Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Feb;62(1):428-443.
doi: 10.1007/s10943-022-01692-5. Epub 2022 Nov 17.

Health, Religiosity and Hatred: A Study of the Impacts of COVID-19 on World Jewry

Kelly W Sundberg  1 , Lauren M Mitchell  2 , Dan Levinson  3
Affiliations
Review

Health, Religiosity and Hatred: A Study of the Impacts of COVID-19 on World Jewry

Kelly W Sundberg et al. J Relig Health. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

This exploratory study examines the likely causes of the alarming global rise of antisemitism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning with an appraisal of today's world Jewry, this exploratory study highlights the main social, health, and religious impacts COVID-19 has had on Jews worldwide and goes on to highlight how various Jewish communities managed and adjusted to COVID-19 public health restrictions. From this contextual backdrop, an assessment of how and why antisemitism has surged during the pandemic is presented, along with a review of what efforts are being taken to curtail this rise in hatred toward Jews. A central aim of this study is to underline the point that until meaningful, broad, and international steps are taken to curb online hate, the historic antisemitic tropes and myths suggesting Jews are the cause of disease will undoubtedly evolve and surge (especially across social media) during future pandemics and times of global crisis and unrest.

Keywords: Antisemitism; COVID-19; Canada; Judaism; Public health restrictions; Religious freedoms; World jewry.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Anti-Defamation League [ADL]. (2020, March 17). Coronavirus crisis elevates antisemitic, racist tropes.https://www.adl.org/blog/coronavirus-crisis-elevates-antisemitic-racist-...
    1. Ayed, N. (2020, October 31). Are conspiracy theories really ‘a new religion’?. CBC Radio: Ideas.https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/are-conspiracy-theories-really-a-new-reli....
    1. Baker JO, Martí G, Braunstein R, Whitehead AL, Yukich G. Religion in the age of social distancing: How COVID-19 presents new directions for research. Sociology of Religion. 2020;81(4):357–370. doi: 10.1093/socrel/sraa039. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bankier-Karp AL, Shain M. COVID-19's effects upon the religious group resources, psychosocial resources, and mental health of Orthodox Jews. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 2022;61(1):197–216. doi: 10.1111/jssr.12770. - DOI
    1. Bell, S. (2020, December 3). CSIS accuses Russia, China and Iran of spreading COVID-19 disinformation. Global News Canada.https://globalnews.ca/news/7494689/csis-accuses-russia-china-iran-corona....