Beryl Wajsman: Jews must not give up hope — Canada is worth fighting for

There is today a corrosive indulgence within the Canadian Jewish community: the indulgence of fear.

Not fear itself. Fear is a rational response to real danger. Synagogues have been firebombed. Jewish schools have been attacked. Jewish businesses have been vandalized. Jews have been assaulted in our streets. No serious person denies that antisemitism has surged since Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel.

The indulgence lies elsewhere. It lies in the belief that every antisemitic incident must be treated as proof that Jewish life in Canada is finished; that every family that leaves becomes evidence of a national exodus; that every viral social media clip confirms that our cities are lost forever.

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That constitutes a submission to the industry of fear. Like every industry, it has its incentives. Every alarming incident is amplified. Every setback becomes existential. Every outrage demands another declaration that Jews have no future here. It is emotionally satisfying, but it is profoundly wrong.

The greatest victory antisemites could hope for is not that Jews lose a political argument, but that Jews lose confidence in themselves.

History teaches that antisemitism has never disappeared. It also teaches something equally important: Jewish communities survive when they refuse to surrender to it.

In 2022, before October 7, B’nai Brith Canada recorded roughly 2,700 antisemitic incidents. The number was shocking. Yet we did not convince ourselves that Jewish life in Canada was over. We understood that hatred had to be fought, not endlessly advertised.

Today, too many people confuse awareness with effectiveness. They do not ask whether constantly magnifying every incident strengthens Jewish confidence or weakens it. It weakens it.