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What You Need to Know About Jewish Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

Jewish employees searching for a welcoming and inclusive space at work might want to consider forming or joining an employee resource group (ERG). 

Antisemitism is a bigger problem than any one person, one organization, or one sector of society. We need a whole-of-society approach to effectively address it, including in the workplace. Jewish employee resource groups are more important than ever. 

This is why CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism launched the first-ever local workplace antisemitism strategy, focused on bringing resources and tools to businesses and workplaces in Greater Boston to address antisemitism. Are you interested in joining an informal network of Jewish ERG leaders across Boston? Please email AS-info@cjp.org for more information. This network’s goal is for members to learn from each other, connect, and share timely resources. 

Leaders of businesses, educational institutions, and civic spaces need the tools and the resources to respond so we can reverse the disturbing trend of antisemitism and strengthen our civic and communal institutions. 

WHAT IS AN EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUP (ERG)? 

An employee resource group (ERG) is a voluntary, employee-led group within an organization that is formed based on shared characteristics, interests, or life experiences among its members, according to Indeed. ERGs are typically focused on fostering a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with the organization’s mission, values, and goals. The aim is to amplify underrepresented voices at work, often under the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) department.  

Key features of an ERG:
  • Purpose: Support, advocacy, career development, networking, and promoting cultural awareness. 
  • Activities: Workshops, networking events, community outreach, and advocacy. 
  • Benefits to organization: Improves talent retention, employee engagement, innovation, and corporate image. 
  • Examples: Women’s network, LGBTQ+ group, veterans’ group, Jewish group. 

ERGs enhance workplace diversity and inclusion while supporting members’ personal and professional growth. 

HOW ERGs ARE DIFFERENT FROM AFFINITY GROUPS 

According to the Academy to Innovate HR, affinity groups and employee resource groups are both formed around shared identities or interests, but ERGs are typically formalized within an organization, often with a focus on professional development, networking, and influencing company policies. Affinity groups, on the other hand, are usually less formal and more focused on social support and community-building among members with common interests or backgrounds, without necessarily having an organizational mandate or influence. 

THE CHALLENGE FACING JEWISH EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUPS  

Some Jewish employees have felt left behind in the creation of ERGs. They attribute this, at least in part, to the complex status of Jews in society. People can be Jewish in many ways, from religiously to culturally. As such, employers might be unsure about the role of a Jewish ERG. 

“While some Jews are religious, others may be atheists,” the organization Project Shema wrote. “All of us are still part of the Jewish people.” 

THE POWER OF JEWISH ERGS TO COUNTER ANTISEMITISM 

Amidst a staggering 189% increase in antisemitic incidents from 2022 in Massachusetts alone, it’s more important than ever that we work to encourage workplaces to create Jewish ERGs. 

Project Shema states that “attacks on Jews today aren’t usually about how Jews pray, but rather are about what people accuse Jews, as a people, of doing.” 

In some cases, Jewish employees have either faced physical harm or felt unsafe outside their place of employment. An eJewish Philanthropy article cited a kippah-wearing Jewish employee of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) who was attacked near his office. A PwC Jewish ERG encouraged management to acknowledge antisemitism as a motivation for the attack. In a Psychology Today article, author Deborah Grayson Riegel recalled giving a presentation to a Fortune 500 company’s employees, one of whom reminded her colleague to hide her Star of David necklace when taking mass transit home. 

“With so much of the Jewish workforce feeling at risk,” Grayson Riegel wrote, “organizations need to find ways to help Jewish employees feel safe, included, protected, respected, and heard. A Jewish employee resource group can do just that.” 

CJP’S CENTER FOR COMBATING ANTISEMITISM SUPPORTS JEWISH EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUPS IN MASSACHUSETTS 

Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA) is responding to antisemitism in Greater Boston and bringing local and national partners’ work together. 

By building and leveraging relationships with business and nonprofit leaders, we can mobilize and engage them in our work to ensure that their institutions are safe and supportive places and spaces for all Jews. 

This is long-term work, and we’re proud to partner with organizations like Project Shema to incorporate antisemitism education and training into diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives. 

“No robust DEI program is complete without incorporating Jewish identity and countering antisemitism appropriately in their work,” says April Powers, vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Project Shema. 

MORE INFORMATION AND TOOLS FOR EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUPS 

There are many resources available online to help you learn about and form your own Jewish ERG. The list below includes information, resources, toolkits, and links to individual Massachusetts Jewish ERGs and affinity groups. 

