Hanukkah Brings Light in Face of Rising Antisemitism

As members of the East Lansing-area Jewish community gather to celebrate Hanukkah, they do so in a time of rising antisemitism.

Amy Bigman has been rabbi at East Lansing’s synagogue, Congregation Shaarey Zedek, for more than 15 years. She has noticed the rise in antisemitic acts over the last several years, including the distribution of antisemitic leaflets in local neighborhoods earlier this year

“We’ve always had groups like this in Michigan,” she said. “Those who spouted hateful ideas and antisemitism and racism. But in recent years they’ve come out of the woodwork.”

Carolyn Normandin is Michigan’s Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and has noted the sharp increase in just her five years of leadership at the organization.

“Antisemitism has been on the rise for several years,” she said. “We notice that whenever something in the news happens, whether it’s Kanye West or even the pandemic, we see a rise for a variety of reasons. If something bad is happening, like the pandemic, people are looking for someone to blame. So we saw people go from giving the coronavirus the horrible name of ‘kung flu’ to eventually naming it the ‘Jew flu.’”

While 2022’s data from the ADL is not yet available, 2021 saw 2,717 reported incidents of antisemitism nationwide. This marked the highest number of reported incidents in more than 40 years. Michigan recorded the fifth highest number of incidents, following New York, New Jersey, California, and Florida, and seeing a 25 percent rise from the previous year.

As a leader of her own community, Bigman has struggled with the question of how to address the problem of bigotry against Jewish people.

“I gave a sermon in 2021 about antisemitism, which I put off doing for a long time because I figured it’s not something we as Jews can do much about,” Bigman said. “But in that sermon, I talked about how we combat antisemitism by acting as Judaism teaches us. From the Book of Leviticus, we learn to love our neighbor as yourself. We have the commands in the Jewish Bible to treat the stranger in our midst as we would like to be treated. We need to model this behavior. We can combat antisemitism by participating in interfaith programs, because the more we know about each other, the better.”

Bigman helped create the Interfaith Clergy Association of Greater Lansing and is currently serving as co-chair. Clergy use the group as an opportunity to share aspects of their faith with each other. She herself has been asked by colleagues to come speak to their congregations about the Jewish High Holy Days. The group also hosts an annual interfaith service each fall.

Bigman’s house of worship remains cautious.

“We have done things to make our building safer,” she said. “We don’t even tell most of our congregants the specifics because we don’t want it to get out there. But we’re continually updating and evaluating things. Our staff and others wear panic buttons the moment we walk into the building so that goes to the East Lansing Police Department. They’re very good about being in this vicinity.

“I never would have thought about any of these measures when I was in rabbinic school. But now I don’t know of a synagogue or Jewish facility who doesn’t do this.”

Bigman isn’t hopeless about the situation.

“We should be proud of who we are and not bend to the pressure and knowledge that some people are against us,” she said. “There is no magic bullet to fix antisemitism, but on our end we can make sure we are acting appropriately in the world.”

Normandin offers simple advice for those who want to combat antisemitism.

“When someone says something outrageously false,” she said, “call it out yourself. Stand up to it. Look for information from reliable sources. Don’t trust your best friend’s brother’s girlfriend. Don’t get your news from TikTok. Don’t get your news from Facebook.”

Holding up her cell phone, she adds, “This is without a doubt the frontier we need to tackle. On the one hand, you can learn a tremendous amount from reputable sources. But again, there are nefarious actors putting hateful junk out there.”

She also encourages people to report incidents of anti semitism and hate at the ADL website.

“It only takes about five minutes to look out for your community and protect it,” she said.