Watch OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer reflect on the greatest need in the Jewish community. Rabbi Hauer elaborates further in an article in the Jewish Link.
The greatest threat facing the Jewish community is getting the least attention.
Communal concern regarding antisemitism and the threat of physical violence against Jewish institutions and individuals has grown dramatically, and for good reason. The horrific attacks of 9/11, the killings at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, the spiking numbers of antisemitic attacks—verbal and physical—associated with street protests of virtually any kind, the events of January 6, and the overall discord, polarization and hate that have become part of our political and social culture, have come together to create a climate of fear that is significantly impacting America’s Jewish community.
The fear is underscored by a normalization of antisemitism dangerously close to the mainstream of political discourse, usually in the guise of legitimate criticism of the State of Israel. Censure of any government’s policies is fair game, but the obsessive focus on Israel and the attacks on the Jews as a community based on the Middle Eastern conflict belie a lurking antisemitism. And the guise is readily removed when one enters the world of the university campus, obsessed as it is with providing “safe spaces” for everyone but its Jewish students.
There is much cause for concern both for the present and for the future, and our security requires leaders in the realms of government, law enforcement and academia to consistently make clear in word and deed that there is no place for antisemitism in this great country. And it necessitates funds, programs, personnel and attention dedicated to securing our institutions and communities.
But none of this impacts the greatest threat facing the Jewish community.
Continue reading at The Jewish Link