Jews unite against antisemitism

By Allen Menkin

The savagery and raw Evil of the October 7 attack stunned and overwhelmed us. Its demonic hatred of Jews ripped open scars of the Shoah and brought faded images of half-forgotten pogroms to blazing life. In its aftermath, Israel, our “guarantee of never again,” is under greater threat than at any time since its founding, and we face a raging, worldwide pandemic of antisemitism.

This is not the time to engage in the internecine quarrelling that has plagued us since antiquity.

Jew haters don’t distinguish between Republican and Democrat Jews, observant Jews and assimilated Jews, Orthodox, Conservative or Reform Jews. “Jewish values” are not the exclusive property of any movement or a favor to be bestowed on any political party.

We all need to stop politicizing antisemitism and accusing our perceived ideological opponents of hosting it without confronting it in our own spaces.

We will forever remember how we were yet again attacked by Amalek. But we also need to remember how we came together on that dark day and that we were not alone. Our Christian friends and neighbors, elected officials, pastors, police and just ordinary people stood with us then, and they stand with us now. That’s what friends do.