To Hide, Or Not To Hide, One’s Jewishness In The Workforce?

The first few meetings via teleconference went well. Heather’s team has a solid reputation, and they are very capable. It was at the first face to face encounter when things changed. It was all due to an innocuous piece of jewellery: her Magen David on her necklace.

She connected the dots: it wasn’t long until the head of the partner organization, Wendy, began speaking of Heather as “that Jew woman” to her own employees. As in, “why do you work for “that Jew woman, you should be working directly with us.”

There were other indicators of antisemitism as well. Knowing that Heather and her team do not work on Saturdays or Jewish holy days, Wendy began scheduling meetings on those days, and complaining when Heather’s team could not come in.

Eventually, the interaction became so antagonistic, that Heather stepped away from the contract, and moved on from this partnership. Ironically, this was a partnership with an organization that presents itself as a progressive, socially responsible company, that seeks to protect those who face persecution, be it racism, discrimination, or sexism.

Sadly, these two examples aren’t isolated, but occur with frequency, even now in 2020. In fact, statistics say that there is a one in one-thousand chance any given Jew in Canada will be the victim of an antisemitic attack, and therefore no one should be surprised that, from time to time, there is still latent hatred in the workforce against Jews.

And in these days when every other victim group sees their cause taken up, and rallied for, it’s baffling why the Jewish people aren’t included as a nation worth protecting.