F TAY-SACHS
R F R E E E E
H eadlines
Fears Continued from Page 1
retracted, but the story remains
posted without a correction.

FOX 29 did not respond to a
request for comment.

The affair tells a story
about the current climate
around antisemitism, one
that Anti-Defamation League
Philadelphia Regional Director
Shira Goodman said is
emblematic of the “whisper-
down-the-lane” problems that
can be created by social media
furor. “There’s clearly a heightened
sense of anxiety and fear right
now,” Goodman said.

According to the police
report cited in the article, a
Jewish woman was walking in
the area of 21st and Sansom
streets on May 28 when she
was approached by “three
Middle Eastern males dressed
as Orthodox Jewish men.” They
greeted the woman by wishing
her Shabbat Shalom, a greeting
that she returned. “When the
complainant returned the
greeting, the males stopped
and said ‘Oh, you’re Jewish,’”
the report reads. They began
to ask her if she “had Shabbat
candles for them.”
The woman walked away
as the men continued to
speak to her. She then ran
into a nail salon and called
the Philadelphia
Police Department, who noted her
claims that the offenders were
“3 Middle Eastern males, 20s,
dressed in all black Orthodox
Jewish attire.”
On May 30, the woman
issued a statement from her
Instagram account, which
was once again posted by the
StopAntisemitism.org Twitter
account. The three men, she’d
been made aware, had actually
been Jewish, not non-Jews
dressed up as Orthodox Jewish
men. According to several
people familiar with the situa-
tion, they were local yeshiva
students whose weekly Shabbat
afternoon rounds frequently
take them to the area where
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we sound the alarm about
antisemitism,” she wrote. “If
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only lead to more fear and
refresh the vicious cycle.”
e-mail: ntsad@aol.com;
Yehudah Mirsky,
a visit: www.tay-sachs.org
■ professor of Near Eastern and
Screening for other
Judaic studies as well as Israel
Jewish Genetic
Diseases studies at Brandeis University,
also available.

said that Jewish people play a
This message is sponsored by a friend of
complicated symbolic role for
Americans of vastly different
political ideologies. During a
volatile period, it can be diffi-
Nat’l Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases
Association of Delaware Valley
cult to quickly and accurately
identify which of their expres-
to create an environment
sions are indeed antisemitic.

“Antisemitism is clearly a where paranoia and anxiety
more salient force in American regarding antisemitism reign.

People are “very not used to
society than we’ve seen in a
Yehudah Mirsky, a professor at Brandeis University
Courtesy of Yehudah Mirsky long time,” Mirsky said. The it and that’s why, understand-
widespread proliferation of ably, it’s very, very rattling,”
conspiracy theories, hitched to Mirsky said. l
the incident occurred.

they have been in recent weeks, the incentive structure of social
“With the massive rise in easily sharable, unverified media — share-ability and jbernstein@jewishexponent.com;
antisemitism happening in reports of antisemitism can incendiary content — combine 215-832-0740
America these past few weeks, spread quickly on social media,
my body and mind understand- regardless of their veracity.

ably went into fight vs. flight
Goodman cited an October
mode as I, along with many 2020 incident where three
others, have been traumati- Orthodox Jewish men at a Black
cally affected by current events Lives Matter rally appeared
in the Jewish community,” to have been harassed in an
the woman’s statement read. antisemitic fashion by BLM
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mitic incidents in the two represent misplaced fear and
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Israel-Hamas conflict began, resources.

compared to the two weeks
“We don’t want to heighten
before, according to Goodman. anxiety if we don’t need to,”
61 Buck Road
And locally, the Israeli flag Goodman said. In an op-ed
on the Benjamin Franklin for the Jewish Exponent
Huntingdon Valley,
Parkway was defaced on May (See Combating Surging
PA 19006
16, as reported by NBC 10 Antisemitism Demands Both
www.elanaboutique.com Philadelphia.

Vigilance and Fearlessness,
But preliminary data page 16), Goodman expanded
(215)953-8820 represents reports of antise- on the danger of such reports.

mitic incidents that have not
“Law enforcement, govern-
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