By Nomi Kaltmann in Mosiac Magazine…
In New Zealand, home to nearly 10,000 Jews, 80 percent of Jewish parents say their children have experienced some sort of anti-Semitism—a massive jump since the handful of complaints before October 7.
Nomi Kaltmann looks at the Jewish community’s suddenly grim outlook:
In Christchurch, on New Zealand’s South Island, members of the Jewish community have been shaken by an anti-Semitic attack against Canterbury Synagogue [pictured above]. The synagogue had its windows smashed, in an attack captured on CCTV.
Shary Baker, the synagogue’s vice-president, feels that she is misunderstood as a Jewish person in New Zealand. “There is little to no education in schools here about minorities such as Jews,” she said.
“Most [New Zealanders] aren’t taught about the Holocaust. Many non-Jewish students’ first experience of what Jewishness is or what a Jew is will be in the context of this current war. There is an issue that we are a minority here, but we are not viewed like a minority.”
Read the full article on Mosaic here.
