Before I begin this week's column, I hope you and your family had a meaningful Passover this year. For me, this year's celebration held a more profound meaning with everything our Jewish world has faced these last several years.

With Passover now ended and in our immediate rearview mirror, we move into a period of time often referred to as the Yoms… Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom Hazikaron (Israel's Memorial Day), and Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day). Each one of these upcoming holidays, with Yom HaShoah beginning Wednesday night at sundown, takes on an added meaning this year due to the rise of antisemitism and anti-Jewish sentiment, as well as the ongoing struggle Israel is fighting with Hamas. I encourage each of us to take a moment to reflect on the meaning of each of these holidays, especially in light of the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) annual audit on antisemitism and anti-Jewish sentiment.

Earlier today, either by coincidence or happenstance, the ADL published and reported on its 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents… and the numbers are staggering. While I anticipated an increase between 2023 to 2024, in large part because of the sheer number of anti-Israel protests and sentiment following Hamas' October 7 attack and the subsequent fallout with the IDF's stated mission to both bring back all of the hostages and to eradicate Hamas, there was no way to grasp how severe these numbers are.

Here are the basic figures…. In 2024, there were 9,354 cases of assault, harassment, and vandalism. This was a 5% increase from 2023, when the ADL recorded 8,873 incidents, and a 344% surge over the past five years. According to the ADL report, there were an average of 25 anti-Jewish incidents every day in 2024. To put this another way, this figure equates to an incident occurring every hour of every day in 2024.

I know that I have discussed the rise of antisemitism and anti-Jewish hate in this column on a rather regular basis. I do so now, with this latest data, because I believe it is crucial for all of us – both Jews and non-Jews – to better understand the issue confronting the Jewish world with quantitative data. It is why I have been glad to see so many news outlets, like CNN, USA Today, the LA Times, and many others. By drawing attention to the issue, we raise more awareness of the plague of hate that is targeting Jews today.

However, what the numbers are not able to show or fully illustrate is the toll each of the 9,354 antisemitic incidents has had on the individuals who have been the target of this hate. They cannot capture the trauma experienced and felt by each person who was subjected to this hate. This becomes part of each of our missions… to make sure that people understand that behind each of these incidents, our fellow Jewish community members were victimized.

As ADL's CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated in the audit's news release, "This horrifying level of antisemitism should never be accepted and yet, as our data shows, it has become a persistent and grim reality for American Jewish communities. Jewish Americans continue to be harassed, assaulted and targeted for who they are on a daily basis and everywhere they go. But let's be clear: we will remain proud of our Jewish culture, religion and identities, and we will not be intimidated by bigots."

I can assure you that our Jewish Federation remains steadfastly committed to standing up to this hatred, doing what we can locally to share this message, and strengthening our network of allies.