DECEMBER 22 • 2022 | 9

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sitting alone on her previous 
bed, nothing covering the 
simple ceramic floor, and 
bare white walls behind her, 
depicted a woman who was 
all alone. Immigrating to 
another country is not easy 
at any age (I know), and 
especially not when you leave 
everything behind at the last 
minute, fleeing due to war. 
For these survivors, it’s not 
the first time. 
Despite appearing truly 
happy when we met, I don’t 
expect that there’s anything 
easy about her situation, cer-
tainly not being an elderly 
Holocaust survivor in a new 
country where she doesn’t 
speak the language and tak-
ing care of her 56-year-old 
disabled son. Luba was far 
from sad. At least not at that 
moment. She was happy and 
seemed at home. If nothing 
else, she truly appreciated 
the genuine love and support 
from her new community, 
this event conceived by a 
Christian group, and meeting 
me. She certainly deserves it, 
as do all the survivors we can 
help.
I’m committed to help as 
many Holocaust survivors 
like Luba as possible, whether 
they are stuck in Ukraine, 
are refugees somewhere in 
the world or even at home 
in Israel. Their twilight years 
must not be ones of stress and 
want, but as comfortable as 
possible. 

Jonathan Feldstein was born and 

educated in the U.S. and immigrated 

to Israel in 2004. He has become a 

respected bridge between Jews and 

Christians leading the Genesis 123 

Foundation (Genesis123.co). He writes 

regularly on major Christian websites 

about Israel and shares experiences of 

living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel. He 

can be reached at FirstPersonIsrael@

gmail.com.

statement from Federation
A Community Response 
to Antisemitism
I

t is a message we have 
shared before and one that, 
sadly, we will no doubt need 
to share again.
Antisemitism is on the 
rise. Incidents 
are increasing 
across the globe, 
in our nation 
and even in our 
local Detroit 
community. The 
facts are stark: 
According to 
2020 FBI hate 
crime statistics, 
Jews — who 
make up a 
little more the 
2% of the U.S. 
population — 
were the targets 
of 54.9% of 
all religiously 
motivated hate 
crimes. In 2021, 
a record number 
of antisemitic 
incidents were 
recorded in the 
U.S., according to the ADL, 
growing 34% over the previous 
year.
In Detroit, we have 
experienced a series of 
disturbing incidents, including 
acts of vandalism, harassment 
and phone threats to our 
schools and other community 
institutions. A few weeks ago, 
an individual drove into the lot 
at Temple Beth El and began 
verbally harassing preschool 
parents and staff with anti-Israel 
hate speech and racial slurs. 
Thankfully, he was arrested and 
charged with multiple felonies.
Our response begins with 

vigilance. We are fortunate 
to have strong resources in 
place to keep our community 
safe, starting with Jewish 
Community Security Inc. 
(JCSI), an organization 
established by Federation to 
ensure the safety of the Detroit 
Jewish community. Highly 
trained and experienced 
officers are stationed at Jewish 
day schools, summer camps, 
campuses and buildings 
throughout the community. 
The JCSI team also assists 
Jewish institutions across 
the community by providing 
consultation, education and 
training to instill a culture of 
safety and awareness. 
A key aspect of our commu-
nity’s security infrastructure is 
JCSI’s active partnership with 
local and national law enforce-
ment entities as well as the 
Jewish community security pro-
grams across the region. While 
we know that many individuals 
are concerned about the police 
response to the incident at 
Temple Beth El, we also know 
that law enforcement is highly 
committed to the unique threats 
we face as a community and 
have been strong partners to us 
in all our efforts. In addition, we 
are very grateful for the signifi-
cantly increased funding pro-
vided by the federal Non-Profit 
Security Grant Program to help 
secure Jewish and faith-based 
institutions. 
We are also heartened and 
grateful for the outpouring of 
support from members of other 
communities of faith in Metro 
Detroit, including the Muslim, 
Catholic and African American 

communities. The forces of tol-
erance and mutual respect are 
far greater than the hatred that 
seeks to divide us. 
To better inform community 
members about our response 
to antisemitic threats and other 
security concerns, we hosted a 
Community Forum on Dec. 14 
at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield 
Hills. The forum offered attend-
ees a chance to hear from and 
ask questions of community 
leaders and security profession-
als, as well as representatives 
of local law enforcement. The 
Bloomfield Township Police 
Chief was on hand to debrief 
the incident at Temple Beth El. 
(See coverage of the event on 
page 16.)
We’
d like to offer one final 
but important message, a 
reminder that there is another 
essential response to hatred and 
antisemitism: We must contin-
ue to worship together at our 
synagogues and temples, learn 
at our schools and embrace our 
heritage and culture at insti-
tutions across the city. We will 
never be defined by acts of hate, 
nor will we allow antisemitism 
to undermine the richness of 
our communal life.
Our strength and resilience as 
a people have often been tested 
but have never wavered. We 
will continue to live vibrant and 
meaningful Jewish lives. As we 
like to say, the best response of 
all is to “Just Do Jewish.
” 

Matthew B. Lester is president, Jewish 

Federation of Metropolitan Detroit; 

Dennis S. Bernard is president, 

United Jewish Foundation; and Steven 

Ingber is CEO, Jewish Federation of 

Metropolitan Detroit.

Matthew B. 
Lester

Dennis S. 
Bernard

Steven 
Ingber

