85% of Jews in Europe Afraid to Attend Synagogue

By Micah Halpern

I've Been Thinking:

A new study about Jews of Europe was just released and after reading the findings, I was speechless.

85% of the Jews of Europe will not attend synagogue during these High Holidays out of fear of Anti-Semitism. This figure is up from 70% last year.

The Jews of Europe are afraid of a terrorist attack.

70% of those asked report that they conceal their Jewish-ness. That statistic, too, is a marked increase from last year when the figure was 40%. When you do the math you see that there is a 75% increase in those European Jews who feel it necessary for their safety to hide their Jewish-nesss.

187 Jewish community leaders in Western and Eastern Europe participated in the study which was sponsored by the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) and the European Jewish Association (EJA), which is connected to Chabad.

These numbers are simply frightening. While it is hard to fathom that these are true figures, the EJA asserts that these are the true
numbers.

If fear and hiding have once again become significant characteristics of Jewish life and Jewish living in Western and Eastern Europe, it means that the Jews of Europe have no future in their host countries - not in the long term and certainly not even in the short term.

Wishing everyone a safe and sweet New Year.

Micah@MicahHalpern.com 

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