I've listened to racism without challenging it - that won't happen again

(JTA) — If I have learned anything over the past month, it is that racist tropes are not harmless words. They must be actively and consistently challenged.

You know them and so do I. The racist tropes peddled about Jewish people are plentiful. What you may not know is that antisemitic tropes caused my friends and me to be held hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas.

Our Shabbat morning service on Jan. 15 began normally. I had just sat down after the morning Amidah. Within a few seconds, I heard that unmistakable sound of an automatic pistol chambering a bullet. A man we invi...