Antisemitism shouldn't be our only focus - opinion

• Published date: 15 March 2024
• Author: NAFTALI SCHIFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

These themes, the uncertainty and even despair that weighs heavily on our minds, the accounts of the hatred and hostility facing Jews on campuses, commuting, on the street, and online dominate our discourse. Last week, plastered across The free daily Evening Standard's front page was the headline, "Jews are terrified." Many British Jews feel as Avraham, our founding father, did all those years ago, standing alone on the other side of the river from the rest of society

However, there is a famous rabbinic quip in response to this feeling of terror: "Let those who hate us make Havdalah. We will make Kiddush." Today, more than ever, we must busy ourselves with positive expressions of Jewishness, peppering our lives with learning, understanding, observance, connections, and community. We cannot be defined by being hated; we must stand tall and make a proud declaration of our Jewishness. In other words, we must make Kiddush.

A day after the Evening Standard ran its splash story, full of testimonies of fear, we at Aish heard eyewitness accounts of an entirely different nature. We had the privilege of hosting Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the Chief Rabbi and President of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), for a sushi lunch. Goldschmidt met with our team of educators, hearing of their work.

These 20 or so dedicated Aish educators spoke of bringing Jewish workshops to university campuses from Belfast and Aberdeen, of engaging thousands of Israelis of all ages tucked away in South and East London, and of running a host of programs, from primary school food-packaging sessions to young professional music nights, encouraging people from Stamford Hill to Sheffield to have a more positive, wholesome connection to community and Jewish life. This was a true example of making such a Kiddush (and I don't just mean the sushi), of focusing on Jewish life and not on antisemitism, all from people who are, in many ways, on the front lines of this hostility, too.

Our campus rabbis have experienced hate speech and intimidation and yet speak about the need to connect more Jews to Jewish wisdom. Goldschmidt, who...