Last fall, Kanye West flooded social media with antisemitic comments, leading to the disabling of his social media accounts. These comments on social media had an impact felt all across the country, including Connecticut, which saw an increase of antisemitic acts in each of the state’s 34 towns.
In 2022, there was a record of 68 antisemitic incidents in Connecticut. 55 of the incidents were harassment compared to the 13 acts of vandalism, ranking as the state with the 11th most antisemitic incidents. Two CT synagogues received bomb threats and three Zoom bombings were reported at Jewish and Holocaust remembrance events.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal announced on Sept. 1 at a press conference in West Hartford, Conn. that he would be introducing federal funding for synagogues to combat antisemitism.
Blumenthal said regarding the increase in antisemitic incidents in 2022, “That’s a sign of a malignancy … a cancer that is spreading, a virus that will destroy our democracy if we fail to stand up and speak out and take action,” he said. “Words are not enough.”
Leaders of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford were also at the press conference. The federation received $133,700 in security grant money.
“The challenge is that many of the religious institutions across the state and the country — synagogues, churches, mosques — can’t on their own absorb the costs involved in hardening their facilities,” said David Waren, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford.
Connecticut nonprofit faith organizations received $3.2 million in Nonprofit Security Grant Program funds. This includes funding for 23 synagogues and churches to help with security and emergency preparedness.
Blumenthal will be working on this year’s budget to increase the amounts of federal funds that are available to faith-related institutions. The funding will also go toward law enforcement and security presence.
There will also be a $40 million federal investment for the Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service. They provide facilitated dialogue, mediation, training and consultation to assist communities facing discrimination-based conflict. This training will be for congregants and leaders of these faith institutions.
“At the end of the day, what we need is a whole of government, whole of society effort,” Blumenthal said in regards to the need for hate crime laws to be tightened.
Since the rise of antisemitism in 2022, Rabbis in New Haven have spoken out on how their congregations are dealing with the incidents.
“Obviously, we’re putting all this attention on security and making sure everything is safe, but I think if that becomes the core of what it means to be Jewish in America, then we lose the richness of Judaism,” said Rabbi Josh Pernick of Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven.
“It’s weird because I’m not scared,” said Rabbi Eric Woodward of Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel. “At our synagogue, we take safety and security very seriously, and I think this is a really loving community here in New Haven.”
The federal funding gives these synagogues more of an opportunity to enhance security measures and be able to practice their faith without any hesitation.