70 Percent of European Jewry Will Not Be in Synagogue for High Holidays

JERUSALEM, Israel – Results of a recent online survey released Tuesday reveal that 70 percent of European Jews will not attend synagogue on the High Holy Days, fearing potential terror attacks.
 
The poll, conducted by the European Jewish Association (EJA) and the Rabbinical Center of Europe, sought opinions from 78 Jewish community leaders and rabbis, each representing broad segments of the religious and secular population.
 
Respondents across 700 capital cities throughout Europe were asked if increasing anti-Semitism would keep them from attending services on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), this year falling on Oct. 2 and 12, respectively.
 
Anti-Semitic incidents in France – with one of the world's largest Jewish populations – doubled between 2013 and 2014 and continued through 2015. France is also home to Europe's largest Muslim population.
 
"The challenge faced by most Jewish communities has been doubled in recent months," EJA General Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin told The Jerusalem Post.
 
"On the one hand, the surge in harassment of Jewish individuals, institutions, and communities by, among others, Muslim refugees and migrants – and on the other, as a result of the refugee crisis there has been a substantial increase in activity among far-right extremist groups across the continent," he said.
 
Margolin is urging the European Union to include courses on anti-Semitism in school curricula.
 
"Counter-terrorism measures are of course important to save lives but not enough to solve the problem from the root," he said. "As long as there will not be an educational effort focused on the elimination of anti-Semitism, the problem will continue."
 
The increase in terrorism convinced record numbers of French Jews to immigrate to Israel over the past few years.