Antisemitism Must Not Prevail
Antisemitism isn’t just in history books, you see it more than you think, even now. It’s the villains of your favorite Disney movies, it’s in sayings like “Hip, hip, hooray” and “Long time no see”, or in stereotypes and biases you take to the bank and the voting booth. And, on December 14th, 2020, antisemitism was also on the website of North Shore Hebrew Academy High School.
North Shore Hebrew Academy High School (NSHAHS) is a modern orthodox yeshiva school in Great Neck, New York. It is one of the best 100 private schools in New York, with three branches teaching children from Pre-K to 12th grade. There, values of religion, academic success, and chesed (acts of righteousness, kindness, and generosity) are uplifted and instilled in the students.
On December 14th 2020, which happens to be the fourth day of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, the high school’s website was hacked by neo-Nazis. When students opened the website they were met with Nazi songs, imagery, and messages. For instance, the threatening message: “I saw you read this. You’re next. I know where you live. Heil Hitler. #OpIsrael.” The website advertised a “field trip to Auschwitz” an infamous concentration camp in Poland, used by Nazis in World War II to torture and kill Jewish people. Written over pictures of the concentration camp: “Students will be taken to Auschwitz to witness first-hand the experiences of prisoners in Auschwitz.” The deadline for the field trip was January of 1945. Moreover, the credit card information, addresses, and social security numbers of students, parents, and teachers were leaked to the dark web.
New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, replied to the attack with censure for the incident and comfort to those who were affected: “This antisemitic attack is simply despicable, and the fact it came as the school community celebrated Hanukkah makes it even more repulsive. As we work with our partners on the local and national level to hold the perpetrators accountable, New York State will deploy resources to help the staff, parents and students at North Shore Hebrew Academy in the aftermath of this senseless act,” says Cuomo. “By deploying these resources, we are sending a message loud and clear that hate has no place in our state — online or in person — and that New York will always support and protect those targeted for crimes based on who they are or what they believe.”
I am not Jewish, I haven’t experienced anything remotely like this, and I probably never will. When I was first introduced to this incident, I could only feel the tiniest fraction of grief that the Jewish community felt. Rabbi Michael White from Temple Sinai of Roslyn spoke on the incident at NSHAHS with solidarity and encouragement that may provide a sense of unity between the Jewish community and those of us on the outside: “We, your brothers and sisters in faith, state that an attack on any of us is an attack on us all.” We all need to speak up.
In order to stop incidents like this from further occurring, we must first make a change in policy:
- Congress must fund the Non-Profit Security Grant Program (providing security enhancements to faith based organizations to protect against terrorist attacks).
- Congress must pass the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (enhance the federal government’s ability to fight terrorism).
- Congress must pass the NO HATE Act of 2019 (provide incentive grants to improve hate crime training and prevention).
- Congress must pass the Never Again Education Act (creates training programs for educators on teaching about the Holocaust).
Though these changes seem impossible to accomplish, there’s a way for you to help, and I urge you to do so by contacting your federal legislators:
Furthermore, you must notice the micro aggressions that go unseen everyday and stop the pattern from recurring. If you don’t know what to look for, you must educate yourself by hearing Jewish experiences. Along the way you might find that you’re not completely innocent of causing this harm, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reject it hereafter. Though it’s hard to put a stop to an age old affliction, we must start to unravel the spool of teachings, habits, bias, and violence that is modern day anti semitism.
Anti semitism is something that runs rampant throughout this country and the world yet it is not spoken of by those who’s voices will carry far. The only way you will hear about the injustices that Jewish people face is if you listen to them. So many undeserving people experience these things first hand, and so many are kept silent. They are silenced because when we learned about World War II, we were taught that anti semitism died with the holocaust. People hear “the boy who cried wolf” when anti semitism is brought up because they can’t fathom that anyone in this day and age can be victim to the bias that killed 6 million Jews almost 100 years ago, and the bias that they believe died along with them in the genocide.
Anti semitism is only invisible if you’re not looking hard enough and if you’re not Jewish you need to look even harder; not just at 80 years ago, at what happens in front of you everyday. Nassau County (home of NSHAHS) legislator, Ellen W. Birnbaum says it best, “…let us remember the spirit of the season and commit ourselves to dispelling the darkness of hatred with the light of our words and deeds.”
More ways you can help:
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