Was it hate? Let's wait

Editorial

The killing of David Rosenzweig should have all Canadian Jews – indeed all Canadians – horrified by the human capability for violence. It should not, however, cause us to lose sight of the realities of life in Canada, which is relatively safe for Jews and non-Jews and which, despite terrible acts like the Rosenzweig murder, is not on the verge of deteriorating into what a B'nai Brith official termed "open season on Jews."

The ugly incident has created a public rift between this country's two most prominent Jewish advocacy organizations. Canadian Jewish Congress has criticized B'nai Brith for inciting fear in Jews, especially the elderly, many of whom carry with them histories of terrible persecution. For its part, B'nai Brith suggests CJC is lax in its response to violence against a Jewish individual and, by extension, to the community.

It is true, as has been stated during this troubled time, that Jews are, in a sense, society's canary in a coal mine. Historically, Jews have often been the first victims of a society turning against its minorities. For this reason, attacks on Jews or Jewish institutions take on proportions, we daresay, which extend beyond the immediate context of the crime. That is to say, Canadians – Jewish and otherwise – await the facts in the Rosenzweig murder with particular impatience because we fear it may represent a larger, terrible social trend.

Some, without waiting for the dust to settle, have already accepted B'nai Brith's interpretation of events and believe that this was a hate crime. Those same people are writing to local and national publications with letters and opinion pieces that lump Rosenzweig's murder in with a catalogue of anti-Semitic events "proving" that Jews should be afraid the world over.

With our knowledge of history's potential, it is understandable that we should respond to this crime with an extreme measure of fear and horror. With these emotions guiding us, it is also understandable that we want to get to the bottom of the matter as soon as possible. Was this a crime motivated by anti-Semitism? Or was it a terrible crime that unfolded amid circumstances beyond racial hatred?

It should be noted that, for the Rosenzweig family, the issue is horrifically academic. Neither conclusion will bring back a man who reports say was an exemplary father, husband, community-builder and dedicated Jew.

But Canadian society recognizes a difference in the motivation of violent crimes. Parliament has singled out crime motivated by group hatred as a particularly heinous force in society, subject to additional punishment.

The Rosenzweig murder could be such a case or it could be an isolated incident. That, frankly, is the pivotal issue on which the whole country seems at present to be glued.

This issue is vitally important, but it is not to be decided by those of us with limited facts and other-than-firsthand information.

B'nai Brith has emerged with affidavits it says indicates that the attack surely was a hate-motivated crime. Those will no doubt be carefully considered by police, prosecutors and the court.

On the other hand, Toronto police seemed extraordinarily hasty in immediately downplaying the possibility that the murder was hate-motivated. That insistence, so early in the investigation, seemed unnecessary and precipitous. Toronto's police force has been criticized in the past for its treatment of race issues and one can't help wondering if they are overly sensitive to suggestions of any sort of racial motivations.

Yet, just as the Toronto police should not jump to any conclusions, neither should Canada's Jewish community. We have a good and thorough criminal justice system in this country. We must put our trust in that system to investigate every aspect of the case, to prosecute a suspect or suspects and to convict the perpetrator(s) of this murder.

That is the path we must follow, even if it means the answers take time to come. We must hope, first, that what justice is possible in a terrible situation as this will be done. Second, we should act as a community in a unified manner appropriate to the facts as we become aware of them. We should avoid drawing conclusions until then.

^TOP