The stories in this issue span from Jackson, Mississippi to Jackson Heights, QueensResilience
The stories in this issue span from Jackson, Mississippi to Jackson Heights, Queens—two communities separated by geography but united by an unwelcome reality. Antisemitism is rising across America, manifesting in acts both devastating and insidious, from arson attacks on houses of worship to hateful graffiti defacing public spaces—something we know and fear too well.
Yet these stories reveal something else entirely: the extraordinary resilience that has sustained Jewish communities for millennia, and the power of solidarity that emerges when neighbors refuse to let hatred take root.
In Jackson, we witness a congregation that has survived Klan bombings in the 1960s now facing a new generation of hate. But we also see 170 congregants filling a Baptist church for Shabbat services, sustained by Christian neighbors who offered their sacred space without hesitation. We see Torah scrolls arriving from Memphis, prayer books from Hattiesburg, and a challah king cake from New Orleans—each gesture a reminder that Jewish community extends far beyond any single building’s walls.
In neighboring Jackson Heights, community and faith leaders are forming new coalitions to combat antisemitism, demonstrating that when hate emerges in diverse neighborhoods, people of all backgrounds stand together to name it and fight it.
As Rabbi Benjamin Russell told his congregation amid the ashes: «We are made of Torah, memory, community, stubborn love and 3000 years of defiance.» This resilience, coupled with the solidarity of our allies, gives us reason to hope even in difficult times.
The opposite of fear, as Russell reminds us, is presence. And we are still here.
Erin Levi