The ADL and Us

But according to Orthodox Jewish community leaders, the Anti-Defamation League, the organization long dedicated to fighting anti-Jewish hate, has not been busy enough.

As America’s Orthodox community grows in numbers and influence, many in the frum community are now questioning whether the ADL is any longer relevant.

I spoke to Evan Bernstein, the director of the group’s New York–New Jersey office, who said the ADL wants to work more closely with the Orthodox world.

We usually don’t hear about the ADL when it comes to anti-Semitic incidents in the Orthodox community. Any reason?

The biggest difficulty we face is that people are hesitant to report hate crimes when they take place. When people call the ADL, that gives us something to work with when we talk to the local police. We can say, “You need to take this seriously, look at the numbers.”