(upbeat music) - As part of our Confronting Racism and Prejudice series, we're joined by Rabbi Laurence Groffman of Temple Sholom of West Essex.

Rabbi, good to have you with us.

- Thank you for having me.

- The rise in antisemitism, and we're in 2023.

It'll be seen throughout the next couple months.

We're taping in February.

Worse than ever, correct?

- Yes, there's definitely been a marked rise in anti-Semitism in the last several years.

In fact, the American Jewish Committee just released a survey yesterday showing that some 40% of American Jews, 41%, have changed their behavior in some way in the last year because of anti-Semitism.

And a similar amount, some 40% also feel that anti-Semitism has been on the increase.

And we know that this is happening in lots of different ways.

It manifests itself, as we all know, in some of the events that grab the headlines like the murder of Jews in synagogues, as we've seen or in other Jewish spaces.

We see it in the attacks, physical attacks on visibly Jewish people, Orthodox Jews in the streets of New York City.

We see it in public figures with enormous audiences on social media who espouse anti-Semitic stereotypes.

Some of these figures have followings that far exceed the number of Jews that exist in the world.

All these things are very troubling.

And we also see anti-Semitism manifest in ways that don't grab the headlines, Steve.

I'm sure every rabbi will tell you the same thing, that they have students in their congregations who, at school, are subjected to verbal anti-Semitic remarks or electronic text messages, things like that that are anti-Semitic in nature.

It's the graffiti, anti-Semitic graffiti that shows up on school buildings.

It's on synagogues and Jewish institutions.

Attacks on the infrastructure on the buildings, and anti-Semitic graffiti.

So correct, anti-Semitism has definitely surged and it manifests in a lot of different ways from across different sectors of society.

- Rabbi, you've done a very comprehensive job describing how bad the situation is.

What I'm curious about is while there's no one contributing factor to this, what are the top two or three?

- Well, I think that historically, Steve, anti-Semitism, look, let's backtrack for a second.

Anti-Semitic attitudes and feelings have, of course, been around since beginning of time.

- Always been there They've always been there.

- Always been there, right.

- What has allowed people to be so public with their feelings, emotions, and actions and reactions.

When did, how did that change?

- Right, that's the question.

So what we've seen historically, I think is that anti-Semitic actions, speech, manifests itself when society is in some ways unstable, right?

And so we all know that in the last several years, it's been a tumultuous time in our country in many different ways, economically, politically, socially, culturally, and so forth.

And when people are feeling unmoored, when people are feeling uncertain, when society does not feel stable, that is when we tend to see a rise in anti-Semitism.

Not to mention, of course, arising hatred against other minority groups, whether it be African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, sexual minorities.

So I think one of the interesting things to bear in mind and I know this may sound counterintuitive is that anti-Semitism is not only a Jewish problem.

Anti-Semitism is the warning bell for everyone in the country that we need to make sure that the foundational core institutions of liberal American democracy are stabilized and that they are functioning the way they're intended to function, whether it be in politics, government, business, culture, education.

When those institutions are stable in doing the job they're supposed to do and the way they're intended to, that's one factor I think that would mitigate the rise in anti-Semitism.

- But Rabbi, lemme play the devil's advocate, if you will.

Hey, that's not me.

I'm Italian American, someone else African American, someone else is Hispanic, someone else, Asian American, and look, that's not me.

The problem with that thinking, obviously, I'm speaking metaphorically, hypothetically, the serious problem with that thinking is what?

- Well, it's a great question, Steve, is that like I said, this is a problem for everyone.

So that is isn't only about Jews, it's a sign.

- As is racism, - Correct.

- as is a racism, as are the attacks on the Asian American community.

Just please go ahead, I'm sorry.

- Yeah, exactly.

That's what I was saying, that it's not a surprise that not only do we see rise in anti-Semitism, but a rise in hatred against other groups as well.

So that's why when people say, "Hey, that's not me.

I'm not like that."

That very well may be true, but it's a sign that we have to take a hard look at the society that we're living in.

And I think every citizen can play a role in making sure that our society functions in the way it's supposed to.

Part of that too, I think, Steve, is the way we talk to each other.

And I know it's a well worn subject already, but you know, obviously a constructive, productive discourse across partisan lines seems like a thing of the past.

And the ability, or I should say the lack of ability that we seem to have right now to have constructive debates about issues is I think itself a symptom of the problem.

So often, instead of constructively talking about an issue, we engage in ad hominem attacks.

So someone who disagrees with me is my enemy, as opposed to someone who has a different point of view.

Let's get together and figure out a common way forward, that should also help.

- Go, go back to Charlottesville.

Go back to Charlottesville.

And for those of you who really don't understand, Google Charlottesville, it'll come up.

And so as I see those men, and they were mostly men, with those tiki torches, chanting, "Jews will not replace us," okay?

And we think of what happened there and the president at the time, confronted with the question of commenting on this, "Good people on both sides."

What impact did that have?

There's no one situation, not one statement from a public official, but what impact did that have on embolden, creating a situation where certain people with certain feelings felt emboldened?

- Yeah, I think that, again, Charlottesville is a good place to focus because I think that in some ways, you know, that was a little over a year before the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

And not that there's a direct connection, not that Charlottesville caused Pittsburgh, but I think Charlottesville, again, is symptomatic of what's happening in society.

So what often happens with anti-Semitism, again, it is the oldest conspiracy theory around so when we hear, "The Jews will not replace us," in a sense what that's saying is, "The Jews are the cause of our problems."

And so again, it gets back to Steve what I was talking about before.

When society is in transition or in some way unstable people look for an explanation for that instability, for the problems.

And historically, anti-Semitism has served that purpose again, as one of the world's oldest conspiracy theories.

Hey, why are things difficult?

Well, it's this tiny, tiny, tiny group of people that have - It's the Jews.

- disproportionate power.

They're the ones - It's the Jews.

- causing problems.

It's the Jews, right?

And we have unfortunately played that role in so many different societies for thousands of years.

The other thing to bear in mind is that another way that anti-Semitism functions is that whatever a particular society or culture at any given time deems to be the worst possible sin, Jews seem to be the embodiment of that.

So historically, in communist countries, Jews were the capitalists.

In capitalist countries, Jews were the communists, - Communists.

- So forth and so on, exactly.

- Yeah, I wanna end this on a positive, not a fake silver lining, positive note, but in Bloomfield, when the synagogue was attacked, there was a very public event that brought people together, our two US senators, members of Congress, but more importantly, the community.

Community people came together, many of whom are not Jewish.

Why is that so important for communities to band together?

- It is one of the best responses to anti-Semitism.

When you had over 1100 people, 300 of whom were standing out in the freezing cold for hours because they couldn't get in.

What that does is it says a couple things.

One is that we Jews are not alone, and that we have a lot of friends and allies.

And one of the best responses anti-Semitism, Steve, and what we in the Jewish community do, is that we build relationships across lines of difference right?

We have relationships with our interfaith friends from different religions, different races, different community groups.

And you saw that in Bloomfield when everyone came out to stand with us.

It also reminds us that our faiths are interconnected, that certainly minority groups are historically vulnerable groups.

And so we need each other to support each other.

And in what that rally did, I think it's symbolic of the fact that what it does, it sends a message back into the culture that in contrast to messages of division and hatred and scapegoating, this is a message of respect and love and understanding.

And I think it's really important that those voices come out there to counter the divisive and hate-filled voices - And unity.

Rabbi, thank you so much for joining us.

We'll continue the conversation as part of our Confronting Racism and Prejudice series.

Thank you, Rabbi.

- Thank you.

- Stay with us, we'll be right back.

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