THE DISTURBING RISE
OF ANTISEMITISM

Day 9: Standing with Israel’s Seed

“He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.” (Psalm 121:4-7)

The Holocaust stands as one of the darkest and most horrific expressions of antisemitism in history. Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany systematically persecuted and murdered six million Jewish men, women, and children, devastating Jewish communities across Europe and leaving deep scars that continue to shape Jewish identity and collective memory around the world.

Biblical Foundations and the Current Crisis of Antisemitism
Scripture outlines a long-standing spiritual and physical enmity against the line of promise and the Jewish people:

• The Cosmic “Seed Conflict”: The ongoing spiritual warfare between the enemy and the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15).
• Imperial Oppression: Pharaoh’s systemic attempt to subjugate and eliminate Israel (Exodus 1:8–14).
• Genocidal Plots: Haman’s empire-wide conspiracy to annihilate the Jewish people (Esther 3:1–15).
• Targeting the Messiah: King Herod’s decree to slaughter the male children of Bethlehem to eliminate Christ (Matthew 2:1–18).
• Generational Strife: The predicted friction and eventual division involving Ishmael’s descendants (Genesis 16:11–12, 21:9–10).
• National Enmity: Ongoing regional conflicts with neighboring nations, exemplified by Esau’s descendants (Genesis 25:23; Psalm 83).

The Current Moment
Antisemitism, the oldest and most persistent hatred in human history, is rising again with a speed and visibility that has caught many off guard. 

In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has recorded antisemitic incidents at historic highs, including escalating harassment, vandalism, and physical assault. In Europe, Jewish communities in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and beyond report levels of fear and insecurity not experienced since the decades immediately following World War II. 

The October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent war unleashed a torrent of open anti-Jewish expression across university campuses, city streets, and social media platforms. Jewish students have faced systemic harassment, exclusion, and threats. Chants calling for the total elimination of the Jewish state echo through the streets of democratic capitals. For many, the speed with which the world pivoted revealed that the post-WW II  illusion of safety was far more fragile than it appeared.

According to the J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism, a comparison of incident data shows an unprecedented global spike between 2021 and 2025.

The hatred does not emerge from one direction. On the political right, white nationalist movements explicitly target Jewish people, culminating in tragedies like the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh and the 2019 Halle synagogue attack in Germany. Conversely, on the political left, antisemitism increasingly cloaks itself in the language of social justice and anti-colonialism, making it harder to identify and easier to mainstream. Though the sources are ideologically opposed, the foundational hatred remains identical.

The Impact on Jewish Communities

• Heightened Threat Perception: Visible religious communities, such as Haredi neighborhoods, experience acute vulnerability following global flashpoints.
• Fortified Security Infrastructure: Synagogues, day schools, and community hubs are forced to allocate massive resources toward guards, surveillance, and physical barriers.
• Relentless Online Targeting: Distinctly visible Jewish individuals face disproportionate cyberbullying, doxxing, and digital harassment.
• Psychological Erosion: Persistent threats take a heavy toll on daily communal life, disrupting standard routines of prayer, education, and commerce.

Why Followers of Jesus Must Respond
For followers of Jesus, antisemitism is not simply a political or social concern. It is a theological one. The Jewish people are the people through whom God chose to reveal Himself, deliver His Word, and bring His Messiah into the world. Jesus Himself was Jewish. His disciples were Jewish. The early apostles were Jewish. 

 The entire architecture of the Christian faith rests upon the unbreakable covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To stand silent in the face of hatred directed at the Jewish people is to stand silent during an assault on the very roots of our own faith.

 Furthermore, the Church carries a painful, complicated history regarding the Jewish people, one marked by centuries of state-sanctioned persecution, forced conversions, pogroms, and a theological anti-Judaism that laid the cultural groundwork for the worst atrocities of the 20th century. While this history must not paralyze us, it demands deep humility, unyielding vigilance, and active solidarity. Christians must pray, speak, and act, not out of a detached sense of charity, but out of a deep accountability rooted in the historical failures of our own tradition.

WAYS TO PRAY AGAINST ANTISEMITISM

• Pray for the Peace, Safety, and Flourishing of Jewish Communities
  Ask God to be a shield around Jewish communities in your city, your country, and across the world. Pray specifically for synagogues, Jewish schools, community centers, and Jewish-owned businesses that have become targets of harassment and violence. Ask the Lord to frustrate the plans of those who seek to harm Jewish people and to raise up neighbors, law enforcement, and civic leaders who will stand visibly in solidarity. 

• Pray for the Exposure and Dismantling of Antisemitic Ideologies
  Antisemitism thrives in deception. Pray that the conspiracy theories, dehumanizing rhetoric, and ideological systems that fuel hatred of Jewish people would be exposed wherever they take root: on campuses, in political movements, on social media platforms, or inside church communities. Ask God to give journalists, educators, lawmakers, and ordinary citizens the clarity and courage to name antisemitism accurately, regardless of its political packaging.

• Pray for Church Repentance and Courageous Action
  Ask God to cultivate genuine repentance within the global Church for its historical role in fostering anti-Jewish hostility. Pray that followers of Jesus become the most visible, vocal defenders of Jewish dignity and safety. Ask Him to raise up Christian leaders who will stand with their Jewish neighbors in practical, tangible ways, showing up, speaking out, and placing themselves between the vulnerable and those who seek to harm them.

• Pray for Individuals Living under the Weight of Fear
  Remember that behind every statistic is an individual image-bearer of God: a university student hiding their Star of David necklace on campus; an elderly Holocaust survivor watching dark, historic patterns re-emerge; a mother deciding whether to remove the mezuzah from her doorpost to protect her children. Ask God to grant them peace that transcends understanding, to send them steadfast friends who ensure they are seen and safe, and to remind them that the God of Abraham has never abandoned His people.

• Pray for Spiritual Awakening and Reconciliation
  Throughout history, seasons of profound societal shaking have driven hearts to seek eternal security. Pray that Jewish people who feel abandoned, disillusioned, or frightened by the world’s rising hostility will find comfort and ultimate refuge in Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah who intimately understood rejection, suffering, loneliness, and the hatred of the world. Ask God to redeem this painful cultural moment to bring many sons and daughters of Abraham into the deep spiritual fullness of His eternal covenant.

Information on The Biblical Foundations of Antisemitism and the Impact of Antisemitism  on Jewish Communities was provided by Laura Barron, (Director of Specialized Ministry with Jews for Jesus). The J7 Task Force Statistics are from ADL,  all informaton is used here with permission.