Yom Kippur asks for an honest accounting. This year, many Jews made theirs inside synagogues guarded by police, and that fact belongs in the accounting too.
Through weeks like this, Nexus holds one position steadily. Jewish fear is grounded in real events and deserves a serious response. A serious response names threats precisely, protects the people in danger, and refuses to let that fear be spent on unrelated political agendas.
On Kol Nidre, a gunman carrying multiple firearms and gasoline opened fire outside Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, yelling “you are going to die for the Jews.” Police have now confirmed it was a deliberate, hate-motivated attack. Constable Jeff Smith, stationed outside, was critically wounded, and the roughly 25 people praying inside survived because he was there. In the past two weeks, authorities also disrupted alleged plots against Jews in Manchester and near Pittsburgh.
Dov Waxman, Nexus’s Scholar in Residence, named what this demands: the fear “should not be ignored or dismissed, nor should it be politically exploited for partisan purposes.”
After Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran’s U.S. tour for saying “Free Palestine” on stage, Nexus President Jonathan Jacoby joined DW News to explain why the speech could be uncomfortable without being antisemitic. He offered four questions to test any criticism of Israel:
Does it use an antisemitic trope?
Does it deny Jews the same rights it affords Palestinians, individual or national?
Does it assign Jews collective responsibility for Israel’s actions?
Does it advocate or lead to violence against Jews?
Macklemore’s remarks met none of them. “When you call it antisemitic,” Jonathan said, “you shut down the conversation about the actual issue.”
Many American Jews feel pushed to choose between loving Israel and criticizing it. In his Yom Kippur sermon at IKAR, Rabbi Morris Panitz refused the choice: “If your love prevents criticism, I’m asking you to re-examine your love. And if your criticism lacks love, I’m asking you to re-examine your criticism.”
The line offers something the loudest voices on every side rarely do: permission to stay connected while disagreeing. Criticism rooted in care strengthens a community’s moral life. Silencing it in the name of love, or in the name of fighting antisemitism, weakens it.
Historian James Loeffler makes a sharp case in the New York Times: the administration is gutting anti-discrimination protections for most minority groups while supercharging them for Jews, and “the hypocrisy is the point.” Selective enforcement turns civil rights law into leverage against universities and other perceived enemies.
For Jews, this arrangement is a trap. A protection that exists because it serves a government’s political targets lasts exactly as long as those targets do, and it casts Jews as the reason other communities lost theirs. Jewish safety in America has been strongest when civil rights covered everyone. Loeffler’s call to treat those rights as a covenant again points in the right direction.
Clayton, NC: Swastika imagery turned up at East Clayton Community Park for the third time this year, including on a sign meant for children. The town is classifying the latest incident as “unauthorized posting” because nothing was damaged.
Highland Park, IL: A swastika was painted on a playground slide at Devonshire Park the day after Yom Kippur.
Imperial Beach, CA: A Jewish couple’s home was tagged with a swastika and white power shorthand around Rosh Hashanah, then targeted again before Yom Kippur, this time with the homeowner’s name. Deputies have arrested an 18-year-old suspect.
Wethersfield and Rocky Hill, CT: Swastikas, antisemitic writing, and racist images were spray-painted across both towns on cars, fences, street signs, and a skate park over Yom Kippur weekend.
Evanston, IL: A man with a prior conviction for antisemitic attacks on Chicago synagogues was sentenced to seven years for drawing swastikas across Northwestern’s campus.
This is what we do: track real antisemitism, call out when it’s weaponized, and make clear the difference. If you’d like to support this work, you can donate here. We’d love to connect.
We’ll continue offering clear responses, frameworks, and resources as these stories develop.
