Frisch Family: Taking a stance against anti-Semitism in our community

It has been a horrific month for the Jewish Community. Like so many, the terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7 threw our lives into upheaval. As a family, we strongly condemn Hamas’ violent terrorist acts and its clearly stated goal of destroying the Jewish people and the state of Israel. We stand firmly with Israel and support Israel’s right to exist and defend itself. Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the ongoing civilian toll in the region, and the impact on other nations, including America, that are experiencing casualties and hostage situations. Hamas terrorists are the only ones happy with civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.

Locally, we are devastated by the conversation that took place at our city council meeting on Oct. 30. Comparing Israel’s response to genocide, the Holocaust, or Nazi concentration camps is both false and anti-Semitic. Even if these remarks came from a lack of knowledge or understanding, the comments were still hurtful and harmful to the Jewish community and our family. While the individuals have attempted to publicly apologize and privately reach out to the Jewish community, this does not simply undo the harm of their words and views. Our community needs to demonstrate consistent effort from our leaders in order to repair our broken trust. We write this letter together as a family in hope that our leaders and community will open their minds and hearts to the consequences of their words and undertake a sincere and authentic learning and educational experience.

Each member of our family has been affected in different ways. Here in Aspen, we continue to hear harmful remarks from community members. In addition to the city council meeting, this happens at small gatherings, in conversations in our schools, and in our newspapers. We all need to do a better job of having informed and empathetic conversations about terrorist attacks and the Hamas-Israel War. There is tremendous disinformation and little education about the topic in our schools and community.

Moments like these can also lead to tremendous moments of community and togetherness. Last Thursday afternoon, our community came together in gondola plaza to honor the hostages on the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. Surrounded by hundreds of Jewish and non-Jewish Aspenites, our friends, teachers, colleagues, and community leaders, we listened to emotional speeches, cried, and mourned in shared pain. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make this happen.

The youngest members of our family have been exceptionally affected. As individual family members this summer, we visited concentration camps in Poland, worked in the Israeli Embassy to the United States, and kissed the ground when we landed in Tel Aviv. We have learned of the murders of our camp counselors.

We have mourned with colleagues from summer internships who are still in harm’s way. Perhaps most painfully, we have experienced anti-Semitism and protests that question our right to exist. We are working through immense anxiety and fear, and wonder why so much hate is being spewed, only to realize it has been simmering, unexposed, all along. We remain traumatized.

We also feel alone. We try to reassure ourselves that the silence from some friends is because they don’t know what to say or how to say it. We feel alienated at school. We are scared to wear our Star of David necklaces. We are applying to college while seeing hateful rhetoric from our future students and professors and wondering how we will find a safe and welcoming campus to continue our education and engage in open dialog without threats in return. As parents, we ache for our children while struggling to deal with our own emotions.

To those who say we are just too sensitive — know that we draw upon generations of family stories. We have relatives who hid for years during the Holocaust, ancestors who were killed in the pogroms, and generations of being viewed as “other.” We have stories of grandparents who hid their Jewish heritage out of fear. We have been warned by thousands of years of ancestral experience. This is not a new story but is one that we did not think we would experience in our country, let alone our own mountain community. We do not know a single Jewish person who does not have similar or worse stories to share, and it raises the hairs on the back of our necks. Anti-Semitism is on the rise, even before Oct. 7; according to the Anti-Defamation League, we are reaching a “nearly 400-percent increase in preliminary antisemitic incidents reported year-over-year.” History tends to repeat itself, and we are scared.

We need to continue to come together as a community. We hope we can all agree at the very least that hate is harmful and divisive, even when it comes from a place of ignorance, and to work towards a local community that supports each other regardless of one’s religion. We have love for our community — our home for 20 years, our home since we were born at Aspen Valley Hospital. We want to help our beloved community find a path forward, a path that acknowledges each individual’s experience, embraces our diversity, and actively works toward understanding and compassion for its members.

Adam, Katy, Felix and Quintessa Frisch.