Antisemitic Hate Crime And The Deafening Sound Of Silence

In WWII, this took the form of people who looked away as their Jewish neighbours were taken from their homes to be murdered. This took the form of teachers who stood by silently as Jewish children disappeared one by one from their classrooms. This evil was compounded by the police, guards, and soldiers who dutifully and complacently obeyed their orders. As Jews, we know, firsthand, of the horrors that lie behind impassive eyes.  

Because we know the dangers of silence, Jewish leaders and members of the Jewish community have felt a special responsibility to speak out against injustice. Our Jewish community marched with Dr. King, we fought long and hard against persecutions of the Soviet regime, we took a hard and committed stand as genocides unfolded in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur. It is why, in this moment of outrage and protest following the death of George Floyd, we continue in our commitment to raising our voices to illuminate that all racism and hatred are intolerable.  

If silence is complicity, though, what are we to make of the public and media response to the documented pattern of growing antisemitism in our own city of Toronto?