I love our Passover Seder dinner and traditions, the fun family stories we repeat each holiday, and the shared readings from the worn family Haggadah that celebrate the end of 400 years of enslavement for the Jewish people by the Egyptians – freedom. Yet this year is different, although it is a story repeated through the ages. Antisemitism is on the rise.   

Dear Neighbor, 

It’s almost Passover, my favorite holiday. I’m not Jewish, however my late husband was and since our marriage I have celebrated Passover for fifty two years. I love our Passover Seder dinner and traditions, the fun family stories we repeat each holiday, and the shared readings from the worn family Haggadah that celebrate the end of 400 years of enslavement for the Jewish people by the Egyptians – freedom. Yet this year is different, although it is a story repeated through the ages. Antisemitism is on the rise.   

My son has been warning me for months (years) that antisemitism is growing bolder in our country and throughout the world. Yesterday he sent me an image that an acquaintance of his had posted on Facebook; a Star of David, a symbol of Jewish identify, with the hateful words, “lie, cry, steal, rape, cheat, and kill” at each point of this six-pointed star along with a political message. It was an up close and forceful reminder that antisemitism isn’t confined to one political party. Neither is ignorance. 

The goal of this letter is to address antisemitism, not to explain the history of Zionism or the country of Israel. I am talking about acts of direct prejudice, hostility, and discrimination toward Jews. This defaced Star of David post is a hateful finger pointing at all Jewish people, wherever they live, for simply being Jewish.  

You would think we would learn. Antisemitism has existed for 2,000 years. It may ebb and flow, from the early Romans to the Middle Ages, to the modern era where this continuation of hatred toward Jews resulted in the Holocaust and still continues today. Since 1991, FBI data shows that Jews were the most frequent targets of religious hate crimes and noted in 2023 that 68% of religious hate crimes in the United States were antisemitic. In the past decade, antisemitism that was once confined to certain organizations now crosses the political divide.

Is it just human nature to find a scapegoat? I have certainly seen hatred and “othering” of other groups of people in the United States on a regular basis within my lifetime. So why did this specific image of a Star of David compel me to put pen to paper? 

Because I have been guilty of hoping for months that the antisemitic incidents I hear of are isolated and I have remained quiet even while the lines of Pastor Martin Niemoller’s 1946 poem, “First They Came For,” forewarns us of the dangers of ignoring the  “othering” of any of our neighbors. 

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me. 

May this Passover bring an awareness of the freedoms that our imperfect country has strived for since its beginning. May we learn to recognize our neighbors as individuals, fellow humans. May the majority of Americans meet this moment when it seems so many turn toward fear and hate. May we recognize and call out the “othering” of all of our neighbors as well as antisemitism. May we be morally strong as we continue to celebrate and sustain our freedoms.   

“Dear Neighbor” authors are united in a belief that civility and passion can coexist. We believe curiosity and conversation make us a better community.