Do You Feel Safe Wearing Jewish Symbols in Public?
In last week’s Baltimore Jewish Times on-line poll, the platform’s readership were asked by the editor, “Do you feel unsafe wearing Jewish symbols in public?”
Fifty-four percent said yes and 46% said no.
Although this finding was not totally surprising, it is disconcerting, and frustrating.
Just imagine, over half of those polled expressed fear or concern regarding their respective display of Jewish identity in public.
This finding as well as similar surveys suggest that the levels of antisemitism and Jew-hatred today is not only on the increase but has reached a level of unimaginable magnitude.
It is truly unbelievable that we have reached a point in history where members of our Jewish community are actually frighten to display symbols of Jewish identity in public. It is both troubling and foreboding. To be sure, the fact that such percentages exist suggests a condition or reality which demands close review and examination.
About two years ago, I recall meeting a beautiful couple in their early 80’s from France over Shabbat. They told us at that time that they were forced to remove their mezuzot from their apartment doorposts for fear of violent antisemitic violent break-ins. They also told us that they no longer wear kippot in public, also for fear of their safety. It was so sad to hear this elderly couple describe how they were being forced to live in fear in the manner they did.
They both recounted when they were children during the Holocaust and how they both hide from the German SS by laying flat underneath the wooden baseboards of a farmhouse just several miles outside a small farming village in France. It was a story of amazing courage, survival and reliance.
And ironically, today in France, they were still hiding their Jewish identity.
Since our meeting that Shabbat, I lost complete contact with them, but the last I heard, they made aliya to Israel where they are now living peacefully with members of their family their grandchildren.
This is just one of a million stories of how achienu needed to cover up and hide their Jewish identity in order to survive as Jews. Indeed a very familiar story.
Raising children in today’s harsh antisemitic environment is one of my greatest concerns.
As adults, many of us have either experienced acts of antisemitism and Jew hatred or have family and friends who have experienced acts of Jew-hatred including those who survived the horrors of the Holocaust.
It now behooves our Jewish community to take on this evil hatred and ramp up our consternation, dismay and call to action.
But the challenge remains, how?
The Role and Responsibility of our Schools
When our children are exposed to these ills of society, whether by overhearing conversations at home, on the news, or from a friend in the neighborhood or school, we must do everything in our control to enable our children to feel safe, secure and proud that they are Jews.
One way to confront this challenge is by helping our children appreciate and celebrate their Jewish identity and pride through specially designed educational programs, initiatives and experiences.
The role and responsibility of schools must be to redouble their efforts in providing our students with the resources required celebrate and inspire their Jewish identity.
First and foremost without compromising halacha, it is essential that our Jewish day schools and yeshivot make Judaism joyful and inviting and not just demanding. As such, we know that pride does not come from memorizing facts and events but rather from positive personal, communal and familial experiences.
Our students should be inspired to engage in positive experiential initiatives that have powerful long and short term affective impact.
In addition to the variety of affective and experiential learning opportunities, students should be exposed to the most inspiring teachers, rabbeim and Torah texts in order to more fully appreciate their impact on Jewish identity and practice.
This affective impact does not happen in a vacuum.
As we know, schools are powerful reservoirs of Jewish knowledge, identity and experience. As such, they can have a remarkably important and positive impact on students Jewish identity.
When a student questions whether he/she should wear a Jewish symbol in public, be it a kippah, tzitzit or a magen david neklace, the student is essentially asking is it safe.
It is therefor imperative that schools, parents and communities do everything in their power in order to ensure emotionally and physically safe environments for their children.
The Role of Parents and Families
The role and responsibility of schools takes place in partnership with parents and families.
Way too many of our children are exposed at home to discussions, debates and conversations about antisemitism and Jew-hatred. These conversations, over an extended period of time can have a very detrimental impact on the psychological and emotional well-being of our children.
Protecting our children against the fear of antisemitism requires open communication, proactive engagement and emotional resilience.
It therefore behooves parents to reassure, acknowledge and validate a child’s feelings of fear, confusion, anger and at the same time make the child feel safe and secure.
An integral part of this process requires that families do everything in their power to encourage and display strong levels of Jewish identity through ongoing practice and conversation.
When an act of antisemitism or Jew-hatred is publicized on the world stage or in a community, it is essential that parents get a head of the story by not sounding alarm-bells but rather by calmly discussing it through age appropriate conversations.
Reality dictates that global antisemitism and Jew hatred is on the rise. It therefore makes sense to assume that our children will be exposed to this evil with greater frequency.
Finally, it is imperative that parents continuously celebrate and bolster their Jewish identity at home, especially in the presence of their children.
Our children should never for one moment ever second guess their Jewish identity, nor should they be put in a position to view their Jewish pride and identity through the dark clouds or shadows of antisemitic hatred or in response to this hatred.
To this end, we must do everything in our power to always feel secure, safe, confident and proud to wear our Jewish symbols in public spaces. This includes parents who must model this important behavior.
By doing, we confront the very hatred which seeks to destroy us.
At the end of the day, we should all feel proud, with no exception to wear Jewish symbols in public.
It must be our undeniable choice, obligation, and responsibility to our children.
Am Yisrael Chai