Learn more about employee resource groups in general 
Learn how affinity groups are different from employee resource groups 
Find out how to create and support Jewish employee resource groups 
Massachusetts ERGs and affinity groups 
Join national efforts to support Jewish ERGs
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Leading with Allyship: Jewish Advocacy on Beacon Hill

By FayeRuth Fisher

As the representative for the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) to Beacon Hill, this time of year I am focused on the FY25 state budget advocating on behalf of our collective priorities, including funding for nonprofit security grants, the genocide education trust fund and the other budget appropriations that support our incredible and diverse human service agencies. I spend a lot of time reporting back on how each of our budget priorities fared in the governor’s version of the budget, the Massachusetts House of Representatives budget and the Massachusetts Senate’s budget. 

However, reflecting on the week of Senate budget debate, which concluded on Thursday, May 23, I want to share how it felt. 

On Wednesday, May 22, I sat in the gallery of the Senate listening to the klezmer band Ezekiel’s Wheels followed by Majority Leader Cynthia Stone Creem and Senate Ways and Means Vice Chair Sen. Cindy Friedman read a resolution celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month. Senators from across the commonwealth and across parties stood behind Creem and Friedman while the resolution was read. Following the unanimous adoption of amendment 803, Senate President Karen Spilka spoke passionately about Jewish American contributions to the country, the commonwealth and about her own Jewish pride.

It was joyous to stand up and applaud with so many others from our community and beyond. Maybe even without knowing it right then, I took a breath for the first time in months that was free of anxiety, free of needing to hold any complexity in that moment and felt pure pride. Shortly after, I texted my dad—who came to this country as an unaccompanied minor on a refugee visa in 1940—that the Senate president, in a time of virulent antisemitism, led the Massachusetts Senate to affirm that we matter, we belong and that our stories are integral to the fabric of this country’s story.

Later that same night, those words turned to policy action, led by Sen. John Velis, someone JCRC has been building a relationship with for some time, to pass an amendment addressing antisemitism. Over the course of the last few weeks, we were engaged in conversation with the senator and other leaders about the content of the amendment to share our expertise and perspective. The amendment adopted broadly does two things: it directs the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to provide resources to districts and teachers on antisemitism and other forms of bias and creates a task force on antisemitism to, among other charges, review the U.S. National Strategy on Countering Antisemitism and make recommendations on its implementation. Since the release of the strategy, we have been talking with elected officials across the state about its recommendations and opportunities for implementation, and launched our K-12 educational partnerships work focused on ensuring schools are safe, inclusive and welcoming for all students. 

Several senators, Jewish and non-Jewish, rose to speak in support of the amendment and the need to address antisemitism explicitly. Listening to several of the non-Jewish senators speak, notably Sen. John Velis (1:26:45) and Sen. Lydia Edwards (2:07:53), I heard the model of allyship we so often name. Having a task force focus on antisemitism affords the opportunity to focus on strategies that can serve as a road map and can help us as a larger society make progress. It was a recent reminder of something I’ve heard from a lot of wise women—if faced with a problem, take it apart and address it one thing at a time, piece by piece. 

In a time where we are flooded with terrible news and images, where antisemitism and extremism are at record levels, where communities’ feelings of isolation are easily exacerbated, last week strengthened my resolve that there is progress, and more to be made, with our elected allies in both the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives. It is a reminder to me that in these times, that in addition to the work in which we are entrusted to do, we must also pass on moments of light and hope to one another.

FayeRuth Fisher is the chief of public affairs and community relations for Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston. With more than 20 years of experience in community organizing and advocacy, Fisher has focused on workforce and health care policy, electoral politics and leadership development. Prior to joining JCRC, Fisher was the political director for 1199SEIU in Massachusetts, the state’s largest health care workers’ union. Fisher has served on the boards of several community organizations and nonprofits, including the founding board of Emerge Massachusetts and Temple Isaiah in Lexington. She holds a master of social work degree from Simmons University, a BA from Hampshire College and was an organizing fellow through the Jewish Organizing Initiative (now JOIN for Justice). 

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CJP’s Communal Security Initiative Meets the moment 

By Jeremy Yamin, Vice President, Security and Operations at Combined Jewish Philanthropies

We’re living in a challenging environment with increased antisemitism. As CJP’s Vice President of Security and Operations for eight years, I’ve seen many changes within our community and in the larger ecosystem. The Communal Security Initiative (CSI) team I lead provides professional security advice to the Jewish community. We are privileged to be able to provide trainings, assessments, and consultations to our partner organizations at no cost. In fact, we have been able to offer an average of $750,000 in direct CJP grants per year and helped our partners access $3 million to $4 million a year in government security grants.  

