Fear of Being Jewish - Facing a New Reality in the 21st Century

I have never experienced fear or apprehension associated with being Jewish.  Even when I traveled to Europe in the mid-80's, I felt trepidation about being an American, but not about being Jewish.  All that changed one evening last week. 

While serving hot chocolate to the homeless, three men that I believed were of Arab decent walked by and paused at our table of holiday offerings.  They looked at those of us they presumed to be Jewish and questioned us multiple times to determine if we were indeed Jewish. 

I was fortunate to be a part of a holiday event for The Night Ministry, a Chicago based organization working to bring housing, health care and human connection to members of the Chicago community struggling with poverty or homelessness.  Our Sisterhood has been involved with this organization for many years serving monthly dinners on a busy sidewalk location.  On this particular night, we had tables set up representing multiple religious and cultural winter holidays including Hanukkah which they had passed first on their way down the street. 

They stopped at our table and the first question they asked was if this was a Hanukkah celebration.  I think we had offered them hot chocolate.  The question was phrased very deliberately and when we answered that it was a holiday party for the homeless the next question was even more direct:  do you celebrate Hanukkah?  I think we were all a little surprised and no one answered so the next question was brought on right away - are you Jewish?

Honestly, I don't recall if we even answered them; but I was shocked at the questions and shocked at the realization that in the 21st Century, in my adult lifetime, I will experience fear for being Jewish.  I had been worrying about what my kids might experience on a college campus and trying to push those fears out of my mind recently; but suddenly I was confronted with personal fear.  Fear for my well being for no reason other than my religion.  Certainly I have felt fear and anxiety for Jewish people throughout the world in general lately.  Moreover, in light of recent events I have also come to realize what it must be like for African-Americans growing up as a minority due to race; but I have never experienced those feelings on a personal level. 

I grew up in a suburb that was composed of many religions, races and cultures but had enough Jewish people that the schools all closed on the Jewish Holidays.  I attended the University of Michigan and expanded my world to include friendships with people of many backgrounds and increased my awareness of worldly issues.  I moved to Chicago and lived in a city filled with every ethnic and religious group one could imagine and moved about protests and rallies on a fairly regular basis.  But I never experience fear on a personal level - until last week.

I have always felt relatively secure growing up and into my adulthood and thought of organized atrocities against Jews as a thing of the past.  I attended two important events recently.  One showing normal daily Jewish life in  pre-war Poland and the other about Jewish refugees from Arab lands.  While the images from these events spoke of generations before my own,  I think we have to face the reality that recent events are indicating that our reality may be changing.  The relative safety of Jews in the world has been shattered and our generation along with that of our children may be faced with difficult times and difficult decisions.