Dear John,

When we were preparing our new guide, “Antisemitism Uncovered: A Guide to Old Myths in a New Era,” the section about how Jews were blamed for the Black Plague in the Middle Ages seemed archaic. The fact that Jews across Europe were scapegoated and attacked for causing the plague — it was beyond modern comprehension.

But today, as the COVID-19 pandemic intersects with a historic surge of antisemitism, blaming Jews is back in style — from coronavirus protestors, right-wing European politicians, ultra-conservative American pastors, anti-Zionist intellectuals and Iranian state authorities among others.

Please join famed scholars Deborah Lipstadt, the best-selling author of “Antisemitism: Then and Now” whose success in taking Holocaust deniers to court was depicted in the major motion picture “Denial” and Jonathan Sarna, award-winning author of the seminal book “American Judaism,” for an important ADL webinar on Viruses and Violence: Addressing Antisemitism in the Shadow of COVID-19 on April 30.

If you are concerned about the rise in antisemitism related to the pandemic, please join us for this timely conversation about how the COVID-19 pandemic has awakened a centuries-old strain of hatred, and what we can do about it.