew but now I’m questioning it based on the DC Monologue from SNL. For the life of me I cannot find the anti-semitism in what he said.