My synagogue was recently in the news. On a cold January night, vandals broke the windows of six different Montreal shuls, including my own, an attack that was reported in media worldwide. In 2011, even a small wave of antisemitism is big news.

The fact Jews still have real enemies is to some a bit of a shock. This attack provided an ugly reminder that even in democratic countries, antisemitism is still very much alive.  Our synagogue’s broken window shows that Jews still have real enemies.

At the same time, the aftermath of this attack also demonstrated how many friends our community has. I got a call from federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and an e-mail from the minister of immigration, Jason Kenney. My inbox was a veritable interfaith gathering, with multiple responses from ministers, priests and imams.

Most touching was a note from the grandson of a Dutch man who had defended Jews from the Nazis and died in Sachsenhausen because of his activism. He wrote me to say that he would continue his grandfather’s legacy, and do anything he could to protect the Jews.

Let’s be clear: 2011 is not 1938. The Jews are integrated into the mainstream, and most Canadians see an attack on Canadian Jews as an attack on Canadians, just as most Americans would see an attack on American Jews as an attack on Americans.

Contemporary acceptance of Jews is remarkable by any standard. Sadly, the people who seem to show the least enthusiasm for Judaism are the ones who matter most: young Jews.

It’s sad that it takes a broken window to get Jews to think about their Judaism. In the aftermath of this attack, I heard from people I rarely see in shul. Like many North American congregations, most of our members visit infrequently, and, beyond the High Holidays, the synagogue is forgotten most of the year in the absence of incidents such as those last month.

British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks jokes that the one way to fill up synagogues would be by putting up large signs outside declaring “no Jews allowed,” because contemporary Jews would be certain to join any institution that would refuse them membership. He’s absolutely correct. Jews have had enormous success battling hatred and discrimination. We have made our way into country clubs that once restricted membership, and moved into once-restricted neighbourhoods. But we’re finding it much more difficult to handle success, and as we enter the mainstream, we leave our Jewish identities behind.

The Jewish world has changed in the last 100 years. We still have enemies, some as vicious as 100 years ago. But today we have many more friends and are a North American success story. What has changed the most is that Jewish identity is increasingly defined by what we oppose: antisemitism, terrorism, and Holocaust denial. Otherwise, we have only the vaguest idea of what it means to live as a Jew.

But antisemitism may eventually fade away. If so, what will become of Jewish identity?

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz is the spiritual leader of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem in Montreal.