I grew up in Boulder, Colorado. We were attacked.

I grew up in Boulder, Colorado’s Jewish Community. Although my family lived outside of Boulder, about halfway between Boulder and Denver, the congregation in which I spent my formative teenage and young adult years was in Boulder, Colorado.

Growing up in Boulder meant being part of a unique Jewish community in which Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform rabbis would join together for a local craft beer. It was a community of lively youth and young adult activity, which centered around democratic and grassroots organizing. As young adults, we had the privilege of rabbinic and congregational support, but we organized ourselves.

Being in Boulder meant being part of one of the most cutting edge and politically liberal communities in the country. Boulder has long been at the forefront of social responsibility and communal action. Growing up in Boulder meant being surrounded by an ethos of activism, liberty, and equality.

Being in Boulder’s Jewish community also meant meeting and knowing refugees escaping Sudan’s genocide. The Jews of Boulder, along with other religious communities, sponsored and rescued multiple families. Leaders in our community, including my own rabbi, including my own parents, have traveled multiple times to sometimes dangerous areas to bring medicine, educational resources, and other vital needs to the people of South Sudan and neighboring countries.

All this is to say, the Jewish people of Boulder – the people who watched me grow up and who grew up with me – are good people.

This is why it was so shocking and heartbreaking to witness the antisemitic violence that we saw there this past weekend.

A small group of grassroots organizers, in the caring spirit of the people of Boulder I have always known, held a walk through the public heart of Boulder, the Pearl Street Mall. They were there to recognize and draw attention to human suffering that has been far too often overlooked in the past 600 days. They were there to support the hostages in Gaza.

What in any other political climate would be embraced by the humanitarian-minded people of Boulder was instead met with violence. A 45 year old man unleashed an attack of Molotov cocktails, firebombing the volunteers and shouting “Free Palestine!”

For years, we have been watching and warning of increasingly violent public rhetoric against Jewish people and institutions. We have seen bigots openly blaming Jews for the presence of immigrants and minorities in America, chanting slogans like “Jews will not replace us,” eventually escalating to the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history.

In the years since, rather than seeing antisemites retreat from the public square, we have only seen them diversify. We have been warning protesters over the past two years that slogans such as “from the river to the sea,” or “globalize the Intifada”  are rooted in violent rhetoric. We have warned that conspiracies of baby killing originate in medieval propaganda to justify violence against Jewish communities in Europe.

The tradition of falsely accusing Israel of genocide, colonization, and other forms of illegitimacy did not begin in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. They are as old as the State of Israel itself. For the record, the Palestinian population today is 5-7 times what it was in 1955. Not a genocide by any meaningful definition, despite the very real horrors of war.

Throughout history, antisemites have leaned heavily on the same tropes and the same techniques. There’s always a level of dehumanization. According to the antisemites, Jews are less worthy of love and sympathy than other people. However there is also something even more sinister underneath this dehumanization. It is nearly always accompanied by the implication that Jews deserve our own suffering.

During the Crusades the persecution of Jews was justified through the religious argument that Jews willfully rejected the evident divinity of Jesus (evident to any Christian believer, that is). Since Christianity was considered the religion of love, rejecting Christianity implied rejecting God’s love in the eyes of Crusaders. When the Crusaders killed Jews, they believed that this willful rejection of God was to blame. Jews are always blamed for our own killing.

By the industrial age, a much more civilized world tried to use science to divide human beings into races. These new scientifically armed bigots found new expressions of the same old hatred. Wilhelm Marr, a proto-Nazi, likely coined (or at least popularized) the term “anti-Semite” in 1879. The term was meant to clarify that it was different from the uneducated religious bigotry of the Middle Ages. This opposition to Jews was merely the “scientific” rejection of the Jewish race. He believed that “Semites” (Jews) were damaging the purity of the German race. Once again, we were considered somehow responsible for the hatred and violence against us.

Today, we see language once again weaponized against Jews. Anti-Zionism is portrayed as legitimate criticism of a political movement, not in any way related to the ignorant bigotry of past ages. Never mind that Zionism is merely the ideology that Jews deserve to live free and peacefully in a land of our own. Never mind that this right is justly granted to every other people on the Earth. Never mind that the vast majority of Jews consider themselves Zionists. Never mind that Jewish prayer expressly references Zion multiple times every day. Never mind that whenever institutions are targeted by anti-Zionists, they are inevitably Jewish institutions.

The event in Boulder was a walk that fulfills a mitzvah – a sacred commandment. There are 613 commandments in the Torah, and one of them is to work to free the captive. The Boulder chapter of Run for Their Lives had organized this event to maintain focus on bringing home 54 hostages who still remain in captivity in Gaza. They are not from one political party or political viewpoint. Some of the individuals support, and some oppose the actions of Israel’s Prime Minister. Some of them have undoubtedly marched in support of other humanitarian causes. They are not from one congregation or organization. The only thing they have in common is a shared sympathy for Jewish hostages.

Make no mistake, they were attacked for no reason other than their Jewishness.

One has only to the view the comments section of any news article related to Judaism, or view the replies to any post from a Jewish influencer to see how language has been weaponized. Even the previously (somewhat) innocuous phrase “Free Palestine” has become a calling to violence against Jews. It’s used to imply that every evil of war is the fault of every individual Jew, even when we are thousands of miles away. It’s used to dehumanize those who seek to humanize the victims of Hamas. It’s used to harass and confront anyone who dares to be publicly Jewish. And we have seen that it has become a call to violence.

It breaks my heart to see a community I love and one which raised me harmed and injured. My tears and prayers go out to those who were injured as well as their families. It makes me angry that the people I love are given cause to live in fear. It breaks my heart to see a culture which was once so willing to embrace and partner with the Jewish community now cutting ties.

However, it fills me with hope to see more and more people recognizing the threat against Jews, and the threat against peace and civility. It fills me with hope to know that, while there is sometimes cause to live in fear, we are strengthened by a tradition which cherishes the nobility of peace. It gives me hope to see that we may be able to navigate this complicated future together, and it gives me hope to see neighbors reach out and offer comfort and support.

Ours is a tradition of hope, and we are a people who are strengthened through hope. May God guide us toward the better world we all hope for and work for.