CLEVELAND — This week is the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, and while it’s a time for celebration, many people of the Jewish faith, like Rachel Uram, are taking this time to reflect.

"The rise in antisemitism has caused all of us to really want to bring the community locally, nationally and internationally together, to work together to fight anti-Semitism,” Uram said.

She spoke to a crowd of dozens of people at the Shine a Light on Antisemitism event in Cleveland. 

She shared a story about when she and her husband were victims of an antisemitic attack. 

"Suddenly we heard a man yelling, 'Jew, Jew, Jew' from behind us,” she recalled. "And all at once, he was directly in front of us, with his arm up, in the heil Hitler salute.” 

Unfortunately, Uram isn’t alone in experiencing religious-based hate.

The Anti-Defamation league reports that antisemitic incidents remained at historic high levels across the U.S. in 2020. 

"It is astonishing that antisemitism has come out of the shadows the way it has," she said. "It has probably always been there."

Even if people are not Jewish, Uram explained that it’s important that if you witness antisemitism, you speak up and say something.

"We will fight it and we will survive. The Jewish people are certainly a strong group of individuals but it is depressing,” she said.