As other kids in Austin recovered from trick-or-treating on Halloween last year, Sarah Adelman worried about white supremacists, her mom and their synagogue. After a series of antisemitic incidents around Central Texas, someone set fire to Congregation Beth Israel, where Sarah’s mother, Lori, is a leader.

“It made me sad and really scared,” 10-year-old Sarah said last week. “It made me nervous for my mom.”

The arson was part of an ongoing wave of antisemitic incidents that grew last year to its highest number in four decades. It came three years after a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue and was followed months later by a hostage situation at a North Texas synagogue. In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League tracked 2,717 anti-Jewish incidents nationwide— a 34% increase since 2020 and the highest number since the group began tracking antisemitism in 1979. In Texas, the ADL recorded 112 antisemitic incidents in 2021 — almost triple since 2020 — and both the state and nation are on pace to eclipse those records this year.....

Last year, after a string of hate incidents in Austin — including graffiti on the parking spots of LGBTQ and Jewish high school students — a group of self-described “equally pissed-off Jews” decided to act. The six women said they initially expected more action from law enforcement and local officials. Then, video began to spread of an Austin Police Department officer fist-bumping a neo-Nazi who was hanging a “vax the Jews” banner near a large Jewish Community Center and numerous synagogues. The department has since said the officer was caught off guard and attempting to deescalate the situation.

“We were just getting so angry and felt like something needed to happen,” said Mariette Hummel. “And we wanted to be more than just angry. We worried that young people who were already on the path toward extremism might see it, and it would end in violence......

Earlier this month, the Austin City Council passed an ordinance that overhauled the city’s hate crime reporting system in part due to the group’s efforts. Local officials say that much more needs to be done, that they cannot stamp out extremism without help from state and federal actors, including through more investment in mental health care and anti-hate curriculum.

“It’s not just about antisemitism,” said Austin Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter. “We don’t want this hate in our community in any form, and we need to make sure there are systems in place for everybody.”