When Silence Equals Agreement: Confronting Antisemitism in Canada

In the wake of recent antisemitic attacks in Canada, this post urges a collective response of support and prayer for the Jewish community. Explore the call to action and the importance of standing against hate.

Transcript

Hi everybody. It's Chris Byber, the director of the National House of Prayer, coming to you today from Ottawa. About a couple weeks ago, there was an incident in Ottawa. Another incident, another anti-Semitic incident in Ottawa at a grocery store called Loblas. A grocery store that Marilyn and I often frequent. It is a grocery store with that has an extensive kosher section. So the Jewish community goes there in a big way. So little over a little under two weeks ago a woman in her 70s was stabbed was stabbed by a man, an older man, an educated man, a man who professed he was an anti-semite. We see this because we've seen this on his on his Facebook page. So, we reached out immediately

when we found out about this. We reached out to our friends at the Jewish Federation of Ottawa and other Jewish communities and uh just to ask how they're doing, making sure that they're okay. Actually, some of our friends, one of our friends shared that she was really upset because her son had been in the store just an hour prior to the attack. This is scary. But this is not a normal. In fact, it's becoming quite normal for Canada. Just two weeks ago, a little over two weeks ago, a Jewish father in Montreal was attacked while he was watching his children in the playground. He was attacked because he was wearing his kea and uh he had his yarmaka and he was he was he was uh an

orthodox fella. So you could tell physically that he was he was Jewish, but he was beat up because he was Jewish. You know, we've seen synagogues that have been firebombed and we've seen schools that have been shot at. We've seen s synagogues that have been protested against. And it is just just ferocious. And in fact, Anthony Housefather, a member of Parliament, Liberal member of Parliament from Montreal, just wrote an open letter to Canada to say, "We're standing with the Jewish community." And he had about 20% of the Jewish of the Liberal caucus sign this letter. It's a little scary because 20% isn't a lot. They have 169 seats and around 30 signatures is uh really that's a little scary

because the liberals used to really be strong in standing against anti-semitism and today not so much. It's kind of scary. So what do we do? And many of us are saying well what can we do? We live here. I don't have any Jewish people or I have limited Jewish people in my neighborhood. And why should we even bother? That's what I hear a lot of times. Why is that my problem? They're Jews. God's finished with them. But is he? I want to encourage you to take a look at Romans 11. Take a look at that. I'm just going to give you this homework. Read the whole thing. The Apostle Paul actually talks about there's two references, two two analogies that he gives. One is that

if the if the dough which was first holy for showbread the holy thing so even though uh you break it off does it still mean it's holy and so it is holy and and the apostle Paul goes on to talk about being a root an olive tree and that even though some branches might have been broken off because of unbelief we as a wild branch are grafted in. And since we are grafted in, where does where do the nutrients come from? Where is the source? Who is the olive tree? So, I want to encourage you to take a look at that because that'll tell you the why. And if you really want to know why, we have a school that we did about a year and a half ago on why pray for Israel. And we'll put the details below

so that you can sign up for that. if you want to know the real why. 12 lessons on why we pray for Israel. But what about now? How do we respond? So, our first response when we heard that this happened was to call our friends. Do you have Jewish friends? I didn't have a lot of Jewish friends, but when I started to ask the Lord to give me more Jewish friends, he was faithful and he's given me lots. So, we called our friends at the Jewish Federation of Ottawa to make sure they were okay. I would suggest maybe reach out to a local synagogue in your in your city and say, "Hey, we're praying, but it's important that you do more than pray." Because this is what our Jewish friends

says. It's not enough that you're just praying. Although just praying is pretty good. They say, "We want to see your face. We want to know you're there." It's important that we're not just allies or even worse silent allies, but they are we are vocal allies and they want to see our hear our voice and they want to see our faces. Bonhaofer said this, not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. I Chris Bber, the director of the National House of Prayer, and we will see you next time. Bye for now. [Music]