This is where you belong.
Auschwitz.
This is what Ruby Stein ‘26 was told by one of their peers on March 1 of this year.
This is not a commentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This is not a political story.
This is the story of one student. And the horrific hate they have endured.
Stein, who uses the pronouns they and them, is an ambitious student. They are creative, intelligent, and friendly. And they are also Jewish.
On the night of Winter Ball, Stein and their friends did what most students do. While they were out to eat, Stein was seated across from a person they had never met before, when suddenly their night was consumed with hatred.
From across the table, he said, “I’m really glad I’m not sitting next to the Jew.”
“I was trying to come up with ways that it could be a joke,” Stein said. “Because someone wouldn’t say that.”
This remark was shocking to Stein. However, they refused to let it ruin their night, and returned home with their friends.
Then it happened again.
In a game of Cards against Humanity, the same boy who made the antisemitic remark earlier that night received a card with the word ‘Auschwitz’ written on it.
“When no one else was looking, he held the card up and whispered to me, ‘This is where you belong,’” Stein said.
Stein was struck by his words and asked him to stop, telling him that their grandfather was a Holocaust survivor.
But the antisemitism continued.
“He said, ‘Your grandfather shouldn’t have survived that. Your family shouldn’t be here,’ and other stuff along that line,” Stein said.
Alone and under attack from a stranger, Stein was terrified.
“That was one of the scariest moments I’ve had in a very long time,” they said. “I’ve never regretted talking about my Jewish identity, ever, and that was the first time that I really was like, ‘I shouldn’t have brought it up.’”
The hatred and antisemitism being spewed at Stein left them feeling vulnerable.
They’ve never had to deal with as much antisemitism as they have in the past few months. In addition to their experiences with a peer, Stein has faced antisemitism all over their community since fighting erupted in the Middle East this past fall.
“There have been some posters put up in Boulder that say stupid things that blame Israel’s actions on the Jews, especially right after October 7,” Stein said. “They said things like ‘Hamas attacks weren’t real’ and that it was Israel’s fault.”
Stein has found hatred like this appearing all over the community.
On April 1, several students were caught by Lafayette Elementary School’s security system drawing swastikas in the wood chips after school.
Immediately after this incident, Lafayette Elementary sent an email to students and their families in which they said, “We are horrified that the symbols were on our campus, even temporarily. Lafayette Elementary and the Boulder Valley School District do not tolerate hate speech of any kind, including the use of the swastika.”
Nonetheless, Stein feels shaken.
They feel that nowhere is safe.
“I’ll be scrolling with my friends through Instagram and suddenly there will be people storming through Tennessee with swastikas in front of their Holocaust museum,” Stein said.
In February of this year, Stein went with their congregation to Washington D.C. to lobby at the Capitol for various issues. One of the most prevalent topics of conversation? Antisemitism.
“In DC, there was no small talk. It was like, ‘Oh, what state are you from and what’s your experience with antisemitism,’ and I would hear so many people’s stories,” Stein said. “I kind of blocked out the idea of that ever happening to me, and then as soon as I got back, things happened.”
They believe that the Israel-Palestine war is partially to blame for the rise in acts of hatred.
Boulder-Nablus Sister City Project is a group that hosts Palestinian citizens in Boulder and works to preserve Palestinian culture. When asked about the antisemitism Stein has experienced, Board Chair Essrea Cherin said in an email, “What I have observed over many years of the Occupation of the Palestinian people is that whenever the Israeli military slaughters men, women, children, elderly, disabled, and everyone in-between, indiscriminately, as they are doing now, antisemitism increases parallel to the acts of crimes against humanity.”
Stein agrees that there are plenty of critiques that can be made about the way Israel has handled the war.
“I don’t agree with what [the Israeli government is] doing, either,” Stein said. “I think people hold Jewish people to this standard of being responsible for it, and that’s just not fair to do to really anyone. To be honest, it’s like one person making all these decisions and then a whole group of people are getting attacked for it.”
It’s not just Stein who has felt the increase in antisemitism.
Scott Levin, the regional director for the Anti Defamation League Mountain States Region said in an email, “ADL measured almost 200 antisemitic incidents in Colorado during 2023. That was nearly three times the number of incidents from the year before. Since October 7, we have seen what previously was a year’s worth of incidents in just a matter of months.”
Upon questioning about Stein’s experience and the swastika incident, Boulder Valley School District’s Chief Communications Officer Randy Barber said, “The Boulder Valley School District prides itself on building a welcoming environment for our students, staff and families. We do not tolerate antisemitism, including the use of hate symbols, and we work closely with the Jewish faith community leaders to collaborate on how to best support Jewish students and families in our district.”
Despite all of this, the community Stein has found amidst their struggles has shown them the real support they have in their life.
“Jewish people in this school have really found comfort in each other, I’ve noticed,” they said.
What Stein requests from others is understanding. Understand the reality. Understand the pain. Understand the struggle.
“Right now is a hard time for the Jewish community,” Stein said. “This is an issue. This is happening. It’s very real. It’s very direct.”