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In addressing Jew-hatred (big or small), we each must adopt a “lo alecha attitude” — it is not any of our individual duty to singlehandedly beat antisemitism, but none of us can consider ourselves free from the obligation to participate in countering it. We are much too small a minority (2.4% of American adults, per Pew) for any of us to sit out of this effort.

Although we are hardly in a moment of calm, this is still the “calm” before the storm. So, what’s to come? Of the above, what might we most expect during election season? Probably three tropes in particular: greed, power, and anti-Zionism.

There are countless antisemitic ideas in our world; full books have been written on the matter. Thankfully, this article needn’t take 100,000+ words, as the ADL has helpfully boiled the many tropes of antisemitism down into seven broad historical categories. Here, they’re roughly organized into chronological order by when they emerged. Although the older tropes may seem quaint, all still circulate. Each is worth understanding.

Precedent warns that antisemitism dependably rises at three times: 1) When Israel is in the news; 2) around Jewish holidays; and 3) during election season. Soon, we will likely experience the trifecta, and I worry that many of us are unequipped for what will be a very tough fall.

It’s in light of my knowledge of Jewish history that I can only be troubled by what’s happening just north of us in Springfield, Ohio, where an immigrant community faces substantial vitriol and threat.

Jews, more than anyone else, should know that too casual a relationship between a society and violence leads down dangerous roads which all eventually arrive at our doorstep. To borrow from a talmudic idiom, “violence is a wheel that goes around the world.”

If you’ve chatted with me over the last nine months about interfaith dialogue, you’re probably aware that I’ve groused that our interfaith spaces have focused too frequently on “feel-good” programs, at the expense of having the tough-but-deep discourse that’d have better prepared us for a post-10/7 world. For me, last night was a reminder that we can—and must—do both.

As Jews know all too well, bigotry is a social pollutant. Hate may begin as a particular phenomenon, as antisemitism impacting Jews; but, if left unchecked, history shows that it ends with waves of extremism that erode the foundations of our entire society.

Ayele Shakur, speaking on a JCPA panel about Black-Jewish relations, urged the audience to: “Think about coalitions’ relationships in terms of individuals.” Like most of the best ideas, it’s so simple and yet so profound.

For Jews, better understanding political violence is essential to making sense of the precarious moment we face. It provides a category for experiences we have had which specifically try to deprive us of the safety needed to be full participants in our civil society.

Whether or not SNL fits your sense of humor, I actually think there’s something to be learned from their comedy here.

“Let us fight antisemitism with rigor and determination. At the same time, let us not allow that fight to define who we are.”

Our debate must be empathetic; even when we disagree, we disagree as members of the same community. And, as members of unique, pluralistic, historically marginalized group, we should recall (especially in moments when we feel obligated to rebuke our peers (also a mitzvah, by the way!)) that we have to do so in ways that communicate love, respect, and dignity.