As he celebrates an Edmonton Hanukkah with his young family, Zach Hyman reflects on the Jewish proverb that instructs, “Hope for a miracle, but don’t rely on it.”
But as a Jewish man in North America today, Hyman won’t settle for simply ‘hoping’ antisemitism away.
“I’m very proud of who I am. I’m proud of being Jewish. I’m proud of growing up in the Jewish community … and I’m proud of where we come from,” began Hyman, a 31-year-old product of Toronto’s Jewish community. The Oilers forward is the grandson of Holocaust survivors, schooled in Judaism from kindergarten all the way through Grade 12.
Why has he chosen to speak out during the eight days of Hanukkah?
To shed light on what he is seeing at home. To shine a candle on a growing sense of antisemitism right here.
“As somebody that young Jewish kids look up to — not just an athlete, but as a proud Jewish person — I think it’s important that when things are really tough, a community binds together. It sticks together and fights antisemitism.”
“Antisemitism has been rising for years, and it’s now reached the point where … it’s scary,”
In Hyman’s hometown, Toronto Police reported a significant increase in hate-related calls between Oct. 7 and Oct. 25. Police chief Myron Demkiw said there were 15 antisemitic incidents and five anti-Muslim hate incidents reported in that timeframe, and more had occurred since those figures were recorded. In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League recorded a total of 2,031 antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7 and Dec. 7 — representing an increase of 337 per cent over the same period in 2022.
“It’s very clear that antisemitism as a result of what’s going on has been on the rise. Jewish people … don’t feel safe. There are attacks on synagogues. My high school [in Toronto] has had two bomb threats. This is just for being Jewish. It’s just because you’re Jewish. There’s no other reason.
“We live in Canada, in the US, where these things shouldn’t be happening. And we can’t turn a blind eye to it,” he said. “Being a Jewish person doesn’t feel comfortable right now, and that’s a scary feeling.”
At a United States congressional hearing last week, the presidents of Penn, Harvard and MIT were each asked if on-campus calls by some protesters for the genocide of Jews violated their schools’ code of conduct. None of the presidents replied with an emphatic “yes” or condemned the concept with clarity.
Instead, they added context with murky undertones to their answers. From there, the topic entered the public realm as a “right to free speech” debate, leaving Hyman both gobsmacked and disappointed.
“I went to the University of Michigan. I was a Jewish student athlete. If I was on campus and my president was not able to say that [a call for genocide] is not OK, I wouldn’t want to be at that school. It’s outright scary.”
“This is a clear wakeup call,” Hyman said. “The people who are going to those schools are the next generation of leaders in the United States. For representation to not be able to speak out against genocide, to say ‘This is not OK…’
“We need to protect not just our Jewish students, but all students against hate speech,” he said.
As a child, Hyman’s grandfather “always walked with a limp, and I never knew why until I was older.”
Hyman learned he had been shot in the leg while on a train bound for a concentration camp. It was not an uncommon tale in his community.
“A lot of my friends growing up have very similar stories. Grandparents who have gone through the same thing.”
That was in the 1940s.
“We’re in the year 2023,” Hyman said on Saturday. “It’s supposed to be getting better.
“We are supposed to be trying to eradicate hate, racism, antisemitism. Any type of prejudice, whether it’s religious based, sexual orientation based, race based…”
There is another Jewish proverb: Hard work builds strong character.
As a hockey player, Hyman embodies this; a grinding winger whose playing style defines what hockey people would refer to as “workmanlike.” Off the ice, he is a man as rich in character as any we have met over 35 years in the game.
The deadly attack on Oct. 7 fell on the weekend between the end of the NHL pre-season and the Wednesday season opener.
“It was constantly on my mind,” Hyman said. “But I use hockey as an escape. Not just from this, but when things are hard elsewhere. Hockey is my me time. My personal space. My escape.
“This is where I go to do what I love, and I have to be fully bought in or I’m not gonna play up to the level that I play at. It’s hard. I won’t lie to you: it was really, really hard at the start.”
Incredibly, Hyman is having a career-best start to the season. His 16 goals lead the Oilers and are tied for seventh in the NHL.
“It’s nice to have hockey. Nice to have something I can just focus on, something I love to do.”
He is tickled to bring some joy to Oilers fans here when he buries a Connor McDavid feed or stuffs in a rebound. But on this day, he would ask for support from them.
“At this time of year, we are celebrating Hanukkah,” he said of his community. “But even more so for people who are not Jewish, it’s important to recognize the rise in antisemitism, and to speak out and say, ‘Hey, no matter what’s going on in the world, there are Jews in North America who have nothing to do with what’s happening elsewhere, who do not feel safe.’
“And that’s not OK. That should not should not be the case,” he said. “And it’s, it’s on full display.
“Full display.”