Julian Edelman, the former wide receiver for the New England Patriots began to embrace Judaism as a young adult. As his NFL career progressed, he and his father, who is Jewish began to embrace Judaism more and more and began studying with Rabbi Bill Hamilton during weekly sessions. In 2015, he made a trip to Israel and was especially moved by the Holocaust museum. The Rabbi showed him a list of all the Edelman’s killed in the Holocaust. “That’s when you’re sitting there and think, ‘That could be a relative of mine.’”
Recently in a televised interview, he spoke earnestly about his concerns about the rise of antisemitism today, ”
“It’s been very hard, especially as a Jew to hear these things that you heard back in the 30s and 40s that transpired into the Holocaust – the same propaganda, the same thoughts…..
We only hold 2 % of the U.S. population- there’s not many of us…. and when something happens and no one goes to bat for you, it’s a little concerning. But we are not here to get mad at people that aren’t going to bat for us. We are here to show what good we bring, not just to our community, but to all communities,
{in spite of} these false claims…”
Hopefully, more celebrities will join Julian in speaking out against antisemitism. The time is now.
