Jewish communities throughout San Diego County continue to celebrate the holy day.

This week we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the new year of 5783 on the Jewish calendar.

On the campus of Patrick Henry High School, students organize a group called the Jewish Club. It’s a non-traditional name they said in honor of their very traditional beliefs. They meet once a week at lunchtime. 17-year-old Zoe Linden is her senior year who has been going to the club since she was a freshman.

Every year there are incidents of hate speech and discrimination against the Jewish community.

“this I don’t want to accept my religion, I don’t want to be open about it. I don’t want to tell anyone,” he said.

The club is supported by Rabbi Deborah Marcus, leader of Temple Emanuel in nearby Del Cerro.

Marcus was Wednesday’s guest speaker and brought gifts of apples and honey to celebrate Happy New Year. To do.

“[There’s a problem] Identifying people you don’t like as Nazis, or making analogies with people you find politically unattractive, desensitizes you to who and what the Nazis really were,” Marcus said.

The Jews are now in what is known as the Age of Awe. The period from New Year to the holiest day of Atonement is Yom Kippur. Rabbi Marcus told KPBS News that now is the time for the Jewish community to be most open, vulnerable and honest. ”

Memories of Pittsburgh and Poway are still fresh. In 2019, on the final day of Passover, one woman was killed and three others were injured at Chabad in Poway, a self-proclaimed white supremacist.

A year ago there was an anti-Semitic terrorist attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pennsylvania. The attack killed 11 people and wounded 6 of him, including a Holocaust survivor.

Seventeen-year-old Ben Matthews is another senior at Patrick Henry High School and is an active participant in weekly Jewish club meetings. he said: He is really excited to be involved in his education and to be on vacation. ”