The American Jewish Committee held its first pandemic community Seder on Thursday night, where interfaith leaders in Ohio attended and joined to share messages of freedom.
According to a WKYC Studios report, a community Seder is where bishops, pastors, reverends, and rabbis, among others, "share a meal and some understanding from different walks of life."
Community Seder for Interfaith Leaders
Rev. Dr. Laura Barbins, the bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is one of the community Seder attendees.
According to her, the leaders, including her, do not gather very often. She also stated that it was her first time attending and joining the event.
Aside from Barbins, Bishop-elect Anne B. Jolley of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio was also present in the community Seder. Jolley even spoke about the "High Holy Days" of the different religions and how they coincide.
WKYC Studios reported that around two-thirds, or 67%, of Jews in the U.S. had encountered antisemitism online or on social media the previous year. The figure came from the American Jewish Committee's recent report on antisemitism in the country.
For those under 30, that percentage jumps to almost 80%, making this an ideal time to renew ties with friends and family of many faiths.
Dramatic Rise in Antisemitism
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a civil rights non-governmental organization, has been keeping track of antisemitic occurrences in the United States since 1979, and last year saw the largest number of recorded incidents to date.
A new ADL research released on Thursday indicated that events like assault, vandalism, and harassment surged by over a third in only one year, reaching almost 3,700 occurrences in 2022, CNN reported.
From offensive comments to antisemitic slurs written on the property and actual assaults, the report shows a rise in all types of hate-based incidents. The data comes from police statistics and first-hand accounts from victims and community leaders.
The investigation indicated that attacks against Orthodox Jews who were easily recognized were up by 69% in 2022.
Per the report, the FBI claims that in 2021, Jews in the United States saw a higher rate of hate crimes than any other religious group. Nonetheless, the report noted that law enforcement agencies are known to drastically deflate the actual number of such instances in their official reports.
"Even though we're not in absolute agreement for everything, [it] reminds people that we can, indeed, be together and be a voice for good in the world," Barbins told WKYC Studios.
About Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America exists to worship God, strengthen the faith of its members, bear testimony to God's grace through Jesus Christ, meet the needs of all people, and provide the resources needed to carry out these tasks.
According to the website, the mission of the Northeastern Ohio Synod is to link the members and congregations to resources that will help them in their ministry work.
As much as it can, it wants to lend a hand to local churches to continue to thrive as spiritual communities.
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