Never is Now: ADL Summit on Antisemitism

Emily Vayner ’23

On Thursday, November 10th, as Ramaz students met with their teachers for annual student-teacher conferences, seven students and Rabbi Lookstein traveled to the Javits Convention Center for the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Never is Now Summit on Antisemitism and Hate. Upon exiting the train station and walking to the Javits center, the student group felt immersed in the honor, recognition, and sense of solidarity emanating from the convention center. To discuss and learn about anti-semitism in the presence of so many experts, celebrities, and passionate advocates for the Jewish people was as exciting for the group as it was fruitful.

parked trucks outside the center with screens that read, “ADL ignored Jew Hatred on campus for decades!; ADL went woke, its leader is a joke.” For the students, the jarring encounter with the protesters not only reinforced the importance of the event but also put into perspective the scale and scope of the problem faced by advocates against anti-semitism.

But not all who showed up to the conference held it in such high esteem; as soon as the students wrapped around the corner to walk through the doors, they were confronted by many angry protestors. While it is perplexing to think that people would protest a conference dedicated to combatting the irrational, violent hatred of Jews across the globe, as the group got closer, they realized that many of the protesters were the Neturei Karta, a Hasidic anti-Zionist group. They

There were many sessions that described the ways antisemitism has been encouraged across the United States. One session described the actions of the Mapping Project, an anonymous group known for compiling a map of specific physical locations of Boston-based Jewish people and organizations. The points disclose the addresses of the ADL and Jewish day schools, as well as those of Jewish philanthropists and community leaders. The anonymous group not only posts their connections with government, corporations, and universities but also calls for permanently disrupting those relationships. This reflects a larger trend of companies being pushed to boycott Israel and divest their support away from environmental, social, and governance movements in Israel. The impact of the Mapping Project on Jewish communities in Boston has been harmful and significant. There are high levels of anxiety due to the fear of escalating hateful acts. The deputy regional director of the New England Division of the ADL even referred to Boston as “the test kitchen of antisemitic hate.” From college campuses like Harvard and Wellsley endorsing BDS to Tufts, which “pledged to not associate with student groups that recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” college campuses in the region entertain a great deal of antisemitic thought. When organizations like the Mapping Project call for dismantling & physically disrupting Jewish organizations, they encourage antisemitic action. The scope and consequence of these actions and behaviors are not limited to college campuses, as they cut deep into the safety and well-being of Jewish communities. Some of the common phrases that help to endorse violence against the Jewish people include calling Zionism “a harm” and “exploitative,” as well as those that give validity to the conspira

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The election on November 8th was nothing like expected according to national polls. Most political pundits and commentators predicted a red wave with Democrats losing control of the House and Senate in large numbers. However, President Biden had the best midterm election in the past two decades. Democrats have kept control of the Senate and may potentially gain a seat in next month’s Georgia runoff. Senator Raphael Warnock (D) is set to compete in a special election with Herschel Walker (R) in December because neither of them reached the threshold needed to win. If Senator Warnock wins, the Democrats will have a 51-49 majority in the Senate and therefore gain a seat in this year’s election. Either way, Democrats will retain a majority. In the House of Representatives, Republicans took a slight majority but have severely underperformed. Midterm elections are supposed to be brutal for the President’s party and a time for the opposition’s party to perform well in the House and Senate. Democrats are on track to have one of the four best midterms in the last 100 years. Voters tried to correct the trend that has been happening in the last few years and did not vote for Republican extremists. Many of President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidates lost. This was either due to their stances on abortion or on the Janruary 6 insurrection, or for being endoresed by Trump. President Trump weighed heavily in these elections and most of the blame fell on him.

Many Republican candidates were also severely unpopular and in many instances believed that President Biden was not legitimately elected, though voters seemed to reject that theory. Another trend was voters who voted only on the basis of abortion. Twenty seven percent of voters said that their number one issue when voting for candidates was codifying abortion and expanding abortion access. This election showed that it’s important to keep an open mind and never assume the outcome of an election.