‘Day of Hate’ against Jews – a damp squib

JTA – A “National Day of Hate” against Jews planned by white supremacists that triggered sweeping warnings from law enforcement and Jewish security officials came and went without significant incident on Saturday, 25 February.

Synagogues and Jewish institutions across the United States had spent the preceding days shoring up their security procedures, reassuring their congregants, and requesting extra patrols from local police.

But the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which monitors hate, wrote on Twitter that a meaningful escalation of antisemitic activity didn’t come to pass in spite of some white supremacist actions and propaganda drops around the country. “Despite concerns over increased antisemitic activity, 2/25 has so far been a pretty typical Saturday in America,” the organisation tweeted.

Some Jews had said they were staying home or taking other precautions against the threats of synagogue vandalism issued earlier in the week by a small extremist group in Iowa. Police published bulletins about the threats, but law enforcement officials in New York and Chicago said ahead of Saturday they saw no indication of concrete threats. That assessment was echoed by the Secure Community Network, a group that co-ordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide.

“This is yet another example of how social media is contributing to the rise in antisemitism, this time by spreading and amplifying the activities of what is surely a very small group of people,” Julie Platt, the chairperson of the Jewish Federations of North America, wrote in an email last Friday.

Reports from synagogues suggested that the pews were crowded on Shabbat with Jews who said they wouldn’t be deterred by hate. In some cases, they were joined by non-Jewish allies who wanted to show their support.

“It was packed,” said Rabbi Eric Woodward of Beth El-Keser Israel in New Haven, Connecticut, where a pre-planned Silly Hat Shabbat was transformed at the last moment into an act of defiance.

“We’re wearing silly hats tomorrow because it’s the first Shabbat of Adar, the month when we’re supposed to ‘increase our joy’ and get ready for the costume holiday of Purim,” Woodward had written to his congregants on Friday. “Normally, it’s hard to know how to fight these abstract forces of hate. But tomorrow, you can do that.”

Communities demonstrated defiance in other ways, too. Temple Emanu-El in New York City, for example, held its Shabbat morning services on Fifth Avenue rather than inside its majestic sanctuary on the block. Among those attending were non-Jews who wanted to show their support.

That was exactly what Jewish advocates had urged as Shabbat neared. The ADL had encouraged Jews to turn Saturday into “Shabbat of peace, not hate”. Meanwhile, social media influencers exhorted their followers to demonstrate their Jewish pride and support for Jews under threat.

“Some fringe white supremacist groups have planned a national ‘day of hate’ against the Jewish people on Saturday,” read a widely shared Instagram post by Jessica Seinfeld, who previously went viral by offering non-Jews a way to signal online that they rejected antisemitism by rapper Kanye West.

“We’re hoping our friends will help us counter this idea with their love and light,” she wrote. “Will you consider joining a Jewish friend at synagogue for Shabbat? Help us fill our sanctuaries with courage and friendship.”

One of the most prominent non-Jews to join a synagogue service on Saturday was New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who was at New York City’s Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, which primarily serves LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) Jews.

“When there are people out there who think that by their words alone, by declaring a day of hate, that the rest of us, particularly those in the Jewish community, would cower and say, ‘Well, we’re afraid of them. We’re going to stay home’,” Hochul said in brief remarks to the congregation. “They certainly misjudged the situation.”

The ADL said there had in fact been protests by antisemitic groups in Ohio and Georgia on Saturday, and antisemitic material distributed in at least four other states.

“We know the threat doesn’t magically disappear as the sun sets on this so-called ‘Day of Hate’,” the organisation tweeted.