10 June 13 • 2019
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jews d
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nderstanding and confronting 
the recent rise in anti-Semitism 
and other forms of hate was 
explored recently at Jewish Ferndale’
s 
bi-monthly discussion series. 
Rabbi Herschel Finman and his 
wife, Chana, hosted 35 guests May 16 
at their Chabad center in Ferndale. 
Local journalist Julie Edgar moderated 
a conversation featuring 
Howard Lupovitch, histo-
ry professor and director 
of the Cohn-Haddow 
Center for Judaic Studies 
at Wayne State University, 
and Carolyn Normandin, 
ADL Michigan regional 

director. 
“
All anti-Semitism is reprehensible,
” 
Lupovitch said. The harder anti-Sem-
itism of the right is perpetrated by 
xenophobic, white nationalists, such as 
those who marched and chanted against 
Jews in Charlottesville, Va. He said 
homegrown white terrorists carried out 
mass shootings of Jews at Tree of Life 
Synagogue in Pittsburgh and Chabad of 
Powway near San Diego. 
Normandin also noted the worldwide 
increase in terrorism fueled by hate. This 
year’
s bombings in Sri Lanka and shoot-
ings in Christchurch, New Zealand, are 
part of the trend.
The right’
s anti-Semitism is “more 
racial in nature, like Nazi anti-Semitism,
” 
Lupovitch said. “The goal is to make 
Jews disappear.
”
The anti-Semitism expressed on the 
left is “softer and more political,
” he said. 
It takes the form of verbal, written and 
pictorial attacks on “the Jew as capitalist, 
the Jew as exploiter, the Jew as imperi-
alist.
” Some on the political left speak 
of Israel as an “oppressor of non-Jewish 
people.
”
Strong Jewish protests followed inci-

dents in this category. Because of their 
politics, two University of Michigan 
educators refused to write letters of rec-
ommendation for their students to study 
in Israel. An anti-Semitic cartoon was 
published in the New York Times and 
circulated online. Democratic U.S. Reps. 
Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida 
Tlaib of Michigan made statements criti-
cized as anti-Zionist and/or anti-Semitic. 
Normandin, who knows Tlaib from 
working on issues together, said reports 
of what Tlaib has said are not all factual.
“She has said, ‘
I really care about the 
Jewish people’
 and, after talking with her, 
I believe she was clumsy 
about some of her rheto-
ric,
” she said.
When Normandin 
explained to Tlaib the 
difference between being 
anti-Israel and being 
opposed to its govern-
mental policies, “a light 
bulb went off and she understood. Now 
she’
ll speak out against Israeli policies,
” 
Normandin said. “The jury is still out. 
I’
ll continue educating her until I can-
not.
”

The left’
s anti-Semitism is “not as dan-
gerous and menacing as anti-Semitism 
on the right. They are not the same,
” 
Lupovitch said. He contended that “if the 
Israel-Palestinian conflict was resolved, 
much of the anti-Semitism (on the left) 
would dissolve.
” 
The speakers agreed on reasons for 
the growing expressions of hate.
For those seeking to radicalize the 
target group of young white men ages 
18-28, “Twitter is Public Enemy No. 1 
for promulgating hate,
” Normandin said. 
“Social media inflames people and 
helps them find each other,
” Edgar said. 
Lupovitch also suggested “the rhetoric 
of the last couple of years has embold-
ened haters to be more confrontational.
”
Normandin said ADL does “a lot of 
ally-building in public schools,
” helping 
younger students to accept others. It also 
distributes anti-hate materials to reli-
gious schools in Michigan.
“Jewish college students need to be 
able to handle verbal confrontations,
” 
Lupovitch said. “We must help them to 
be tough enough and provide the facts 
about the Middle East.
” ■

JESSIE COHEN JN INTERN

Protecting 
Jewish People

ADL CEO talks of rising anti-Semitism, political 
polarity and action.
I 

have one main job: to protect the 
Jewish people. That is my charge,” 
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the 
Anti-Defamation League (ADL), told 
a crowd of about 300 May 23 at the 
Berman Theater in West Bloomfield.
The ADL began in 1913 to combat 
discrimination against Jewish people. 
For more 
than 100 years, its mission 
statement remains: “To stop the def-
amation of the Jewish people, and to 
secure justice and fair treatment for all.”
Greenblatt’
s presentation, “
A New 
Look at the Oldest Hatred,” came to 
Metro Detroit at a time of unprece-
dented anti-Semitism in the U.S. and 
abroad. According to Greenblatt, hate 
crimes against Jews showed a 99 per-
cent increase from 2015 to 2018. And 
there have been twice as many physical 
assaults and three times as many vic-
tims in 2018 as compared to 2016. 

Although anti-Semitism is not new, 
he said the pace at which it is spreading 
and affecting people is unprecedent-
ed, calling it the “normalization of 
anti-Semitism.”
He went on to discuss the “ascen-
dency of the radical left” as well as the 
“institutionalization of the extreme 
right.” Greenblatt feels this ever-in-
creasing polarization between political 
stands is dangerous for the Jewish 
community. However, he maintained 
ADL is not a political organization but 
a moral one.
Lastly, Greenblatt cited the “changing 
nature of Jewish identity” within young-
er generations as well as uncertainty in 
the Middle East as causes of increasing 
anti-Semitic sentiments.
“
Anti-Semitism isn’
t some abstrac-
tion,” said George Selim, ADL senior 
vice president of programs, who also 

spoke. “It’
s our reality.”
The pair discussed anti-Semitism 
on a national and global scale, but also 
addressed the very local issue of U.S. 
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). Tlaib 
has been accused of anti-Semitism for 
her comments on Palestine. During a 
podcast interview, Tlaib said that her 
Palestinian ancestors lost their land, 
lives, livelihoods and dignity in order to 
provide a safe haven for Jews after the 
Holocaust.
“Not only was what she said wrong, 
but the other side’
s reaction was wrong,” 
Selim said. “They made anti-Semitism 
into a football.”
The presentation was not all doom-
and-gloom. ADL has plans to increase 
cyber surveillance and improve technol-
ogy to track and intercept hate. It hopes 
to get cyber-hate laws passed in all 50 

states. The organization is also upgrad-
ing capabilities to track potentially dan-
gerous extremism on and offline. It also 
plans to expand its existing programs to 
educate young people about hate.
Greenblatt offered three ways to fight 
anti-Semitism: Speak up, share the facts 
and show strength. He and Selim took 
questions from the audience. 
Frankel Jewish Academy students 
who belong to the school’
s ADL chap-
ter, founded in 2015, assisted during 
the program. Co-presidents Hannah 
Gorman and Benny Shaevsky feel that 
educating people on current anti-Semi-
tism is one way to effect change.
“With the rise in anti-Semitism, it’
s 
important to educate people on the 
harm hate causes both to the Jewish 
community and other minority com-
munities,” Shaevsky said. ■

Carolyn 

Normandin

Howard 

Lupovitch

Anti-
Semitism

Jewish Ferndale panelists 
look at hate and advocacy.

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ANNISTIQUE PHOTOGRAPHY

ADL CEO Jonathan 

Greenblatt and ADL Senior 

Vice President George 

Selim answer questions 

from the audience.

