‍

With 2024 about to expire, it’s unlikely many people will lament leaving the current year behind. To be sure, a litany of afflictions — from the high cost of living to worsening poverty, extreme weather and increased urban gridlock, to name a few — has made for challenging times.

For Canadian Jews in particular, the past 12 months have been sobering, to say the least. Subjected to an antisemitic onslaught, the Jewish community is on edge, praying for better days, with little sign their prayers will be answered anytime soon.

Conversely, anti-Jewish haters are riding high, enjoying a banner year. Based on police hate crime statistics, antisemites broke new ground in 2024, carrying out a record number of attacks on Jewish individuals, synagogues, schools, businesses and community centres. Each new incident involving a Jewish target seems to spur them on. While the haters might be rejoicing over their latest exploits, I’ve got news for them they won’t like.

To be sure, the Jewish community is deeply distressed, even traumatized, over what’s been happening but we’re standing strong. Even in the face of this shocking antisemitism, we remain steadfast and unbowed, refusing to let hate rule our lives. We will never yield ground to those seeking to harm us.

The catastrophe of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas atrocities and the tsunami of antisemitism it unleashed have brought Jews closer together, strengthened by the support of many non-Jewish allies. As much as it may disappoint our adversaries, we’re not going anywhere. Taking pride in our Jewish and Zionist identities and drawing on our collective strength, we will not be cowed.

By all conventional reasoning, given our small numbers and the relentless persecution we’ve suffered through the ages, Jews should have disappeared long ago. Chock up this improbable survival to our time-tested spirit of resilience, by which we continue to forge a path forward for ourselves despite the pain, trauma, threats, tragedy and other adversity thrown our way. The survival of Israel against all odds is Jewish resilience writ large. Jews have learned the hard way they can never take their existence for granted.

As the late Holocaust survivor and educator Simon Wiesenthal famously said: “Freedom is not a gift from heaven, it’s something we have to fight for each and every day.”

After thousands of years of defying the forces of hate and subjugation and worse, Jews know a few things about survival. By now, we’ve developed a second nature, a sixth sense that helps see us through dark times. An inseparable part of our tradition, it includes endurance, hope, faith, living with uncertainty, remembering the past and the ability to rebuild, to say nothing of the core values of Judaism that have guided us through the vagaries of history.

Canadian Jews, like their brethren elsewhere suffering the current scourge of antisemitism, obviously yearn for better days. The present situation demands our vigilance, but we never lose hope. We know the importance of perseverance, tenacity and bouncing back from hardship.

We also know we’re not alone, that good people of moral fortitude, horrified by rampant Jew-hatred, stand with us in solidarity. Such allies provide much-appreciated comfort and reinforce our resolve never to be intimidated by the haters.

As Jews in Canada and around the world celebrate Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, we’re once again reminded of the struggle and unwavering determination of our people.

The story of Chanukah is, above all, the triumph of light over darkness. Now, as always, we must be vigilant in the face of hate and incitement, while longing for peace, freedom, tolerance and a future free from pervasive antisemitism.

As we look ahead to 2025, we can never afford to lose hope for a better reality for all. But, as history has shown us repeatedly, hope without action is never enough.

Read in Toronto Star

‍