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American Jews Cope with the Fallout a Year after the Oct. 7 Attacks

(Washington Post) Michelle Boorstein - American Jews are buying guns more often. They're going to Shabbat dinners and synagogues more often. For many, the year since Hamas's Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel has led to concerns over whether they are securely woven into the fabric of American life. Grant Schmidt, a Jew who runs Shot Tec, a firearms training and retail business in a suburb of Philadelphia, says, "In some way, shape or form, everyone feels on their own." Jewish institutions - schools, synagogues, camps - that a year ago didn't want security guards to wear uniforms, he said, now ask that they openly carry rifles. "People are getting more into their identities. It's like: 'Like it or not, you're Jewish, so own it.'" Seth Zwillenberg, 67, a Philadelphia-area doctor, said watching campus protesters nearby shout slogans last spring was extremely jarring. "Who thought about antisemitism in America? We knew some non-Jews hate us. But who thought about it? You knew there were a few cranks on both sides but not mainstreamed on both sides. I'm angry, and I'm scared." The FBI said in September that anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023 reached their highest number since data collection began in 1991, and made up 68% of all religion-based hate crimes. Joshua Leifer, a Yale University historian who in August published the book Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life, said, "American Judaism's holiday from history is over."
2024-10-08 00:00:00
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