For the last year and a half, I have served as a commissioner on the LA County Commission on Human Relations. It’s been a powerful experience and, sadly, very timely, especially in light of much of the work our Jewish Federation has been doing over the last several years.

When an antisemitic or anti-Jewish incident occurs (and is reported to our Jewish Federation) in a local school, I immediately reach out to the school principal and the district’s Superintendent to discuss ways we can partner to try and address the culture of hate that exists at the school. In one such case, that partnership led me to work with district leadership to develop a comprehensive, district-wide approach to address the rise of hate we are witnessing nationwide. And this has included me developing an anti-hate workshop for high school students.

Last week, I presented this workshop twice—one day to 10th graders in their respective history classes and another day to the 12th graders. My goal in these workshops is to illustrate what hate looks like, the impact it has on a community, and what people can do when they see or experience hate. More importantly, I try to convey what it feels like to be on the receiving end of hate and where it can lead if it goes unchecked.

When I presented the same workshop last year, I was not able to point to a “recent” hate-fueled violent act. However, as we have witnessed in the last two weeks, sadly, I now have TWO.

I’m still trying to comprehend the fact that we have witnessed people attacked for the simple fact that they were Jewish TWICE in the last two weeks. In each of these attacks, the perpetrator was motivated by what is taking place almost 10,000 miles away. I know this is nothing new, but for some reason, these incidents have received much more attention than previous ones. And I have seen the social media posts people have shared trying to remind people that these are examples of what the Jewish community has been concerned about for the last several years, but they are not having the impact they should.

It is crucial to keep in mind that while “we” have warned people of our concern, in each of these two cases, the attackers were “lone wolfs” who were motivated by hatred towards Jews. Over the years, I have had many conversations with local law enforcement, including FBI agents, and in each case, they always talk about the difficulty they have when it comes to these “lone wolf” attacks because they are the hardest ones to try and stop. Thankfully, they continue to share with me their commitment to continue to do what they can to protect our Jewish community and value the partnership of sharing information so they can be better prepared.

Even before these latest attacks, our Jewish Federation has remained committed to our effort to make sure our local Jewish community is as safe as possible. That commitment has not waivered, and we are looking at additional ways to enhance what we have already been doing.

Here is how you can help - continue to share your concerns and how you are feeling with your non-Jewish friends. Tell them about what it feels like right now to be Jewish. The more we can try to make people understand what our community is going through, the more people will wake up and realize that the crisis we are facing as a Jewish community is real, and it will motivate them to stand with us as allies. But it is important to remember that until one experiences the fear and terror of being the target of hate, many people will never be able to truly understand what it feels like.

And yet, we must try.