As a student at Oak Park High School outside Los Angeles, Jesse Gabriel grew up with school holidays on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and he and his peers “took it for granted that we were safe in America and we’d be protected,” the California state representative told JNS.

“I used to tell people growing up that I thought antisemitism was something that happened in Berlin in 1939,” the Democrat, who co-chairs the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, said. “Unfortunately, our eyes are opening to the fact that the world is a difficult and complicated place and that there are real people out there that hate us and are ignorant.”

“That’s why we have to take measures to strengthen our community and protect ourselves,” Gabriel said.

The state representative and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.),

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