This tragic sign of our times sits in front of North Jersey synagogues | Mike Kelly

Each Saturday in the New Jersey community where I live, a sad social ballet unfolds.

Jewish residents who merely want to exercise their First Amendment right to worship at a synagogue of their choice have to be guarded by armed police officers or private security guards. The reason: It’s too dangerous to be a Jew now in America.

No one seems all that upset. It's as if we have embraced yet another "new normal" in American life.

For my town, however, this kind of change is hardly inconsequential.

I live in the historically progressive North Jersey town of Teaneck, just 5 miles from Manhattan’s lights. The point here is that Teaneck is hardly a haven for neo-Nazis or terrorism. Yes, we have our share of bigots. (What town doesn’t?) But Teaneck is not a place that openly traffics in hate. In fact, the town actively tries to resist it — sometimes clumsily.

Now, however, if a town such as Teaneck has to assign police and armed guards to keep watch over its synagogues, what have we come to?

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

A tradition of openness

In the 1930s, as Hitler breathed his murderous plans into the world, Teaneck became one of the first suburban towns in America that openly welcomed Jews. Amid today’s multicultural Americana, that singular act of defiance may not seem all that unusual or brave. But in 1930s suburban New Jersey, as some real estate agents in nearby towns insisted that homes could be sold only to Christians, Teaneck broke down barriers.

Decades later, after African Americans were encouraged to settle in Teaneck, the town became the first in America to vote to desegregate its schools with busing. Today, the town is home to a vibrant Muslim community, not to mention other residents with ties to some 80 nations.

Theses changes were often handled awkwardly by Teaneck. Some residents even resisted the town's embrace of multiculturism. But in the end, goodness beat the dark pressures of bigotry, earning my town a long, hard-earned and well-documented reputation as a place of open doors and tolerance.

Now, sadly, those doors need police protection. And what's also sad in my town is that we have come to accept the inevitability of cops guarding our places of worship with the same kind of ho-hum acquiescence and hands-are-tied attitude that our nation seems to embrace when we hear of another mass shooting. Yes, we notice. Yes, we may be concerned and shake our heads. But do anything?

Nah.

Passover and Easter beckon

I mention this because the coming days are filled with important religious ceremonies and guideposts for life. Jews celebrate Passover and its messages of religious freedom. Christians turn the page from Lenten reflection to the spiritual conversion of Easter.

And yet, we do this amid a growing fear that hate can quickly intervene to create a bloodbath.

Just in time for Passover, the Anti-Defamation League reported that antisemitic incidents across America, including assault, vandalism and harassment, jumped 36% last year. It’s the highest increase since 1979.

Those shocking ADL findings slipped past our collective attention span far too quickly, though. Yes, the ADL held a press conference. And that night, some networks dedicated a few minutes to report that antisemitism was on the rise. But the story soon disappeared. The sound you heard was America yawning.

Going back this week and reading the ADL report is enlightening, however — with statistics offering a window into an expanding dark side of America.

Consider, for example, the corners of America that recorded the highest number of antisemitic incidents.

You might think the so-called “red” states led the way, right? Maybe Texas? Or Idaho? Or Alabama and Mississippi?

Think again.

The highest number of antisemitic incidents were recorded in the progressive, “blue” bastions of New York, California and New Jersey.

You can argue that those states all have large Jewish populations and, hence, have more “targets” for antisemitism. But such graceless logic misses an important point.

New York, California and New Jersey openly proclaim that they actively guard against so-called "hate crimes" — even directing significant police resources to investigate reports of antisemitism and incidents of racism. These are states that seem to go out of their way to stop antisemitism. And yet, those states tallied nearly one-third of the nation’s 3,700 incidents of antisemitism last year. Indeed, New York, with one of the largest Jewish populations in the world outside of Israel, led the way with 580 incidents. New Jersey racked up 408.

Some of these incidents are small. For instance, a school in Westwood, New Jersey, reported that someone — a student? — assembled a swastika from sticks. Authorities in Glen Rock, New Jersey, found that an 11-year-old student scrawled a swastika on a desk.

But other episodes are far more worrisome. Earlier this year, a lone man, who has since been arrested and faces federal charges that could put him in in jail for 20 years, threw a firebomb at the door of a synagogue in Bloomfield, New Jersey. A month later, a neo-Nazi group called for a “National Day of Hate” against Jews.

More: Antisemitic incidents reached record levels in NJ last year, ADL warns in new report

'Completely unacceptable threats'

We can look at these occurrences as just “lone-wolf” moments — troubled folks taking out their hatred on a vulnerable target. But taken together, they loom as an ominous warning.

Last year alone, New Jersey police recorded 11 bomb threats against Jewish targets. That’s less than one a month. But is that suddenly acceptable? Normal?

This week, a collection of eight Jewish organizations in New York and New Jersey, led by the ADL, announced they were forming a regional security alliance that would also include the gathering of intelligence on antisemitism. Here, in my town, a security official recently conducted a seminar in which he taught members of a synagogue how to “run, hide and fight” in case an “active shooter” barged into a worship service.

That’s what America has come to now. Freedom to worship also involves instructions on how to dodge a bullet from a nutcase with a gun.

In his recent announcement about the shocking rise in antisemitism, the ADL’s national director, Jonathan Greenblatt, said these kinds of threats “should be completely unacceptable to all of us."

Greenblatt is right, of course. This increase in antisemitism is wrong. We shouldn't tolerate it.

But we do. Such is the new America. And in my own town, we now need police protection just to pray.

Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com as well as the author of three critically acclaimed non-fiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer. To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in New Jersey, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kellym@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Antisemitism Passover 2023: NJ synagogues need police protection