Echo opinion: Media is accountable to fight antisemitism

Echo Opinion published in The Denver Post: For Colorado’s Jewish community, praying in peace means confronting anti-Semitism.

by Scott Levin, Joseph R. Black and Jay Strear.

November 9 and November 10, 1938

We are deeply grateful that Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker* and three congregants at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas were able to escape safely after being taken hostage during last Saturday’s worship services. This attack against a sacred community in the middle of Sabbath services should be shocking to all people who share the bedrock principle that all of us, no matter our religion, should be allowed to pray free from fear.

The trauma caused by the perpetrator of this heinous act extended far beyond the small congregation in Colleyville. It added to the concerns of Jews in Colorado and around the country that such a horrific event could happen in their synagogues. While the hostage-taker’s focus may have been on the release of a convicted terrorist with links to Al Qaeda, he did not choose a library, shopping mall or church to try to leverage his ask; he chose a synagogue. This was an act of antisemitism, plain and clear.

Antisemitism has reached a high-water mark in the United States. Unfortunately, being on edge and hypervigilant is very much a part of the American Jewish experience. We saw it in the aftermath of the rally in Charlottesville in 2017, when white supremacists chanted “Jews shall not replace us” while marching with their tiki torches across the University of Virginia campus; the deadly shootings at synagogues in Pittsburgh in 2018 and Poway in 2019, and the subsequent attacks on Jewish targets in Jersey City, New Jersey and Monsey, New York.

In 2020, 2,024 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism in the United States were reported to the Anti-Defamation League, the third-highest year for incidents against American Jews since ADL started tracking such data in 1979. In Colorado, there were 60 antisemitic incidents reported in 2020, just one less than the high set in 2019. A 2021 ADL poll found that well over half of Jewish Americans have either experienced or directly witnessed some form of an antisemitic incident in the last five years.

The lack of attention to such a shocking antiemetic terrorism serves to normalize antisemitism.

So, when The Denver Post failed last Sunday to give prominent attention to the taking of hostages at gunpoint during worship services in Colleyville, it was painful. 

Sadly, the synagogue story was relegated to the “Briefs” section on page 13, a section that included a story about the value of superstar Prince’s estate. 

We recognize that print deadlines may have passed, but steps should have been taken so that this terrible event was not made to appear less relevant than the primary story on page 2 about the “Nasal Ranger,” a machine that detects smells.

Additionally, we would have expected The Post and other media to reach out to local clergy and community leaders in the immediate aftermath of the hostage-taking to report on the impact to our local community. When they failed to do so, the Jewish community felt isolated and vulnerable. The lack of attention to such a shocking event serves to normalize antisemitism.

To counter this normalization, ADL, JEWISHcolorado and the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors hosted a virtual forum Tuesday night for an interfaith response to antisemitism. 

More than 8,500 separate screens tuned into the online program to see government officials including Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen, and Reps. Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Iman Jodeh, as well as clergy and leaders from the Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, African American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities, proclaim that antisemitism and hate are unacceptable. The fact that so many people watched the program demonstrated the very real need our community had to receive the heartfelt support of others.

As the leaders of two of the largest Jewish advocacy organizations and the largest synagogue in Colorado, we fear that violence is never far behind the normalization of antisemitism. We ask everyone, including The Denver Post, to do a better job of timely speaking out against antisemitic events when they occur.

Scott Levin is a regional director at the Anti-Defamation League. Rabbi Joseph R. Black is the senior rabbi at Temple Emanuel, and Rabbi Jay Strear is the CEO of JEWISHcolorado.

*Since Rabbi Charlie arrived at Congregation Beth Israel, in Colleyville, Texas, he has worked to bring a sense of spirituality, compassion, and learning into the lives of our community. He loves finding a connection with people of every age