{"id":106146,"date":"2023-08-31T17:05:29","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T15:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=106146"},"modified":"2023-08-26T14:49:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T12:49:14","slug":"14-05-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=106146","title":{"rendered":"Will the Jewish Community Panic if Antisemitism Ever Drops?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Will the Jewish Community Panic if Antisemitism Ever Drops?<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

David Suissa \/<\/span><\/em> JNS.org<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Swastika stickers found on the Alaska Jewish Museum and \u201cMad Myrna\u2019s\u201d bar on May 26, 2021. Photo: Anchorage Police Department.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t tell you how often I get emails from Jewish groups alerting me that antisemitism is on the rise. Week after week, I\u2019m told that this rise is \u201cnothing short of alarming\u201d and that we must \u201crise up\u201d to fight it.<\/span><\/p>\n

These messages, needless to say, invariably come with a pitch for donations. After all, how can you fight antisemitism without money? If money makes the world go \u2018round, in the Jewish communal world antisemitism makes the money come out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which brings up this question: What happens if antisemitism ever goes down? That is, if activist groups succeed in lowering antisemitism to non-alarming levels? Without the trusted crutch of alarmism, how much money would these groups raise?<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing about alarmism: it\u2019s like sugar. It\u2019s cheap and instant. Deep down you may know it\u2019s not good for you, but the taste is irresistible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as our brains are wired to crave certain tastes, they\u2019re wired to look out for trouble. A news story about the alarming rise of antisemitism can quickly flood our brains, setting us up perfectly for a money pitch.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why combating antisemitism has become such a growth industry: it\u2019s a no-brainer. It\u2019s so blatantly obvious, who could ever be against it? If we feel \u201cthey\u2019re coming after us,\u201d must we not rise up at once and fight?<\/span><\/p>\n

The crucial question is always how<\/em> to fight. Just as in a literal battle, we assume that the best way to fight is through confrontation. We must condemn, call out, punish, expose, protest, squelch the evil virus. This kind of \u201cbattle\u201d works best with donors, because it\u2019s concrete and visible.<\/span><\/p>\n

But does it work?<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written before that if the fight against antisemitism were a business, it would go into Chapter 11. How else to explain that after years and years of pouring more and more money and resources into the fight, somehow, we keep hearing that \u201cit\u2019s never been worse\u201d? Is it possible that the more noise we make, the worse it gets?<\/span><\/p>\n

In fairness, one reason we\u2019ve been pouring so much money into a losing battle is that antisemitism is unlike any other cause. It holds a sacred, emotional place in the Jewish consciousness. How could it not? Jew hatred is the world\u2019s oldest, most resilient hatred. It\u2019s behind the darkest moment in our history. No matter where we\u2019ve been and what we\u2019ve done, the virus has found a way to adapt and spew its poison on the Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n

Any news story, any email, any conversation that touches on the subject can set us off. We have a 2,000-year reservoir of fear to draw upon. This understandable fear is the ultimate trigger for donors, readers and fundraisers alike.<\/span><\/p>\n

But we pay a price for allowing that fear to own us. For one thing, fear forces us into a short-term mentality. When we\u2019re in the throes of short-term battles, nothing else matters but the here and now. The long-term loses saliency.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s in the long term, however, where the Jewish future lies. \u201cFighting against hate\u201d may bring us temporary satisfaction, but it won\u2019t nourish a strong and lasting Jewish identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean we should ignore antisemitism; it means we shouldn\u2019t allow it to dominate us. Yes, we should have security when we need it. We should use every legal recourse available. We should correct the lies against Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, we should pick our battles and stop publicizing every little act that offends us under the guise of \u201ccalling out.\u201d We should stop deluding ourselves and inflating expectations that we can ever \u201cend Jew hatred.\u201d We should stop playing in the Victim Olympics, because it\u2019s a game we\u2019ll always lose. And we should stop looking like fragile, humorless killers of free speech who worry only about our own.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we\u2019re going to worry about our own, let\u2019s focus on what we are for<\/em>, not what we are against. Let\u2019s educate our leaders and encourage our donors to elevate the positives. In the long run, an attachment to our ancient and timeless tradition is what will last. Bringing Jews to Shabbat meals will do more for the Jewish future than bringing them to demonstrations against Jew hatred.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that in recent years, the focus on fighting a common enemy has lit a Jewish spark throughout our community. But bandages are temporary. Skirmishes come and go. If we allow the haters to define our identity and priorities, we can\u2019t help but lower ourselves, whether we realize it or not. Haters deserve the shade they hate, not the bright lights they crave.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m waiting for the day when nurturing strong Jewish identities will overtake the fight against Jew hatred as a communal priority. It won\u2019t be as dramatic or immediate or lucrative as our daily emergencies, but there\u2019s no need to panic, because it\u2019ll be better for the Jews and the Jewish future.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Originally published by The Jewish Journal<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Will the Jewish Community Panic if Antisemitism Ever Drops? David Suissa \/ JNS.org Swastika stickers found on the Alaska Jewish Museum and \u201cMad Myrna\u2019s\u201d bar on May 26, 2021. Photo: Anchorage Police Department. I can\u2019t tell you how often I get emails from Jewish groups alerting me that antisemitism is on the rise. Week after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106146"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106311,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106146\/revisions\/106311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}