By the tens of thousands, New Yorkers turned out on Sunday, January 5, to stand in solidarity against anti-Semitism in the wake of numerous recent attacks targeting the area’s Jewish community.
The throngs gathered in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan for a march over the Brooklyn Bridge to a rally in Cadman Plaza.
Dubbed “No Hate, No Fear,” the gathering aimed to make clear, in the words of the UJA Federation of New York, that, “The 1.5 million Jews of our great city and region will not stand down.”
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah Senior Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, who was on hand with her wife, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told Gay City News, “We stand with our immigrant and Muslim communities when they are under attack and we are deeply moved to be joined by allies condemning anti-Semitism. We call on all people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and whatever other identities we hold dear, to continue being the reason that others believe in the goodness of people.”
Jason Rosenberg, an out gay Jewish New Yorker and a member of ACT UP, said the march represented an opportunity to resist all forms of discrimination, including anti-Semitism, racism, transphobia, and more.
“I think we are seeing internal tensions in the Jewish community, and I think it’s important we come together and we show up for people along the margins of denomination and identity and to celebrate the diversity of the Jewish faith,” Rosenberg said.
The march followed an escalation of anti-Semitic attacks locally, especially during the month of December. There was a deadly attack at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City on December 10, and on December 28, a man invaded a Hasidic rabbi’s home in the New York City suburb of Monsey and stabbed half a dozen people celebrating a Hanukkah party. There have been numerous other anti-Semitic on buses, in the street, and on train platforms, among other public spaces.
