(JEWISH GROUP) nce 'the best' place for Jews, Canada sees rising antisemitism even after Gaza ceasefire [View all]

After his synagogue in Toronto was attacked earlier this month for the 10th time in a year and a half, Rabbi Joe Kanofsky of Kehillat Shaarei Torah says he is frustrated by the repeated hostilities but confident that his community will endure.

“These attacks haven’t deterred people from coming to pray,” Kanofsky told The Times of Israel. “If anything, it has increased people’s determination to show up and show solidarity. People understand that it is important to convey that we are united.”

In the most recent attack, a vandal was caught on video jumping with a hammer to smash five of Shaarei Torah’s exterior windows. Previous attacks, believed to involve a few different suspects, have included rock throwing, graffiti and attempted arson.

“I joke with my congregants that I wish everyone were as determined to get to synagogue as these guys,” Kanofsky said. “They’ve climbed our fences, even as we’ve increased security. It used to be that synagogues wouldn’t even lock their doors, but we are living in uncertain times.”

Antisemitism was already on the rise in the Great White North in the years before the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 slaughtered in Israel and 251 taken hostage to the Gaza Strip, sparking the war. But hate crimes have grown astronomically since then. Many locals insist that while government efforts to clamp down on attacks have been lackluster, rising extremism is largely attributable to a small number of bad actors, not a fundamental change in the tolerance the country is known for.

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