A wave of global antisemitic incidents has left Jewish congregations on edge, forcing leaders to re-examine public safety measures and confront a climate of persistent hostility. In Halifax, Beth Israel Synagogue Rabbi Yakov Kerzner prepared for Friday Shabbat services following synagogue attacks in Toronto and Michigan.
Heightened Anxiety and Altered Daily Habits in Halifax
The violence has altered daily routines for community leaders. Kerzner recalled driving up from New York and finding himself putting on a baseball cap at rural rest stops to cover his kippa, the traditional skullcap he normally wears with pride.
My sermons in the past were, 'Don't worry, antisemitism is waning … we're in a good time.' Then you see it all of a sudden rising. You realize maybe it was never gone. Maybe it wasn't disappearing. Maybe it was just hiding beneath the surface.
Rabbi Yakov Kerzner, Beth Israel Synagogue
A bit farther up Oxford Street at the Shaar Shalom Congregation, Rabbi Gary Karlin reported that members feel threatened and uncertain about who they can trust amid rising community anxiety. Halifax has experienced its own local incidents; in September, two synagogues and the Rohr Family Institute, the city’s Chabad centre, were vandalized. Antisemitic posters have also appeared on lampposts in downtown Halifax, and concerns have been raised about what Jewish children are facing in schools and at universities.
Karlin, who works closely with young people through the joint Hebrew school, noted that high school and university students increasingly feel the need to watch out and always have an eye over your shoulder. In response to security concerns, local synagogues keep their doors locked during services, require pre-registration, and advertise events carefully.
Calls for Enforcement and Government Action
While the federal government recently announced additional funding to help Jewish communities pay for security, community advocates argue that physical fortifications are insufficient. Mark David, past president of the Atlantic Jewish Council, which represents Jewish communities across Atlantic Canada, noted that the shift from graffiti to gunfire has fundamentally changed how the community thinks about its safety as antisemitism becomes more common and acts change from mild to much more serious, violent overtones.
David emphasized that building higher fences and installing better locks will not stop antisemitism, stating that the government should enforce existing laws to get at the people doing these things and bring them to court. Nationally, the human rights organization B’nai Brith Canada is pushing the federal government to create a royal commission on antisemitism—a group that would study the problem and suggest ways to fight it—pointing to Australia’s royal commission created after the 2025 antisemitic attack on Bondi Beach as a precedent. B’nai Brith held an emergency community briefing after the Toronto synagogue attacks.
Addressing anti-Zionism, Karlin maintained that calling for the disappearance of a Jewish homeland while claiming to respect Jewish people is a logical fallacy, noting it becomes an excuse for individuals to claim they are anti-Zionist rather than antisemitic.
Reflections from Manchester and Official Responses
Across the Atlantic, congregations marked solemn anniversaries under similar pressures, with a memorial service scheduled at Heaton Park synagogue to commemorate victims and survivors, attended by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Mayor of Manchester Bev Craig. For the Heaton Park congregation in Manchester, Rabbi Walker described a year of difficulty and of grief and of pain made even harder by external attacks.
Something has gone seriously wrong in our society. I think we're dealing with symptoms. We're extremely grateful for the increased security, but I don't think there's really any evidence of anyone dealing with the core problems. And on the contrary, in many ways, those may have become worse over the last months.
Rabbi Walker, Heaton Park congregation
Cabinet minister for communities Angela Rayner told the BBC that the government would not allow hatred to drive people from their communities, to make them afraid to live and practise their faith freely or to divide our country. She added that antisemitism is a poison, and we won’t stop fighting it until every Jewish person can live their lives fully, and free from fear. Meanwhile, security guard Bernard Agyemang continues to recover from severe injuries suffered when al-Shamie drove a car into him before trying to get into the synagogue with a knife, as the physical and emotional consequences are still being felt by those affected by the attack.
