This has been a very difficult 24 hours for the Jewish community \u2014 and for America. What started as a normal Sabbath for Jews \u2014 a time to be with family and community, celebrate bar and bat mitzvahs, hold baby namings, pray to God \u2014 ended with news of the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. This was the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in American history.<\/p>\n
While the horror of this massacre is shocking, it is not entirely surprising.<\/p>\n
At the Anti-Defamation League, we have been tracking and fighting anti-Semitism for over a century. And while Jews have enjoyed a degree of acceptance and achievement in the United States perhaps unrivaled in our people\u2019s history, recent trends have been alarming.<\/p>\n
While the overall trend in anti-Semitic incidents has been a downward one, last year we saw the largest single-year increase since the A.D.L. began this annual audit in 1979 \u2014 a 57 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in 2017. These incidents include high-profile ones such as neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Va., chanting \u201cJews will not replace us,\u201d physical assaults, vandalism and attacks on Jewish institutions.<\/p>\n
Part of this sharp rise comes from a large increase in anti-Semitic incidents in grade schools and on college campuses, which nearly doubled for the second year in a row….<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yesterday\u2019s attack was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in US history. It\u2019s clear now\u2019s the time for leaders & people from all backgrounds and all ideologies to forcefully reject #antiSemitism<\/a> in our society. My piece in @nytimes<\/a>: https:\/\/t.co\/lXndjWHVFa<\/a><\/p>\n — Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 28, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n