At CSI, we employ a holistic approach, helping our partners balance being open and welcoming while creating a more safe and secure environment. But we always want to do more than we already are, looking for moments to increase our support when we’re able—and now we are in the midst of one of these moments.  

Antisemitic incidents increased by 140% in 2023, nationally, and by 205% in 2023 in New England, according to Anti-Defamation League data. CSI has been working proactively and continually to address this increase in and around Greater Boston while searching for a way to offer our services to more organizations and people within our community and beyond.  

CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA) recently provided CSI with $1 million in security funding to address these urgent needs. CCA and CJP Development have partnered with CSI to access additional funding streams through Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Secure Community Network (SCN) LiveSecure program. With a CJP match, this will support a $750,000 annual investment for three years in the CJP catchment area. At the request of JFNA and SCN, CJP’s CSI will also be fully funded to provide support in our expanded services area, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.   

Your support enables CSI to offer our nationally recognized security programs to the broader Jewish community in New England. We look forward to working together to empower and care for our community.  

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Clergy, Staff and Lay Leaders Kick Off SEA Change Program

By Molly Kazan, Fighting Antisemitism Manager at Combined Jewish Philanthropies

On Sunday, May 5, clergy, staff and lay leaders across three local congregations came together to kick off the JOIN for Justice SEA Change (Study, Engage, Act) program to organize and tackle racial injustice within and beyond their communities. In partnership with CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA), the program is the first of its kind in the Boston area.

Forty people from among Temple Isaiah of Lexington, Temple Aliyah of Needham and Temple Beth Elohim of Wellesley came together to begin a seven-month-long learning process that includes specialized training, coaching and campaigns targeted specifically at issues of racial justice and leadership development. Woven throughout SEA Change is a clear analysis about antisemitism, the importance of addressing it particularly through building cross-community relationships of solidarity, and space to explore how issues of antisemitism and racism intersect, complicate each other and should be addressed together and separately.

Rabbi Jordi Battis, associate rabbi of Temple Isaiah of Lexington, shared her gratitude in saying that “this program is so exciting to us as a way to engage within our community, and as a way to get to meet folks across other communities who are engaged in the work of pursuing justice.”

CJP’s CCA is proud to support this cross-communal effort toward increased allyship and inclusivity within and beyond the participating congregations.

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“Don’t Bring Hate to the Protest” Debuts During NBA Playoffs

By Foundation to Combat Antisemitism

In case you missed it, we debuted our newest commercial, “Don’t Bring Hate to the Protest,” during last night’s Celtics vs. Cavaliers NBA playoff game on TNT.

The commercial’s core message is that while political issues should be debated, hate speech and intimidation simply can’t be tolerated. In the face of the hatred and violence that have taken over college campuses across the country, this campaign reminds us all to stand up to Jewish hate and all hate.

At FCAS (Foundation to Combat Antisemitism), we are dedicated to combating antisemitism through positive messaging and partnerships. Our initiative, Stand Up to Jewish Hate, is designed to empower both non-Jews and Jews to become defenders and upstanders for the Jewish community. We are passionate about promoting understanding, empathy, and tolerance among different groups, and our ultimate goal is to create a more inclusive and accepting world for all.

Together with its community partners, CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism is here to meet this moment with resources, tools and opportunities to foster action against antisemitism. Learn more at cjp.org/CCA.

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Open Letter to Newton Mayor Fuller

Below is an open letter from CJP President and CEO Rabbi Marc Baker and Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC) CEO Jeremy Burton to Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller regarding a May exhibit at the Newton Free Library, The Ongoing & Relentless Nakba.   

We encourage Newton residents to elevate the following asks in their own communications and advocacy as well: 

  • We ask that Mayor Fuller and the Newton Free Library director take responsibility for the hurtful decision of choosing this exhibit especially now and make clear to the community that they will make every effort to improve the process in the future 
  • We also ask that Mayor Fuller and the library director honor the requests they have received to add other exhibits and educational materials that provide a more well-rounded picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its history 
  • We further ask Mayor Fuller and the library to minimize further harm and to not “celebrate” this exhibit  
  • Finally, we ask Mayor Fuller and the city to reaffirm their commitment to combating antisemitism as defined by the IHRA working definition and make clear that the hosting of the exhibit does not indicate in any way a change in the city’s position of support for the IHRA working definition  

May 7, 2024 

Dear Mayor Fuller, 

Thank you for reaching out to each of us, along with several rabbis and Jewish community leaders, last week. We understand that you have met with other concerned Newton residents and members of the Jewish and Israeli communities.  

