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The biggest Jewish stories of 2022

By Lauren Markoe

This week, we're reviewing the best (and worst) that 2022 had to offer. Today: The stories that made us talk, touched our hearts and changed the landscape of American Judaism.

Plus, some breaking news: Congressman-elect George Santos, a New York Republican, told reporters yesterday that he never claimed to be Jewish. But in documents we uncovered today he refers to himself as a “proud American Jew.”

YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images

Antisemitism wasn’t the only big Jewish news this year, but it did dominate much of the Jewish discourse.

Physical attacks against Jews increased amid a rising cacophony of antisemitism on the airwaves and social media. The story was too big and complex for just one spot on our list of the top Jewish stories of 2022 — we gave it three, and it touched several others.

It was also a year of Jewish heroes. The rabbi who foiled the gunman threatening to kill his congregants in Colleyville, Texas. The Ukrainian president who united his people against a Russian invasion. The Shabbat-observant yeshiva grad who dreamed of playing in the NBA — and took unprecedented steps toward doing so.

Here is the Forward’s list of the top Jewish stories of 2022. How does it compare to your list? Let us know: Email editorial@forward.com.

The top eight are below.

Read the full list of 18 here.

Antisemitic assaults and abuse
Physical attacks on Jews, antisemitic vandalism and hate crimes fueled by antisemitic conspiracy theories spiked across the nation. Lufthansa removed scores of Hasidic Jews from a flight because a few weren’t following masking rules. And after Elon Musk bought Twitter and scrapped the teams that police hate speech, antisemitism on the platform soared.

Celebrity antisemitism
Rapper Kanye West’s rambling antisemitic tirades cost him business deals, but also drew praise from conspiracy-minded fans. NBA player Kyrie Irving tweeted a link praising an antisemitic film and took weeks to apologize. Comedian Dave Chappelle riffed on both on SNL, and left Jews wondering whether they had been defended or insulted.

The Shabbat hostages
An armed British citizen, who believed conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the government and wanted a terrorist released from prison, took Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three congregants hostage on a Shabbat morning in January. After 11 hours, when Cytron-Walker feared the gunman was ready to kill them, he threw a chair to create a distraction, allowing all the hostages to flee.

Roe in ruins
Jews across the political spectrum rejected the Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade. Jewish groups protested and promised both to fight for abortion rights in individual states and work toward enshrining them in a new national law. And a Chicago rabbi revived a clandestine abortion network founded by a Jewish woman pre-Roe.

An international hero
Before Ukrainians elected him as their first Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a television comedian. When Russia invaded Ukraine he donned olive T-shirts and combat boots, coming to personify a defiant democracy that has managed to reclaim much of the land taken by Vladimir Putin’s army.

Highland Park massacre
The gunman who opened fire at a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park is not thought to have targeted Jews. But most of the seven people he killed were Jewish or part of Jewish families. Among them: a Russian-Jewish emigree and the bar and bat mitzvah coordinator at a synagogue in a neighboring town.

Trump’s meal with antisemites
In the middle of Kanye West’s antisemitism-spewing tour, former president Donald Trump hosted him for dinner. West brought along white nationalist Nick Fuentes, prompting widespread outrage. Trump in response questioned American Jews’ loyalty and scolded them for failing to appreciate his support for Israel.

Midterm madness

Several candidates in key races, including for Pennsylvania governor, allied with antisemites and trafficked in antisemitic tropes. And after redistricting pitted him against a Democratic colleague, Rep. Jerrold Nadler won a tight primary and will keep his status as the leader of the U.S. House’s informal Jewish caucus.

Read the full list

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