By Howard Libit and Emily Goodman
As Jews across Baltimore light candles on Sunday night, Nov. 28, to mark the start of the eight-day Chanukah holiday, we begin this year’s celebration with a renewed commitment to stand up against antisemitism and hate.
The Baltimore Jewish Council, The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore and our partner agencies are joining with Jewish communities across the nation to launch the “Shine A Light on Antisemitism” campaign. Through community programs, policy announcements, public communications and education, we will come together to call out and combat antisemitism.
Why now? The statistics reveal a troubling surge in hate:
- Four in 10 American Jews have changed their behavior over the past year out of fear of antisemitism, according to the American Jewish Committee’s recent report The State of Antisemitism in America 2021;
- 41 percent of Americans have witnessed an antisemitic incident in person, online or against a Jewish institution over the past 12 months;
- 57.5 percent of all religious bias crimes in 2020 targeted Jews, who represent just 2% of the American population, according to the FBI’s 2020 Hate Crime Statistics. In Maryland, according to the state’s 2020 Hate Bias Report, 87 percent of hate crimes motivated by religious bias targeted the Jewish community in 2020;
- One in every three Jewish students on a college campus experienced antisemitism over the past year, according to an Anti-Defamation League/Hillel survey of campus antisemitism released in October.
Here in Baltimore, we hear story after story of Jews quietly absorbing acts of antisemitism, and many feel unsafe to speak out. With this week’s launch of the Shine a Light campaign, we call on all members of our community — Jews and non-Jews — to speak out and stand up against antisemitism.
It’s critical to understand that rising antisemitism affects far more than the Jewish community. We know that as acts of antisemitism increase, it’s a sign of an intolerant society, and it creates a broader license to hate. Ultimately, every community of “others” — other races, faiths, gender identities – become targets of hate. All of us must come together and support each other to fight hate in all of its forms.
As leaders of the region’s Jewish community, The Associated and the Baltimore Jewish Council are working together to implement a community plan of action that we developed and released a year ago, focusing on education, advocacy, allyship and reporting.
We are fortunate to live in a state where we have so many partners in our fight against hate, from our elected leaders to our friends of all faiths to our neighbors in all walks of life.
To honor the start of the Shine a Light initiative, Baltimore’s City Hall will shine with blue and yellow on the first night of Chanukah. Last winter, when the American Jewish Committee and the U.S. Conference of Mayors asked mayors and municipal leaders to sign a letter about the need to combat antisemitism, Mayor Brandon Scott was one of the first to sign on, and he was quickly joined by the county executives of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
Our state and federal leadership have passed legislation focused on criminal acts of hate, while committing critical dollars to support security improvements at institutions at risk of hate crimes. The Maryland Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice have both prioritized hate crimes within their criminal justice agendas.
Law enforcement partners at the local, state and federal levels are constantly on alert for acts of hate against the Jewish community, stepping up protection during the Jewish holidays and quickly responding to incidents and threats.
But perhaps more importantly than the “official” responses are the strong allies we have across virtually all communities in our region.
Consider the outpouring of support last summer after a Jewish cemetery in East Baltimore was vandalized with swastikas on gravestones. Within days, we gathered with a diverse coalition faith and community leaders and elected officials to stand together against hate.
We recognize that these days, it’s difficult to be a member of any minority group in America. The rising tide of hate can feel overwhelming. But if we work together in solidarity, we can stand up for each other and ultimately win the day.
This week, as our Jewish community celebrates the Chanukah holiday, please join us to Shine a Light on Antisemitism.
Howard Libit (hlibit@baltjc.org) is executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council. Emily Goodman (egoodman@baltjc.org) is the Baltimore Jewish Council’s director of Holocaust and Countering Antisemitism Programming. Learn more about the Shine a Light initiative at associated.org/shinealight.
A committed philanthropist and community leader, Russel was president of R&H Motors.
The mother of four was a native of Winchester, Virginia, who spent most of her life in Northwest Baltimore.
The Columbia resident worked on the Gemini and Apollo space missions.
A St. Louis native, Edelman served as ambassador to the central African nation from 1987 to 1989.