We appreciate that, when informed of the plans for the Newton Free Library to host a photography display this month entitled, The Ongoing & Relentless Nakba, you “immediately had deep concerns” for the impact on the community and for your stated belief that this exhibit will be “quite hurtful and divisive.” We share your commitment to protecting free expression, even as we may disagree about the obligation of a public institution to give voice to every expression. We also appreciate the steps that you have taken, along with library director Jill Mercurio, based on the feedback from these conversations, to mitigate the hurtful programming by providing a series of other arts and educational programs during the period in which this display would be exhibited. 

Still, we are compelled to share our thoughts regarding the unproductive nature of this exhibit, and how this could have been handled with greater care for the mission of the library, the safety and well-being of the Jewish community, and the social fabric of Newton.  

  • We believe that this exhibit fails to advance the interests of the city of Newton.  These interests include fostering productive community conversations and providing quality resources to engage in learning about Israelis, Palestinians, and the ongoing conflict.  
  • We value the importance of teaching and promoting the shared humanity of Israelis and Palestinians, illuminating multiple narratives, and encouraging critical thinking and dialogue – all of which could be advanced through civic and educational organizations like the Newton Free Library. 

Unfortunately, the exhibit does not accomplish any of these. 

Instead, this is a political act by an activist who – through the title of the exhibit, the exhibit description on the Library site, and through his own site – makes clear that he has an agenda, and this agenda is the delegitimization of the state of the Jewish people. The title employs pejorative terminology designed to create tension and push people into ideological opposition of one another. The exhibit description presents numbers and narratives about the events of 1948 that are designed to place Jews and the nascent state of Israel in the worst possible light and delegitimize the Jewish State while failing to illuminate the complexities and nuances of that time of war. The artist’s website goes even further, and even seems to anticipate the controversy that he will ignite by displaying his work in a city with “a sizeable number of supporters of the Israeli government” (itself a flattening of Jewish American attachment to the State of Israel which is, for many – if not most of us – distinct from support for any particular government). 

In short, this exhibit, by intent, seeks to discourage discourse, polarize people, and diminish – rather than illuminate – understanding for one of the most intractable and painful conflicts on earth.   

This would be objectionable at any time, and the fact that the selection committee chose the exhibit a year ago does not allay our concerns. However, the fact that the library chose this month of May, which contains Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror), and Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day), and the fact that we are still in the midst of a devastating and complicated war, makes this decision offensive to us and to many Jewish residents of Newton.  

It is hard to see how the library sees this as a fulfillment of its mission to serve its community and bring people together.  

What all our communities – in Newton and across the region – need and deserve at this time are strong leadership voices that will articulate these values and truths without hesitation.  We need leaders who will defend free expression while also calling out divisive and polarizing efforts with equal clarity and strength.   

We are asking you, Madame Mayor, to be this leader, for your Jewish residents and for all your residents.  We ask that you and the library director take responsibility for this hurtful decision and make clear to the community that, while you will not at this point censor the art and cancel the exhibit, you will make every effort to improve the process in the future. We also ask that you honor the requests you have received to add other exhibits and educational materials that provide a more well-rounded picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its history. We further encourage you and the library to minimize further harm and to not “celebrate” this exhibit. 

We also want to note that the IHRA working definition of antisemitism – already formally embraced by the City of Newton – offers examples of its manifestations including “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”  Given that many of us are interpreting this incident as an example of the ways in which an eliminationist agenda targeting the State of Israel is being normalized in our civic spaces, we ask that you and the city reaffirm your commitment to and make clear that the hosting of this exhibit does not indicate in any way a change in the city’s position of support for the use of the IHRA working definition.  

We look forward to continuing to work together to ensure that the Jewish community of Newton is safe and can continue to thrive in your city.  

Sincerely,  

Jeremy Burton and Marc Baker  

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Meeting the Moment: CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism

By Melissa Garlick, Senior Director of Combating Antisemitism and Building Civic Engagement

Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA) is a growing hub for Boston’s work in responding to antisemitism and bringing local and national partners’ work together strategically and in coordination with each other toward a vision where antisemitism becomes socially and politically unacceptable in Greater Boston. 

As ADL’s recently released annual audit confirmed, our community has been experiencing a staggering 189% rise of antisemitic incidents in Massachusetts. And this has also been coupled with the lack of preparedness by many civic leaders to adequately understand or respond to Jewish trauma. 

Leaders of businesses, educational institutions, and civic spaces in Boston need the tools and the resources to respond so that ultimately, we can reverse this disturbing trend and strengthen our civic and communal institutions.

