'We need allies': What NJ Jewish leaders want you to do about rising antisemitism

When the FBI alerted New Jersey Jews to a "broad threat" against their houses of worship last Thursday, the community jumped into action.

Some closed synagogues early, others boosted security measures, and many worked with local law enforcement to post extra patrols around their temples.

A day later, the FBI announced that it had "identified the source of the threat ... against an unspecified New Jersey area synagogue" and said the person "no longer poses a danger to the community." On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark said a Middlesex County man had been charged with transmitting the threats via an online manifesto that promised "an attack on Jews."

But that offered only so much relief to a community that has seen antisemitic words and acts become disturbingly mainstream in just the past few weeks.

Ugly comments by Kyrie Irving and Kanye West were just the latest in a seemingly constant stream of entertainers, athletes and politicians from both parties who have expressed hostility or traded in antisemitic tropes in recent years. College students say they have been targeted on campus for publicly identifying as Jews. Worshippers at synagogues around the country have died in mass shootings, and Jews have been assaulted on the streets.

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"It is a sad reality of the 2022 world we are inhabiting," said Rabbi David Seth Kirshner of Temple Emanu-El of Closter, which implemented additional security measures after the FBI warning.

"What was most frightening is that when this threat came to our attention, we had no idea if this was a white nationalist, a radical anti-Israel Muslim, a left-wing anti-Israel instigator, or a product of the fresh Kanye-related antisemitism," he said. "What is ironic is it doesn't matter: The stench is the same from all sources of hatred."

New Jersey is no stranger to such threats.

In December 2019, four victims were killed in a shootout at a kosher grocery in Jersey City; the assailants, who were also killed, had planned a large-scale attack on the local Jewish community. Days later, a man wielding a machete attacked five people during a Hanukkah party at a rabbi's home in Rockland County, New York, leaving one person dead and others injured.

In April, a New Jersey man was arrested after allegedly targeting four Orthodox Jewish men in Lakewood: Police say the attacker forced an Orthodox man out of his car and then deliberately struck and tried to kill three other visibly Orthodox men; one was stabbed in the chest. The suspect told detectives that the attacks "had to be done," according to authorities.

An all-time high of 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism against Jews were reported last year to the Anti-Defamation League, the civil rights group that fights antisemitism. That was a 34% increase over the previous year and the highest number on record since the group began tracking such behavior in 1979.

New Jersey recorded 370 antisemitic incidents last year, behind only the 416 in New York state, according to ADL figures.

West, the rapper and fashion designer now known as Ye, was widely condemned for a since-removed Oct. 8 tweet in which he threatened to go "death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE." It took a while, but amid public pressure, Adidas and Gap both cut financial ties with him.

Irving, the all-star NBA point guard, was suspended by the Brooklyn Nets and dropped by Nike after he shared a link last month to a 2018 antisemitic film, "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America." The movie, based on director Ronald Dalton's book series of the same name. includes antisemitic stereotypes and Holocaust denial. Since Irving's tweet, it has become an Amazon bestseller.

The ADL and other groups have asked Amazon to either remove the book and video or label them with a warning about their offensive content.

Irving posted an apology on Instagram last week, saying he "initially reacted out of emotion to being unjustly labeled Anti-Semitic, instead of focusing on the healing process of my Jewish Brothers and Sisters that were hurt from the hateful remarks made in the Documentary," he said.

West and Irving are only the most recent celebrities to generate a firestorm.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, has invoked Hitler and the Holocaust in political metaphors about COVID restrictions, while Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, was criticized for comments about American Jews' political influence.

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In Pennsylvania this year, GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano faced heat for his ties to Gab, a far-right social media platform, and its founder, Andrew Torba, over antisemitic commentary on the site. The Republican lost Tuesday's election to a Jewish opponent, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Gab has a dark history in Pennsylvania: It is where Robert Bowers posted his anti-Jewish rants before killing 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, in the deadliest attack ever on American Jews.

Mastriano also made waves in September when he accused Shapiro of having "disdain for people like us," because the Democrat attended and sent his children to a Jewish school Mastriano called "privileged, exclusive, elite." His comments were condemned as evoking sinister stereotypes of Jews.

Standing up and pushing back

Experts attribute the soaring hate to a variety of factors, including the unstable political environment in the U.S., economic hardships and social media, which has amplified the voices of extremists and allowed haters to find one another easily.

"Our country is at serious odds with itself," said Alvin Rosenfeld, an antisemitism scholar at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. "Everyone is tense, and social and political life are more strained. That's breeding grounds for hatred of all kinds. There's a tribal animosity between various groups. When the economy goes down, antisemitism often goes up because people look for a scapegoat. Traditionally, it's been the Jews whom people blame."

In New Jersey, Jewish leaders say that hatred doesn't affect just Jewish people. It damages the broader society, so everyone must take part in fighting back, they argue.

"This country is having an important conversation about diversity and equality, but antisemitism is being left off the agenda, and that's wrong," said Archie Gottesman, co-founder of JewBelong, a nonprofit based in Montclair that battles anti-Jewish sentiment. "We need to talk about antisemitism. Hate is illogical: Jews are only 2% of the country. People who don't even know Jews say they hate them."

The group has paid to post neon-pink billboards and electronic messages around the country with witty messages to combat hate.

"Can a billboard end antisemitism?" asks one. "No. But you're not a billboard."

Rosenfeld said the Jewish community must educate people and inform them about what constitutes antisemitism. "Most Americans are not antisemitic but don't know a lot about Judaism or Israel and can be vulnerable to misinformation." In addition, he said, the community must protect itself. If there are genuine threats, "we have to employ security guards."

Rabbi David Levy, director of the New Jersey branch of the American Jewish Committee, said everyone must speak out against antisemitism wherever it arises.

"There's a rise of people feeling like it's OK to express hate. When they hear people in their friend and work groups sharing things that are antisemitic, people often go silent because they don't want to get involved. But they need to speak out, because there's no place in our society for antisemitism and hate. Speaking out is one of the most powerful antidotes to hate."

"It can't just be the Jewish community alone that speaks out," he added. "We need allies. We live in a time when one in four Jews have reported that they had been a target of antisemitism in the past 12 months whether online, verbally or physically."

Jason Shames, CEO of the Paramus-based Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, agreed. "The best way to prevent it is to have non-Jews stand up on our behalf. It would be nice if those with spheres of influence stood up on social media and rejected strongly and without hesitation the hateful rhetoric of Kanye and Kyrie."

It seems one superstar has already followed that advice.

John Mellencamp: Mellencamp speaks out against antisemitism

In Cleveland last Saturday, legendary New York entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When he took the stage to deliver remarks about his friend, rocker John Mellencamp took the opportunity to deliver an impassioned speech decrying bigotry against Jews.

"I cannot tell you how f--ing important it is to speak out if you're an artist against antisemitism," said Mellencamp, whose hits include "Jack & Diane" and "Hurts So Good."

"Silence is complicity," he said. "I'm standing here tonight loudly and proudly with Allen, his family and all of my Jewish friends and all of the Jewish people of the world."

It led a few Jewish music and sports fans on social media to muse that they know where they will spend the money they previously devoted to Ye merchandise and NBA games: on John Mellencamp albums.

Deena Yellin covers religion for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to her work covering how the spiritual intersects with our daily lives, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: yellin@northjersey.com

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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ Jews seek new allies after synagogue threat, Kyrie Irving incident