On Shabbat morning, October 27, 2018, a lone gunman broke into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh during services, shot and killed 11 people, and injured 7 others as they worshiped.

During commemorative observances a year later, Monique Mead played her violin on the sidewalk outside the gate., as three youngsters attached a heart to the gate.

AP Photos/ Gene J. Puskar

Due to an overwhelming response, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City has extended its current exhibit, “Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away,” to August 2020. The exhibit contains more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs. It traces the development of Nazi ideology and the transformation of Auschwitz from the Polish town of Oswiecim to the largest German Nazi concentration camp and one of the most significant sites of the Holocaust.

A survey from the American Jewish Committee (AJC) finds that 88% of American Jewish respondents to a recent survey say anti-Semitism is a problem in the U.S. today. Nearly a third report they avoid publicly wearing, carrying or displaying objects or symbols that might help people identify them as Jewish. Another 25% said they “always,” “frequently” or “sometimes” avoid certain places, events or situations out of concern for their safety. Seventy-one percent said the Jewish institutions they know have either hired security guards, posted police officers outside, or trained members on how to respond to an attack.

David Harris, CEO of the AJC, said that the most striking finding from the survey was that nearly a third of this representative sample of American Jews have changed their behavior as a result of anti-Semitic fear. The survey was conducted from Sept. 11 to Oct. 6, and the results determined from a nationally representative sample of 1,283 Jewish respondents.

Berlin Rabbi Reuven Yaacobov uses a quill to write the first letters on a new Torah scroll in the pulpit of the New Synagogue in Erfurt, Germany.                                                              AP Photo/Martin Rubble

The shooting that left two dead and several injured in Halle, Germany, on Yom Kippur is the latest indication of a worldwide rise in anti-Semitic incidents. Reportedly, the Halle attacker shot at the door of a synagogue in an attempt to gain entry. Foiled, he shot at people standing nearby.  Inside, some 50 worshippers were observing the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

In response to the shooting, the Anti-Defamation League reported that violent anti-Semitic episodes in the United States had doubled in 2018. In Canada, the government reported a 4% dip in anti-Semitic attacks last year, but only after a sharp rise in 2017. Anti-Semitism is a top concern in Germany, where data shows reported incidents rose 10% last year, according to Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center, and where the trial of a group of alleged neo-Nazis planning an attack in Berlin is under way. In the United Kingdom, the Community Security Trust charity recently reported a 10% rise in incidents during the first six months of this year. In the Czech Republic, the Federation of the Jewish Communities reported a rise in anti-Semitic incidents last year.

                  In the marketplace in Halle, Germany, people take part in a minute of  silence and a demonstration against anti-Semitism. AP Photo/Jens Meye

According to the historian David Barnouw, many Dutch people regarded the wartime performance of their railway system, the Nederlandse Spoorwegen, as heroic, reported Nina Siegal, The New York Times, Sept. 29, 2019. In September 1944, the Dutch government in exile in London ordered the railway workers to strike, which they did for almost eight months until the end of the war.

This strike, however, came after the Dutch national railroad had already deported some 107,000 Jewish residents of the Netherlands to transit and extermination camps, such as Sobibor, Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz, on commission from the German occupying forces. Only 5,100 survived.

Now, new research published in a Dutch book that was released on Sept. 17, to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Dutch railway strike, indicates that there were more transports than previously thought, and moreover, that the Dutch national railway had set up special services to facilitate the German-run deportations.

The book, De Nederlandse Spoorwegen in oorlogstijd 1939-1945 (The Dutch Railroad in Wartime, 1939-1945) attempts to clarify the role of the railroad under German occupation, and to offer a comprehensive accounting of the trains and their impact. In all, the researchers found 112 Dutch trains went from the Netherlands to Nazi camps in Germany, Austria and Poland from June 1942 to August 1944.

In 2005, the Dutch national railroad officially acknowledged that it had collaborated with the Nazi occupiers and apologized for its role, The Times said.

[Photo: Jews at Westerbork, a transit camp, northeastern Netherlands, 1942. Westerbork photo]

According to the American Jewish Yearbook 2019, the number of Jews worldwide stands at 14.8 million, compared to 14.7 million last year. About 5.7 million Jews live in the United States, and about 6.7 million live in Israel.

Here are the current Jewish population figures for other countries: France, 450,000; Canada, 392,000; Great Britain: 292,000; Argentina: 180,000; Russia, 165,000; Germany, 118,000; Australia, 118,000; Brazil 93,000; South Africa, 67,000; Ukraine, 48,000; Hungary, 47,000; Mexico, 40,000; Holland, 30,000; Belgium, 29,000; Italy, 27,000; Switzerland, 19,000; Chile, 18,000; Uruguay, 16,000; Sweden, 15,000; Spain, 12,000.

Around 26,000 Jews live in Arab and Muslim states: 15,000 in Turkey; 8,500 in Iran; 2,000 in Morocco; and approximately 1,000 in Tunisia. Countries with 500 or fewer Jews include Bermuda, Cuba, El Salvador, Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, Surinam; Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Bosnia, Indonesia; the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan,  Thailand, Kenya, Congo, Botswana, Namibia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe Yemen, Syria and Egypt.