Jewish Canadians feeling abandoned by politicians and police alike

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Two weeks ago, I was hearing a disturbing message from two young Canadians while having lunch at a downtown Toronto cafe.

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They were questioning whether it’s still safe to be a Jew in Canada.

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This week, I was sitting with two rabbis in Thornhill as they raised the same questions for themselves and their congregations.

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, leader of the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation, and Rabbi Avram Rothman, of the Aish Thornhill Community Shul, expressed extreme frustration about the present and doubts about the future for Jews in this country.

Both men had seen their synagogues targeted by unruly, angry and, at times, violent mobs as police watched on.

“We’ve made our views known to York Regional Police,” Rabbi Korobkin said.

Both men described how police did little to stop hundreds of protesters coming into their suburban community and intimidating their congregants.

Until now, members of the Jewish community in York Region have looked at what has been happening in Toronto and felt lucky to have YRP policing their community. The relationship had been fairly decent until the protests and the police reaction, or non-reaction, to what happened.

“They followed people to their homes,” Rabbi Rothman said of the protesters, who had one clear mission, to intimidate Jewish Canadians.

“We have people afraid to come now,” Rabbi Korobkin said.

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Imagine people being afraid to go to temple to worship in Canada.

I’ve been going to Catholic church my whole life and I’ve never been afraid to do so. I’ve also never seen a police officer at a Catholic church unless they were going to mass.

At every synagogue I’ve been to over the past several months there have been paid duty police officers there as well as private security guards. The Jewish community has even had to establish their own rapid response security team to respond to incidents in conjunction with police.

While security at Jewish schools, community centres and places of worship has long been high, the measures have only increased since October 7. It’s no wonder that many Jews in Canada no longer feel safe or welcomed.

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Add to that the attacks against Jewish-owned businesses like Cafe Landwer, Aroma Espresso Bar, the firebombing of a deli, the incessant anti-Semitic graffiti and the never-ending protests.

On Friday night, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was holding a fundraiser downtown, a group of protesters was outside trying to shut it down like they did his reception with the Italian prime minister two weeks earlier. They chanted things like, “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” and, “We are the intifada.”

These are the kinds of genocidal chants that call for violence against Jews that we have been hearing on our streets since October 7. These chants make me, a non-Jew, uneasy. They make Jews feel unsafe, targeted.

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These are our fellow Canadians, our friends, our neighbours, our co-workers being made to feel they aren’t welcome in Canada. They shouldn’t be having discussions about whether life would be safer living in South Florida or even in Israel, but that is what is happening.

“My brother moved to Israel,” Rabbi Rothman said.

Imagine feeling safer, more at ease in a war zone than in the country your family has called home for generations.

It’s sad and it’s disheartening.

The Jewish community feels abandoned by all levels of government in this country, by police services, and too many of their neighbours.

They wonder who would hide them, Anne Frank-style, if we got to that point. Sitting in on those conversations is surreal, these are thoughts that would never cross my mind.

Anti-Semitism may seem far off to you, but to our fellow Canadians who are Jewish it is a daily issue and a real threat.

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