Chuckling No More

January 31, 2024 Alan Feiler, Editor-in-Chief

In the shadow of the "Male/Female" sculpture outside of Penn Station, Israel supporters gathered to voice their outrage about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and call for the elimination of the terrorist group, while demanding the release of all hostages. (Photo by Robyn Stevens Brody)

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Uncle Leo.

I don’t actually have an uncle with that name. I’m alluding to the eccentric “Seinfeld” character portrayed by the late Len Lesser. If you’ll indulge me, you’ll recall an episode in which Leo kvetches about an over-cooked hamburger at Monk’s Cafe and inexplicably blames it on the cook’s antisemitism. Leo’s nephew Jerry rolls his eyes and responds, “The point I was making before Goebbels made your hamburger here is …”

Funny stuff, right? I have a friend who I’ve often called “Uncle Leo,” even to his face. For years, my friend, who is Jewish, has warned me of pervasive antisemitism in our society. Almost every conversation seems to inevitably reference the Holocaust, the pogroms of Eastern Europe or the Spanish Inquisition. He refuses to even step inside a church or sing Jesus’ name when James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” comes on the radio.

“Underneath it all,” my buddy has told me countless times, “they don’t like us. We’re just guests here. Somewhere inside, they hate us. It’s in their blood.”

My response has always been to tell him he’s paranoid and old-school, and to chuckle about his “They’re-out-to get-us” shtetl mentality.

But I’m not chuckling anymore.

Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks against Israel, we’ve seen skyrocketing Jew-hatred around the world on a scale that those of us born in the aftermath of the Holocaust could never imagine.

Since that horrific day — in which 1,200 Israelis were savagely murdered and 240 kidnapped — antisemitism has exploded and intensified, with Jews physically and verbally attacked and their institutions defaced.

Put aside for a moment the international whipping frenzy Israel has endured. Every day, you see reports of Jews harassed in cities around the world and antisemitic graffiti left on the walls of synagogues and college campuses. People are afraid to go to shul or attend pro-Israel rallies due to security concerns. Orthodox neighbors tell me they routinely get harassed by people at local convenience stores because their attire makes them an easy target. Other people tell me they now tend not to wear any jewelry that indicates they’re Jewish.

Sometimes it feels there was the world before Oct. 7th and the world after.

The antisemitism once relegated to the fringes of polite society has reared its ugly head with a vengeance. Mind you, all this guilt-by-association stuff is happening while a number of Jews are publicly making it clear they don’t agree with Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Doesn’t matter. In Sydney, pro-Palestinian marchers chant, “Gas the Jews!” Antisemitic conspiracy theories get a thumbs-up from tech guru Elon Musk. In L.A., a pro-Israel activist dies for his views. And college campuses are ground-zero for unabashed Jew-hatred and anti-Israel rhetoric, with Jewish campus leaders receiving death threats.

Even while attending an Israel rally recently in front of Baltimore’s Penn Station, I’ll never forget a young woman driving by who rolled down her window to scream at the top of her lungs, “You f—-ing murderers!”

Who could’ve ever dreamed being attacked by a terrorist group would result in such a proliferation of hatred? For those of us who’ve worked in Jewish circles most of our lives, watching this phenomenon has been particularly painful. I’ve spoken to progressive Jewish professionals who talk of being terribly disappointed by their peers.

So, what’s the answer? I desperately don’t want to believe my friend is right, that antisemitism is everywhere and we’re merely “guests.” I don’t want to cave to paranoia and insecurity.

But some days, frankly, it’s hard not to.

Best,

Alan Feiler, Editor-in-Chief