c. 2003 Religion News Service

TORONTO _ While Canada has become a “paradise” for Jews, there are “elevated levels of fear” stemming mainly from Sept. 11 that have translated into a kind of stubborn anti-Semitism in the country, a two-day conference on the subject was told.

Much of the anti-Semitism in Canada today is driven by a heightened sense of vulnerability relating to the Mideast, several academic and public figures told the gathering, held at the University of Toronto Feb. 10 and 11.

Other participants agreed a “new anti-Semitism” being seen around the world emanates not from right-wing nationalists and fascists, but from the left and anti-globalization activism.

“The situation of Canadian Jews is good by any comparative standard. It’s better than in Europe and better than in the past,” said McGill University sociologist Morton Weinfeld, a longtime observer of the Canadian Jewish scene. “The gentiles of Canada today want to marry Jews, not harm them.”

Traditional, “home-grown” anti-Semitism, such as quotas in education, employment and housing and anti-Jewish sentiments expressed by the Catholic Church and the old Social Credit party, have vanished or declined, Weinfeld said. Today, anti-Semitism in Canada “tends to be focused through and around Israel.”

Hershell Ezrin, a onetime top provincial and federal bureaucrat and now a consultant, agreed, saying the Mideast situation is “affecting some Canadians’ perceptions of Jews in Canada. What they see going on in Israel has an impact on how they feel about Jews in Canada.”

But unlike in the United States and Europe, Canadian data on anti-Semitism are “woefully inadequate. There’s nothing systematic. We don’t track data in a way that allows us, until very recently, to make basic comparisons.”

Nevertheless, “the anecdotal data support Jews’ heightened sense of vulnerability.”

Even unscientific data, such as B’nai B’rith Canada’s interim audit of the first six months of 2002, showed a 63 percent rise in anti-Semitic incidents, Ezrin noted.

That can be partially explained by the “bursting of two bubbles”_ a general breakdown of trust, beginning with the widespread belief that Sept. 11 shattered Canadians’ sense of safety, and the end of a decadelong economic boom.

Canadians today say they are relatively well off or better off than at any time over the last seven years. “If that’s all true, why is Canadians’ level of optimism going down, even by the measure of post-Sept. 11? We are tracking elevated levels of fear. People feel uncomfortable that the nature of their society is changing. On the external stage, Canadians feel they have no impact, that no one cares or listens.

“That’s a growth medium for greater insecurity, which feeds intolerance,” Ezrin said.

While Weinfeld did not minimize Canadian anti-Semitism, he said conditions for Jews “remain wonderful. In many ways, Canada is a paradise for Jews, not only by their acceptance but also in terms of the vibrant nature of Jewish life in Canada. It’s a more authentically Jewish community than in the United States.”

Leonard Dinnerstein of the University of Arizona said anti-Semitism is rooted in Christian teachings about Jews.

“No Christianity, no anti-Semitism,” Dinnerstein said flatly. “There may be other aspects, but the bedrock is Christian teaching.”

He cited a 1999 poll supposedly showing there are higher levels of anti-feminism and anti-homosexual sentiment in the United States than anti-Semitism. “Society does not like fat women,” he said. “There is more prejudice against fat people than against Jews. Should we have a conference on prejudice against fat people?”

Dinnerstein discounted as vastly overblown numbers from U.S. Jewish groups suggesting that 20 percent of Americans are anti-Semitic.

“That means there are 56 million anti-Semites in the United States, or more than twice the population of Canada. Wow.”

Dinnerstein said his research shows that anti-Semitism in the United States is “very weak … weaker than it’s ever been.”

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The invitation-only conference came on the heels of heated incidents on Canadian university campuses. At Montreal’s Concordia University last September, a pro-Palestinian riot forced the cancellation of a speech by Benjamin Netanyahu, a former Israeli prime minister. Protesters smashed windows, threw furniture and bricks at police, and spat on people trying to attend the speech.

At Toronto’s York University, controversy greeted a talk by Middle East expert Daniel Pipes. The talk was at first cancelled and then reinstated under strict security precautions that restricted attendance and saw students pass through metal detectors.

In the wake of the Arab-Israeli conflict, synagogues in Saskatoon and Quebec City were firebombed, and there were several other attacks on Jewish institutions.

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Other conference participants noted that a generation ago, no one would have thought that support for Jews and Israel would one day come from conservatives and evangelical Christians, and that the left would become hostile.

“Before (World War II), the right rather than the left was the paramount source of hatred and contempt for European Jews,” said Todd Endelman of the University of Michigan.

“This is no longer true. On the right, anti-Semitism no longer functions as a cultural code or a rallying cry, while on the left, it has become entangled with and draws energy from … anti-Americanism, Third Worldism and the anti-globalization campaign,” Endelman said.

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