Antisemitism: What is it? Why does it matter? What can we do about it?

This series brings a spiritual-kabbalistic lens to the persistent, toxic, and highly contagious dis-ease of hatred directed against individuals and groups (rather than against falsehood and injustice). Together, we will work to develop ‘vaccines’ and other treatments for this contagion plaguing soul and society by doing a deep dive into the contemporary debate regarding antisemitism – hatred directed towards Jews, Judaism, and the existence of the Jewish State, Israel.  

In the wake of the October 7^th attack on Israel and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, organizations like the ADL have tracked a dramatic and worrisome rise (upwards of 600%) in antisemitic incidents, especially rhetoric on the internet.  But what is antisemitism?  Why is there an active debate about how to define it?  How can we distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism?   Are there effective ways to combat antisemitism (and other forms of hatred and discrimination)?  And if so, what are they?