Es iz schwer tzu sein a yid. It is hard to be a Jew. — Sholem Aleichem
The recent deadly assault on the Chabad temple in Poway — just six months after a bloodier massacre in Pittsburgh — reflects the sad reality that anti-Semitism in all its hoary forms, is back.
Sadly, confronted by such incidents, the Jewish community, reflecting the deep fissures of American society, seems divided by political orientation. The conservative faction, sometimes aligned to President Trump, focuses largely on growing anti-Semitism on the political left often downplayed by progressive Jews who focus on the scattered, albeit sometimes deadly, expression of anti-Semitism among scattered white nationalists.
The problem here is that both the far-right and the progressive left represent clear and present dangers to Jews around the world. The proper response to incidents at Poway, as well as those perpetrated by the political left, should not be division, but a common sense of unity in the face of a growing, and, until recently, largely unexpected threat.
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