As the times develop shorter, Jews round Colorado somberly and resolutely have begun Hanukkah celebrations of sunshine, turning to custom amid discord over the killing in Israel, the nation created as a haven for Jews fleeing persecution.
Jewish neighborhood leaders on Monday reported wholesome turnouts at vacation gatherings and extra menorahs in home windows than traditional. Seldom have Jews felt a larger want for this eight-day non secular celebration, mentioned Dan Leshem, the director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, which represents 40 Jewish organizations within the state.
“We’re in a really darkish place and we’d like mild, ” he mentioned.
However the estimated 110,000 Coloradans who establish as Jewish even have braced towards rising antisemitism and intense public criticism of Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Protection Forces launched the navy marketing campaign in Gaza after Hamas, which has been designated by america and the European Union as a terrorist group, attacked Israelis on Oct. 7, killing an estimated 1,200 individuals. Hamas fighters additionally took about 240 hostages.
Now greater than 17,000 Palestinians have been killed, lots of them girls and youngsters, in response to well being officers in Gaza. The warfare has displaced 1.9 million Palestinians who dwell in Gaza — 85% of the inhabitants — prompting worldwide requires a cease-fire that the U.S. authorities has opposed. United Nations Secretary-Common António Guterres has warned of a humanitarian disaster.
Over the previous two months, pro-Palestinian rallies on faculty campuses and in cities have left Jewish People in Colorado, together with some who’ve ties to Israel, feeling insecure and focused themselves, Jewish neighborhood leaders mentioned. And as Hanukkah started, one rabbi mentioned, many had been reluctant to show candles in menorahs.
“What’s taking place is that there’s been a little bit of an erasure between what’s Jewish and what’s Israeli,” Leshem mentioned. “Individuals who need to protest Israel should not pausing to contemplate the distinctions. … These are Jewish-People.”
A spike in antisemitism has unfold into faculties. Leshem mentioned his 10-year-old daughter, a fifth grader in Denver, suffered a verbal assault by a classmate who noticed her drawing the Jewish Star of David in her pocket book.
“Quite a lot of the anti-Israel activists have needed to say Jews are implicated as a result of Jews assist Israel,” Leshem mentioned. “However, after all, Jews on this nation — even Israelis on this nation — don’t affect the coverage in Israel as a result of they don’t get to vote. Quite a lot of Jews are saying: ‘Now we have by no means felt so unsafe.’ ”
There’s a variety of opinion amongst American Jews relating to Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 assaults. This month in Denver, Jewish Voice for Peace activists rallied in Denver, calling for a cease-fire as a part of pro-Palestinian demonstrations concentrating on the World Convention for Israel hosted in Denver.
Hanukkah as a vacation celebrates freedom from oppression. It marks the rededication round 165 B.C.E. of Judaism’s temple in Jerusalem after Jewish fighters liberated it from overseas occupiers. The fighters discovered a tiny provide of ritually purified oil within the temple and relied on it to mild a menorah that miraculously saved burning for eight days.
Throughout Hanukkah, which started Dec. 7, Jews collect on every of eight consecutive nights to mild a candle in a menorah and do not forget that historic heroism.
Safety officers at synagogues round Colorado had been anticipating potential protests, conscious of public ceremonies canceled in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Toronto.
No occasions in Colorado have been canceled, mentioned Scott Levin, director of the Rocky Mountain regional headquarters of the Anti-Defamation League, which combats antisemitism.
Tons of gathered on the finish of final week for Hanukkah first-night celebrations in Denver at Temple Sinai and Temple Emanuel — the place Rabbi Emily Hyatt noticed these as particularly arduous occasions. Jews in Colorado “are serious about the warfare between Israel and Hamas and they’re serious about the rise of antisemitism right here in america,” she mentioned in an interview final week.
Many within the Jewish neighborhood are torn as they weigh whether or not to show menorahs in house home windows, petrified of placing themselves in danger, she mentioned. Infusing mild into the neighborhood throughout a darkish time of 12 months lies on the core of Hanukkah.
“The entire Jewish neighborhood feels completely different proper now — the way in which we’re speaking locally, and what we’re speaking about. It’s all framed with nice fear and consciousness that the world feels completely different,” mentioned Hyatt, who additionally serves as president of the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors. “So many individuals have been injured, or worse, in Israel. Now we have hostages that also haven’t been launched. That’s prime of thoughts, and everyone is considering safety right here.”
Round Colorado, the variety of individuals contacting the Anti-Defamation League elevated fourfold over the already-elevated stage a 12 months in the past, submitting 10 to fifteen studies a day earlier this month about incidents corresponding to harassing calls to synagogues, Levin mentioned. The variety of reported incidents has decreased to about 5 per day this week, he mentioned. These embody a report of swastikas scrawled in a Denver-area elementary faculty rest room and the tearing down of a mezuzah — parchment that shows Hebrew verses from the Torah — from an condo door.
The warfare has infected tensions. Nationwide, the variety of antisemitic incidents documented between Oct. 7 and Dec. 7 reached 2,031, in response to an ADL report released Monday. That’s greater than quadruple the 465 recorded throughout the identical interval in 2022.
The brand new incidents included 1,411 “clearly linked to the Israel-Hamas warfare,” an ADL memo concerning the report mentioned. Among the many reported incidents had been 40 bodily assaults, 337 circumstances of vandalism, 749 incidents of verbal or written harassment, and 905 rallies the place members made antisemitic statements or referred to as for terrorism towards Israel.
Battle over the warfare in Israel additionally was cited by the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a think about a surge in reported bias incidents concentrating on Palestinians and Muslims in america.
In Colorado, some Jewish college students have been hiding their identification, tucking necklaces inside their shirts, Levin mentioned.
“The perfect factor individuals can do remains to be have interaction of their neighborhood and attempt to present confidence in themselves and their positions,” Levin mentioned, acknowledging anxieties round displaying menorahs in home windows. “I don’t assume individuals ought to cover their identities. It’s comprehensible why persons are questioning it. You’ve got to be secure and safe in your house. However it’s a nice image to place in your window.”
At Temple Emanuel, Rabbi Hyatt mentioned extra neighborhood members are requesting consultations together with her this 12 months in contrast with the previous. Non secular issues are intertwined with conversations about Israel, the place “the destiny of the Palestinian individuals, and Gazans, is instantly tied to Hamas greater than anything — a tough place for them to be,” she mentioned.
“I really feel an important sense of grief for what we now have misplaced in Israel and for the continued warfare and ache and lack of life — lack of harmless life,” Hyatt mentioned. “As people, we’re complicated thinkers. We will deeply mourn the lack of all harmless lives. Nobody loves warfare. That is arduous and painful and heartbreaking and difficult. We will love and assist Israel and its proper to exist and defend itself, with out having to log off on each choice the IDF makes,” she mentioned, referring to the Israeli Protection Forces.
The general public criticism of Israel’s warfare appears to have revived antisemitic tropes that, to Hyatt and different leaders, appeared deliberate. They come up from greater than confusion or “a sense of standing up for Palestinians” who’re seen as “the underdog,” Hyatt mentioned.
And Jews in Colorado, who usually have stood with and marched with U.S. minority teams combating for social justice, now really feel deserted and disregarded, she mentioned.
“It’s a mandate for us that we stand with different people who find themselves combating for rights, equality and the life they need to construct,” Hyatt mentioned. “However the Jewish neighborhood now desires to know: The place are our pals that we stood with? We really feel fairly alone proper now.”
