In contemporary Minnesota when the topic of anti-religious bias or discrimination arises it is commonly expected to be in reference to anti-Muslim prejudice, a serious problem which needs to be recognized and addressed. However, there is another type of prejudice which once again is rearing its ugly head—anti-Semitism.

As a non-Jew who grew up after the second World War, I had become complacent, assuming that the exposure of the vile horrors of the Holocaust had taught the world about the dreadful evils possible under intolerance and scapegoating. I believed that anti-Semitism, denounced and exposed so fully, was cleansed from our society. That was naïve.

After the murders at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh in the fall of 2018, my husband sent a note to some Jewish friends, expressing sympathy, concern, and support. I was surprised when in reply one friend noted that, “As a Jew, I have never felt safe in any Jewish gathering and, as the times have changed, I find myself always wondering of
vulnerabilities in what should otherwise be free from danger. The beast has been released—the question remains: can we tame it once again?”

Yes, I was surprised. I began asking others, both Jewish and gentile about this and had another surprise—our friend’s fear was widespread and known to many. One Minnesotan friend said that even before the Pittsburgh shooting there was always an armed security guard at the synagogue during worship, “...and isn’t that a shame that we feel we have to do this?”

It didn’t take much reflection or research to find more examples of anti-Semitism during my lifetime, past to present, from barriers for Jewish faculty at major universities to bomb threats at Jewish schools. In January 2017, a Jewish school and community center in St. Louis Park had to be evacuated due to a bomb threat (https://www.kare11.com/article/news/crime/bomb-threat-triggers-evacuation-at-jcc-day-school/387105678) and again in February that year a school and community center in Highland Park also received a bomb threat (www.kare11.com/article/news/st-paul-jcc-part-ofnationwide-bomb-threat/410111752).

The Jewish community in the upper Midwest has an advocate in the Jewish Community Relations Council (www.minndakjcrc.org). “As the public affairs voice of the Jewish community, the JCRC fights anti-Semitism and prejudice, advocates for Israel, provides Holocaust education, promotes tolerance and social justice, and builds bridges
across the Jewish and broader communities.”

Another positive in the Twin Cities is the recently developed Interfaith Response Network. Clergy from diverse faith communities meet to promote the respectful treatment of all faiths. This can be powerful, but it takes all of us. The huge outpouring of support after the Tree of Life shootings when clergy and lay people alike joined our local Jewish congregations at memorials and worship was good. People of all faiths and no faiths must decry anti-religious violence.

Minneapolis has a history of anti-Semitism, which stood out even at a time when such attitudes were idespread (http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/52/v52i05p166-182.pdf. page 167). Minnesota has come a long way since then. Have we come far enough? Prejudices that should be relegated to history are still with us.