This is the time of year when Metro Housing and other organizations focus on messages of hope and peace in recognition of the many holidays celebrated by different cultures and religions.
This year, unfortunately, things feel different.
As members of the Jewish faith and tradition prepare to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah on Sunday, the Metro Housing family acknowledges and decries the rising wave of antisemitism and hate speech in our country and around the world.
In some ways, the creeping hate speech that signifies the current trend of antisemitism is more insidious than other examples of recent hate crimes such as those in a front yard in Stoneham, Club Q in Colorado Springs, or the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Anti-Jewish tropes and other language that normalize antisemitism are dangerous and must be called out for what they are: hateful and worthy of no place in our communities.
During a time when families and friends gather to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights, it is our sincere hope that the lights of Hanukkah will pierce the darkness that increasingly pervades the world with hatred. Metro Housing remains committed to ensuring that darkness has no place among us.
We leave you with the words of Rabbi Jeffrey Meyer of the Tree of Life synagogue: “It cannot fall on Jewish people alone to fight these acts of hate. We must turn to the remainder of America. Because this is just the beginning. It doesn’t end with antisemitism. From antisemitism, it moves on to another minority group and another minority group until there’s no one left to call out because all of the groups are no longer around.”