While antisemitic hate crimes increase in North America, there’s been a resurgence of the Jewish left – led by young people, rooted in solidarity with other marginalized communities, focused on ending the Israeli occupation, and held together by new articulations of Jewish community and ritual.
On October 30, as dusk gathered on the soccer field at Toronto’s Dufferin Grove Park, hundreds of Jews and their allies congregated, holding candles and each other’s hands. They were mourning the loss of 11 people who were shot to death at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh three days before. The vigil was hosted by the Toronto chapter of IfNotNow (INN), an organization working within North American Jewish communities to end support for Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
“For many of us, this moment triggers painful memories of our own experiences with antisemitism and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents,” said INN member Vlada Bilyak to the crowd, near the end of the vigil. “Our fear is real. And in these moments, it is easy to let our fear guide our actions. But we must remember that Jews have never been safe in the hands of white supremacy, and that white supremacy seeks to tear us apart.”
The Tree of Life synagogue shooting happened amid a climate of emboldened antisemitism across North America. In 2017 a rash of neo-Nazi posters was plastered across the campus of the University of Victoria, and in 2018 more explicit ones were found in Toronto’s St. Clair West neighbourhood. In October, the words “Jews Beware,” “Jewish Commies,” and several swastikas were found spray-painted on the Winchevsky Centre, a secular Jewish community space in Toronto that houses the United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO). And in November, four Jewish teenagers wearing kippahs and black fedoras (hats commonly worn by Orthodox Jewish men) were assaulted in Toronto.
In 2017, reports of antisemitic hate crimes in Canada spiked by 60 per cent from the previous year – part of a swelling wave of hate crimes against Muslims, Black people, Asians, and LGBTQ+ people in the wake of Donald Trump’s election.
This story is from the March/April 2019 edition of Briarpatch.
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This story is from the March/April 2019 edition of Briarpatch.
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