Jewish New Yorkers are demonstrating their characteristic resilience: proudly carrying their faith despite rising tensions in the city as Israel wages war against Hamas following the terrorist group’s cowardly surprise attack this month.
In recent days, New York police have stepped up patrols at Jewish schools and synagogues out of an “out of an abundance of caution” ahead of Friday’s massive “day of jihad” demonstration, in which Israeli flags were burned as thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets. .
But despite all this, New York Jews are not hiding.
“I’m not afraid of anything,” Joseph Borgen, a 31-year-old Manhattan resident, dressed in a kippah and draped in a huge blue and white Israeli flag, which he wore on a pair of consecutive shoes, told the Post. demonstrations in support of the Jewish State and its people in the city this week.
“If they want to get me, they can get me,” said Borgen, who was beaten by a mob in an anti-Semitic attack while addressing a pro-Israel rally near Times Square in 2021.
Even as shocking anti-Israel demonstrations filled the streets last week, Borgen, like many fellow Jewish New Yorkers, refused to live in fear, proudly displaying his Star of David necklaces, yarmulkes and Israel Defense Forces sweatshirts. while proclaiming their support for the country.
“No one should put themselves in danger if they feel they are at risk, but in these times of tremendous pain and suffering in Israel, any way we can show that we are with Israel and support it, is what we have to do. Borgen said.
Ayden Morenstern, a 20-year-old New York University student, wears a T-shirt in support of Israel. Robert Miller
“If that means being a little afraid, going out and not letting them scare you into hiding and changing your life, I hope that’s what we can do.”
Chabad Rabbi Uriel Vigler said showing Jewish pride and encouraging others to stay strong is the best way to combat the hostile and intimidating climate.
The rabbi runs Belev Echad, an organization that supports wounded Israeli soldiers, including Raz Mizrachi, one of the 260 innocent revelers massacred by Hamas militants at the Tribe of Nova Music Festival on October 7.
When faced with unimaginable horrors like those witnessed at the festival, “our response has to be to be more proud to be Jewish,” he said.
“Our response to darkness is to shine a light. A little light dispels the darkness. When they bring hate, we bring light.”
That’s exactly what Blake Zavadsky, a college student who was randomly attacked while wearing an IDF hoodie in Bay Ridge two years ago, is doing.
Blake Zavadsky was randomly attacked last year for his Jewish star sweatshirt. Blake Zavadsky
“The world needs to know that Jews are strong: We don’t give up and we won’t be intimidated,” said the 23-year-old from South Brooklyn, who donned the same sweatshirt this week.
“People say they’re afraid to wear their Star of David necklace, but I tell them to be proud of who they are,” said Zavadsky, who donned his “End Jew Hatred” sweatshirt in stretches of Brooklyn where he saw ” Jews being pushed around” last week.
“Jews in New York are afraid: no one wants to be attacked or worse. They attacked me,” said Zavadsky, the son of former refugees from the Soviet Union seeking religious freedom in the United States, admitting that he was left “scarred” after being attacked.
Zavadsky says he was “scarred” by the experience, but will continue to show his Jewish pride. Blake Zavadsky
“But would I come back and take off my sweatshirt? No, that allows anti-Semites to win,” she stated. “I am Jewish and I am proud.”
Dikla Goren, a 42-year-old mother of four in Brooklyn, wrapped herself in a large Israeli flag at a rally in Midtown this week, the first time she had done so since visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland as a teenager.
“I felt very proud to carry the flag. You want to tell the world, ‘Never again,’” said Goren, who shared the photo of herself wrapped in the flag with his 144,000 followers.
Goren is posting images of kidnapped Israelis in Brooklyn in hopes of raising awareness. Dikla Goren
“I felt very proud when I went to Auschwitz when I was 17, but never in my life did I imagine that I would have to show the world that I am Jewish and that I am proud. This can’t be happening in 2023,” he told The Post.
Goren, who moved from Israel 13 years ago, also plastered Brooklyn with missing-person posters of Israelis — many of whom are children — hoping to educate people, even as he braced for a backlash.
“A lot of people understand it,” he said, but added: “I have a lot of enemies too.”
This week anti-Israel protests broke out at several universities in the Big Apple. On Thursday, protesters clashed with Palestine supporters on the campuses of CUNY Brooklyn College, Hunter College and Columbia University.
Nathan Orbach (left), 21, a junior from Livingston, New Jersey, and Ayden Morenstern, 20, a sophomore from Scarsdale, New York, show their support for Israel.Robert Miller
But some Jewish students, like Nathan Orbach, a 21-year-old New York University student, refused to give in to the intimidation and continued to show their love for Israel.
“If they’re wearing their uniforms and fighting, we should be wearing our uniforms in New York City,” said Orbach, who donned a kippah, a sweatshirt with the Israeli flag and ceremonial fringes called tzitzit at a pro-Israel rally in Washington Square. Park. – where chants of “A good Jew is a dead Jew” resounded.
Before last week, Orbach said he kept his tzitzit in his pockets, out of sight.
Aaron Baron, 21, a senior from Great Neck, LI, wears items that show his support for Israel. Robert Miller
“That’s why I wear my tzitzit today: because I’m proud. While we cannot fight on the front, we are putting up our own fight here and we are showing solidarity with our brothers,” said Orbach, who admitted that he has to muster up courage to wear the “uniform.” “
“There’s definitely a sense of fear,” he admitted, noting a classmate’s lament about “paying $80,000 a year to go to NYU because I’m afraid to go to class.”
Beauty queen Justine Brooke Murray said she went against the wishes of her “stereotypically concerned Jewish mother” when she wore her “giant” Star of David necklace at the pro-Palestine rally in Times Square during the “Day of the Dead” protests. of jihad” on Friday.
Justine Brooke Murray encourages her followers not to live in fear. Instagram/Justine Brooke Murray
“I’m not going to live my life in fear and neither should you,” she urged her 13,000 Instagram followers before joining the fray of the hostile demonstration, calling herself “an FU Jew.”
“I will not allow anti-Semites and enemies of Western civilization to force me to live in fear. That gives them a victory,” said Murray, who was crowned Miss Central Jersey on the day of the Hamas surprise attack.
“Expressing your Judaism is an act of bravery these days,” he said.
As Borgen noted of the progress made after his brutal attack: “If nothing positive comes out of what happened to me, then what’s the point?”
Additional reporting by Chris Nesi
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Source: vtt.edu.vn