Volume XXV, Issue XIX | www.jvhri.org Serving Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
SENIORS
1 Kislev | 5779 | November 9, 2018
Rising anti-Semitism a symptom of rising hate worldwide, author says BY LARRY KESSLER The author of a new book on the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the United States says it will take a collaborative effort between American Jews and other targeted minorities to counter the marked increase in hate speech and crimes since the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. Veteran journalist Jonathan Weisman, who will be among the speakers at “An Evening of Jewish Renaissance,” on Nov. 17 at the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center, traces the rise of this latest wave of anti-Semitism in “(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump,” which was published in March. The most alarming fallout from the sharp rise in anti-Semitism in this country, a synagogue mass shooting, took place in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27 during a Shabbat service that included the celebration of a bris. The gunman opened fire at Tree of Life synagogue, killing 11 people and wounding six
PHOTO | GABRIELLA DEMCZUK
Jonathan Weisman others, including four police officers responding to the shooting. It was the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. The triple parentheses bracketing the word “Semitism” in Weisman’s book title is not a mistake; they’re at the heart of how Weisman, 53, said he discovered how widespread anti-Semitism has become. Weisman’s saga started ANTI-SEMITISM | 26
Facebook opened his road to freedom BY FRAN OSTENDORF Most of us have some contact with social media, many on a daily basis. And we know its power. You either love it or hate it – and sometimes both. That’s especially true of Facebook. It’s a very powerful tool around the world. The approximately 275 people who heard Mohammed Al Samawi’s story on Oct. 28 learned what a powerful force Facebook has been in his life. As Al Samawi spoke to the packed audience in the Gussie and Victor Baxt Social Hall at the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center, in Providence, the crowd sat totally entranced. At times, some laughed – and there were even a few tears. Al Samawi grew up in Yemen and escaped during the civil war there through the power of Facebook. Growing up with a physical disability, his parents, whom he termed “amazing,” were supportive, and he learned to speak English at a young age. In school, he was taught to hate Jews.
Mohammed Al Samawi But at age 23, he was given a Bible by a teacher to whom Al Samawi had given a Quran. “I really wanted to see if my book was better than his book,” Al Samawi said. Reading the Bible cast doubt on all he had learned. “I wanted to know why the Jews hate us,” he said. Since there were no Jews in Sana’a, he reached out via Facebook, hoping to find a Jew to ask. What he found was a much larger world. “I realized how small my group really was.”
PHOTO | LEAH M. CAMARA
He started encouraging friends to learn English via Facebook, and they formed a group. He became an interfaith peace activist via Facebook. And threats to him and family began. “I was afraid for my family,” he said, explaining how his extended family lived in such close proximity that he worried his activities might cause them great harm. So he moved south. And got caught in the middle of the burgeoning civil war between CAMPAIGN | 4
HIAS, immigrant aid group vilified by Pittsburgh gunman, vows not to back down BY BEN SALES JTA – Before he shot 11 people dead at a Pittsburgh synagogue, Robert Bowers blamed one Jewish organization: HIAS, an immigrant aid group that has been helping refugees since the 1880s. “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people,” he wrote on his website. “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.” In vilifying HIAS, Bowers targeted an organization that helped get the American Jewish community on its feet as it grew more than a century ago. Its mission has shifted as the number of Jewish migrants has fallen to a trickle, from helping its own to advocating for others. It’s also an organization that, even amid opposition to refu-
For more on Rhode Island and HIAS, see page 20. gee admissions from the White House, has maintained broad support from a Jewish community that is otherwise increasingly fragmented. “It’s not going to affect our mission one iota,” HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield told JTA the night of Oct. 28, referring to the Pittsburgh attack. “If anything, it’s reinforced the need for the Jewish community to be a welcoming community.” HIAS’s goal once was to welcome Jews to the United States. Founded in 1881 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the agency provided resources and education to the Jewish immigrants. It later took an active role in the movement to HIAS | 20
PHOTO | KATIE JETT WALLS
Activist Michele Freed, center, and other young professionals protest with HIAS in front of the White House, March 1, 2017.