When hate hits on the home front

One of my kids provides accessibility subtitles for the hearing impaired at our congregation. The other kid volunteers to greet congregants as an usher.

I love that our family is so involved in the community.

However, swastikas and hate on the building’s entrance is a high price to pay for attending religious services. This event was one of many in the last two years. There was a protester who picketed on the sidewalk, increasing security, locked doors and hiding any religious symbols as we walk to our congregation.

This is what one Canadian ethno-religious minority deals with when attending religious services and cultural events.

The Bondi Beach murders and worldwide violence against Jews may seem shocking, but it shouldn’t be. Statistics Canada data documents the huge rise in anti-Jewish hatred in Canada in recent years. Jews are a small minority at less than one per cent of the population.

Yet, the overall number of hate crimes against Jews is the highest among all religious minorities. Based on 2023 StatCan data, on a per capita basis countrywide, the rate of hate crimes that Jewish Canadians experience is higher than that of Muslims or the general population.

Canadian media sometimes downplays this. Crimes against the Jewish community are often paired with something that occurs to another minority. All hate is bad. Still, pairing recent vandalism at a synagogue and at a hookah café is flawed. Police indicated they don’t think the crimes are connected.

What does connect these events is hate. We can all work to combat this. Here are simple suggestions from my household to yours.

First, show support. Reach out to those subjected to hate. Show them you care.

Sometimes, those affected may turn to their own community first. This was true at our congregation, where 200 people attended Shabbat services last Saturday morning, while red paint still stained the front door. We were heartened to see a local non-Jewish MLA and non-Jewish pastors join our service.

Second, be an ally in the moment. Speak up when you hear antisemitism or hate at school, work or in the community. If you don’t know how to define it, refresh your memory. Review the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. This is the official definition of antisemitism in Canada, Manitoba and many other jurisdictions.

Education helps eradicate intolerance.

If things are unsafe, call the police. If you feel unsafe, imagine how the affected minority feels.

Third, reach out to government. Contact your MLA, MP, the prime minister and city officials. Say that Canada’s strength is in its diversity. No one should face hate for going about their daily lives. If you need more info for how to do this, consult resources online such as B’nai Brith Canada or CIJA.

Fourth, consider how rhetoric about international affairs threatens individuals in your community. Address your respectful concerns to a political official. Avoid being an activist that confronts private individuals.

For instance, one can be rightfully upset about Russia’s war in Ukraine, but nobody protests the war at a Manitoban Russian Orthodox church. Canadians don’t hold Russian Canadians accountable for the current Russian government’s actions.

Yet, Canadian Jews are harassed — at school, home, work, online, in their neighbourhoods, at community centres and synagogue — because of some people’s opinions about the Israeli government or the Gaza war.

It’s wrong to hold Canadian Palestinians accountable for Hamas terrorism or to hold Sudanese Canadians accountable for the brutality in Sudan.

It’s also wrong to target Jewish homes, schools, businesses, community centres and congregations in Canada.

Canada’s restrictive immigration policies during and after the Second World War are famous. When asked how many Jewish refugees would be accepted, a senior government official said “none is too many.” Jewish refugees from Arab and North African countries, as well as many European survivors, fleeing for their lives, scattered globally.

Today, there are about 16 million Jews worldwide. Half live in Israel, the only Jewish state.

If Canadians disagree with Israeli policy, Canadian government can use diplomacy to express this to the Israeli government, as any two democratic states would.

If Canadian Jews no longer feel safe in an increasingly dangerous climate in Canada, we will leave. Many have only one other option: Israel. When a society reviles Israel but also consistently harasses the Jewish citizens in their midst, it reflects just one thing: Jew-hate.

Our government leaders often say after hateful incidents that “This isn’t Canadian.”

Folks, if this bigotry isn’t Canadian, Canada has work to do.

» Joanne Seiff contributes opinions and analysis to the Winnipeg Free Press.