| Dear Friends,
Last night, as our community gathered to remember Kristallnacht—that fateful night 86 years ago that served as the spark that led to the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust—history itself seemed to stir. Across the ocean, on the streets of Amsterdam, the shadows of our past came rushing back. Jewish fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv were attacked in a coordinated, violent pogrom. The word feels ancient, but the scenes are modern: mobs chasing Jews through the streets, storming hotels, hunting them down with chilling purpose.
This wasn’t a random act of violence. It was calculated, intentional, and utterly merciless. It felt like a nightmare we have long struggled to shake off, returning to haunt us with renewed intensity. It felt like a warning, a brutal reminder that the darkness we thought we had buried is never as distant as we imagine.
For the first time in recent memory, the Israeli government has sent planes to evacuate Jews—not from a conflict zone, not from a land overtaken by war, but from Amsterdam, a city considered cosmopolitan and safe.
This is what happens when hate festers in the shadows, unchallenged. This is what the world reaps when it allows calls to “globalize the intifada” to echo across its public squares. This isn’t politics or ideology. This is raw, ancient hatred rearing its head in a new mask.
Let us be clear—there is no reason, no cause, no justification that can explain away this horror. This is the hate our people have known for centuries, now given new names and new language, but no less venomous, no less deadly.
And though we may be far from Amsterdam, this evil touches us too. An attack on Jews anywhere is an attack on Jews everywhere. We are bound by Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze Ba’zeh—all Jews are responsible for each other. This darkness, this vile hatred, is a shadow that stretches to us all.
If you feel a deep unease, a lingering fear, know that you are not alone. I feel it too. But we are more than our fear. We are more than the darkness that pursues us. We are a people forged in resilience, a people who have faced down millennia of hatred and yet remain.
This moment calls us to remember not only the pain of our history but the strength that flows from it. It calls us to confront this hatred, not as victims but as a community bound by an unbreakable spirit. Your Federation is here to stand with you, to remind you that we are never alone in facing the challenges before us.
These are times that test our resolve. But I have faith that we will rise to meet them. We will not let this hatred fester unchecked. We will not allow the shadows of the past to dictate our future. Not in Tulsa, not in Israel, not anywhere.
Never again is more than a promise; it is our sacred charge. Today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes, we will remain vigilant, united, and unyielding.
In solidarity,
Joe Roberts – Executive Director of Jewish Federation of Tulsa |
