On Thursday afternoon, Alexander Rosemberg, the NY/NJ Associate Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), spent the afternoon in Lakewood hearing from concerned community members regarding incidents of anti-Semitism and bias in our region.
A cross section of community leaders from Lakewood, Jackson, and Toms River were in attendance, including: Deputy Mayor Menashe Miller; Township Committeeman Meir Lichtenstein; Rabbi Moshe Zev Weisberg and Rabbi Benny Heinemann of The Lakewood Vaad; Norris Clark of Princeton Strategic Communications and the Lakewood Neighbors Coalition; Rabbi Avi Schnall of Agudath Israel, New Jersey office; Rabbi Mordechai Burnstein, Chaplain and Jackson community leader; Rabbi Meir Goldberg of the Rutgers Jewish Experience, the New Jersey Chaplains’ Association; and several leading community members from Toms River.
Mr. Rosemberg listened intently as a number of concerns were raised, including with respect to hateful comments posted online and verbal harassment of Orthodox residents in our region. After expressing significant concern regarding these incidents, Mr. Rosemberg shared certain resources that the ADL can offer to assist local communities in the joint battle against anti-Semitism, and he committed to work closely with the leadership in our region regarding these pressing concerns.
Mr. Rosemberg stressed that every citizen can play an important role in the struggle against anti-Semitism by being vigilant and reporting incidents of bias to the ADL. This includes even seemingly minor incidents that don’t necessarily rise to the level of a criminal offense. Comprehensive reporting will help ADL staff identify the regions most affected by bias incidents, and will allow ADL to work more effectively with elected officials, community leaders, law enforcement, social media platforms, and others to combat hate. It is quick and easy to report an incident by visiting https://www.adl.org/take-action/report-an-incident. Incidents of cyberhate can also be reported directly to social media platforms. More information about reporting these incidents can be found here: https://www.adl.org/adl-cyber-safety-action-guide.
The community leaders thanked Mr. Rosemberg and the ADL for making a statement by coming out to hear their concerns, and Mr. Rosemberg expressed that the ADL wants to maintain an open channel of communication with continued updates and collaboration. “It was troubling to hear about incidents of anti-Semitism and bias in Ocean County,” says Mr. Rosemberg. “I look forward to continuing to work with community leaders to combat hate and foster improved relationships in the region.”
Now the problem is solved. B”H!
I don’t think there is a major problem with anti Semitism. I think there are a few bad apples that make noise.
Yeh and the few bad apples can really make out lives difficult. The minority is the major problem.
The ADL are shills for the democrat party they blame anti semitism on President Trump and ignore left wing anti semitism on colleges nationwide and the anti semirism that is part and parcel of the left’s anti Israel activism and ignore the democrats who support these anti Semitic activists
Agree with Moish! Most people just want to live in peace.
I agree with Moishe; I have never experienced Antisemitism myself. Avot, anyone? Most people treat me as I have treated them.
So because YOU never experienced antisemitism that means its a nonissue. Interesting perspective.
We need the ADL ?? We need our constitutional right to carry arms, we need guns in every should BEFORE C”V something happens. We don’t need to report anti semitism we need to ACT on it.
If we don’t make kiddush the non Jews will make havdalah! It’s incumbent upon us to behave like the am hnivchar. The gemorah states that how the non Jews talk about us reflects on how we learnt Torah H’kdosha from our father’s. Take heed!
Just because you haven’t experienced anti-Semitism does not mean it doesn’t exist. In years past anti-Semitism manifested itself on the street. In this generation it’s more focused on social media. There is anti-Semitism in local media outlets and there is anti-Semitism in certain town ordinances enacted to make it difficult for Jews to reside in those towns. There are so many anti Semitic Facebook pages and posts dedicated to harassing and maligning the Orthodox community in New Jersey. To deny this just emboldens those who hate and gives cover to those that discriminate. The ADL is to be commended for stepping up and tackling this issue.
Every Jew a .22
First thing the Nazi’s Y”S did was confiscate personal firearms. Check the history books.
Gun control does not work for law abiding citizens only Democrats and Criminals
as far as i am concerned this is the 1st time the ADL showed any interest in anti semitism against orthedox. This problem is at least 5 yrs old. Think its time for us to try to tackle it ourselves. And of coarse we need lots of tefila