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Rabbi Levi Volovik speaks at a menorah lighting in Lenox in 2023 following a surge in antisemitism in Massachusetts. Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue, far right, said at the event that antisemitism and hate crimes against Jews will not be tolerated. A 2024 report by the Anti-Defamation League says that Massachusetts ranked fifth for the state with the highest number of antisemitic incidents in the U.
S. That includes eight documented incidents in the Berkshires, down from 17 in 2023, according to the ADL’s current hate map. The ADL’s 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents , which was released this week, also ranked the state third nationally for college campus incidents.
The New England region over the last five years continues to see a spike in antisemitic activity. Most of that was in Massachusetts, which saw more than 400 incidents statewide last year, according to the audit. The top ranking states for the number of incidents are New York at No.
1, followed by California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. “While Massachusetts's incident numbers remained stable in 2024,” the ADL’s report says, “this represents part of a troubling long-term trend, with incidents rising 188% since 2022. In 2024, 275 incidents were Israel-related, making up 63% of the total, which is above the national average.
” Antisemitism that was already brewing exploded after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacres in Israel and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war that has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza. Other reasons for the spike include white supremacist activity across the state, the ADL’s Samantha Joseph told CBS Boston.
"There continues to be very large levels of white supremacist activity in the state of Massachusetts and across New England," Joseph told the news outlet. "We also have a lot of college campuses and that is one of the main drivers of antisemitism here." The audit was released after President Donald Trump announced a freeze in more than $2 billion in federal funds for Harvard University, accusing it of not taking action against antisemitism on campus — which the ADL said was "overreach.
" In response, Harvard sued the Trump administration. The majority of the incidents documented by audit were acts of vandalism and harassment, followed by the presence of swastikas , bomb threats and a handful of physical assaults. The audit drew outrage from Sen.
John C. Velis, a Democrat who represents Hampden and Hampshire counties. Velis created and chairs the state’s Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism.
“For many of us on the Commission, and especially for Jewish residents across the Commonwealth," Velis said in a statement, "today’s report does not come as a complete shock.” He said the ADL’s findings in recent years are the reason he filed legislation to create the commission. “It is just truly so sickening to me that Massachusetts continues to be one of the five states that make collectively make up more than 50% of antisemitic acts of hate in our entire nation,” Velis added.
Velis said the commission will continue to hold its hearings and will issue a report in November on ways the state can address the problem..
