Every year around this time, it is only natural for people to look back on the year that was and think ahead about what will make next year different. However, as we reach the midway point of this decade, it’s just as wild to recall where we were at this point just five years ago as we entered the 2020s.
At that time, the Jewish community was reeling from multiple terrorist attacks on various institutions across the country. There was the December 10, 2019, shooting in a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, followed by the December 29 stabbing at a Chanukah celebration in Monsey. Both came on the heels of the April shooting in Poway, California, and the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburg in the fall of 2018. These attacks led to what can be seen today when entering shuls around the country. Most shuls today have a strong security presence that can generally be seen in front of the building. Additionally, many shuls may have additional security measures within the building that would protect against a possible attack. Of course, local, state, and national security agencies are well-aware of the constant threats to Jewish institutions, and we should be grateful to those agencies, which spend hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly around the nation to ensure the safety of our communities.
All of these domestic terrorist attacks set the backdrop for what, until that point, was the largest gathering of Jews in America in my lifetime, as 92,000+ people attended the 13th Siyum Hashas on January 1. (Some people may point to the 2003 Washington rally as having more people, which may be there were a significant percentage of people who were not Jewish there, so it’s hard to say.) Despite the concerns of the attacks, the siyum went off without incident.
After the siyum, however, we immediately returned to combatting anti-Semitism. On January 5, an estimated 25,000 people marched over the Brooklyn Bridge in solidarity with the Jewish community and in light of the recent tragic events that had occurred.
However, the whole of these incidents was forgotten very quickly, since the world would soon focus its attention on the COVID-19 pandemic that would be starting to affect everything just two months later. This was followed by the death of George Floyd and the resurrection of the BLM movement. It seems that the world only has enough outrage and sympathy to focus on one or two social issues at a time, and since Jews are clearly not a disadvantaged group, it was easy to move on from them.
Now here we are, five years later, and although we have not seen events in America that are comparable to the viciousness we saw five years ago, we know that the hatred is still here. We saw it in the aftermath of October 7. We saw it on college campuses for the last year and a half. We saw it on Capitol Hill when university presidents determined that it was not a problem to allow the disturbing anti-Semitism on their campuses, when they would not allow similar hatred against other groups.
So why must we look back at these events from five years ago? We all know there are hateful people out there who wish to see us destroyed. We do not need the reminder of 2019 into 2020 to tell us this. We live it all the time!
Well, this is not for you now, reader. This is for you in another five years, when things may be quieter and you think the worst is behind us. This is for you in your daily life when Jews are accused of blowing things out of proportion. This is for when others may claim that it’s only whatever Israel is currently doing that drives people to hate Jews.
It’s not.
It’s always existed, and nothing has shown me anything to believe anything other than it always will. Usually, these year-end wrap-up articles are full of hope and optimism, but that’s why sometimes we need a counterbalance to those messages. Be vigilant out there.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Izzo Zwiren works in healthcare administration, constantly concerning himself with the state of healthcare politics. The topic of healthcare has led Izzo to become passionate about a variety of political issues affecting our country today. Aside from politics, Izzo is a fan of trivia, stand-up comedy, and the New York Giants. Izzo lives on Long Island with his wife and two adorable, hilarious daughters.