Expanding infrastructure

This is long-term work. CJP, with our partners, are already growing our relationships with civic leaders across the city, bringing antisemitism training and education to businesses and other non-Jewish civic spaces. We’re educating our Jewish teens and their educators about antisemitism. And through our Communal Security Initiative, we are responding to the increased needs of our Jewish communal institutions for security preparedness.

CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism is building out its capacity to: 

  • Mobilize civic and business leaders and engage them in our work to ensure that their institutions are safe and supportive places and spaces for all Jews.
  • Educate the next generation — and the academic institutions that serve them — about antisemitism, Jewish history, and Jewish life to ensure that they both can confidently respond to acts of hate.
  • Ensure that our Jewish community remains strong, safe, and vibrant by expanding CJP’s successful Communal Security Initiative.

We know that the latest report from the ADL comes amidst already rising incidents, grief, and trauma, and at a time where our community has been experiencing deep levels of anxiety and fear. We cannot let the fear throw us into despair. Instead, we must come together to use this information as power to educate our families, our networks, and our colleagues.

There’s more you can do

We’re quickly ramping up and expanding so we can effectively meet this moment, but we need your help — each of us plays a role in this work.

We’re all in this fight together and will continue to work every day to ensure that Jews can live loudly, proudly, and safely in our community.

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CJP Launches Local Workplace Antisemitism Strategy

By Melissa Garlick, Senior Director of Combating Antisemitism and Building Civic Engagement at Combined Jewish Philanthropies

With antisemitism rising, it can be easy to overlook the bright spots — the building blocks our work is laying for long-term, meaningful change. CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA) recently launched the first-ever local workplace antisemitism strategy, focused on bringing resources and tools to businesses and workplaces in Greater Boston to address antisemitism. This work kicked off recently through a roundtable discussion CJP hosted with human resources and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) executives across Greater Boston with April Powers, VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Project Shema, on how to incorporate antisemitism education and training into DEIB initiatives. 

“Many Jewish people hold intersectional identities (e.g. multi-ethnic, LGBTQIA+, disabled) which may be considered in DEI programs, only to find that their Jewish identity is not, which means antisemitism can go unchecked in our workplaces,” April says. “When we think about our staff having psychological safety and a sense of belonging, that should include Jewish people.” 

Antisemitism is a bigger problem than any one person, one organization, or one sector of society. We need a whole-of-society approach to effectively address it. Our community has long valued the notion of building relationships and allyship with civic leaders, but after Oct. 7 it has become clearer that our allies lack the knowledge and tools to know how to be allies in the fight against antisemitism. These must include action to learn, educate, and create inclusive spaces that reflect Jewish experiences and address antisemitism head on. 

“No robust DEI program is complete without incorporating Jewish identity and countering antisemitism appropriately in their work,” April says. “As a Black Jewish DEI practitioner, I myself did not do this well in the past. To do this, companies can start by offering trainings on antisemitism and Jewish identity; sponsoring Jewish cultural employee resource groups; ensuring DEI consultants appropriately include antisemitism in the ‘isms’ and biases they cover; and partnering with organizations like CJP to make sure that they are engaged in conversations around the issues that impact our community.” 

Building and leveraging relationships with civic leaders — including business and nonprofit leaders — CJP’s CCA is proud to be a hub for this work and to partner with organizations like Project Shema to bring these trainings and tools to civic spaces so that our society can better understand and address antisemitism.   

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Campus Education and Allyship Grants Pool

CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA) is actively inviting applications for our new Campus Education and Allyship grants pool. This initiative is seeking up to four grants of up to $50,000 each to kick-start projects aimed at antisemitism education and fostering allyship on campus.

Eligible initiatives include those that:

  • Educate Jewish and non-Jewish students
  • Educate campus administrators, staff, and faculty
  • Cultivate allyship between Jewish student organizations and fellow campus groups, including faith-based and affinity organizations

We’re looking for proposals that are innovative, impactful, and demonstrate a plan for sustained engagement and education, ultimately increasing understanding or building bridges across campus communities. These grants are specifically for projects in the 2024–2025 school year.

Deadline for applications: Friday, May 3, at 5:00 p.m. ET.   
For more details and to apply, please visit this form.  

To learn more about CJP’s work to combat antisemitism, please visit: https://ma.cjp.org/antisemitism-initiative  

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Ally Challenge Grant

CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA) is excited to invite applications for grant funding to support community allyship work, through our new Ally Challenge. To support community based allyship work to support combating antisemitism, grant funding may be provided to up to four projects of up to $50,000 each to aid in launching or catalyzing progression of a grassroots-led project that furthers community bridge building or allyship work.

Funding will be one-time for June 2024–June 2025.   

Project proposals for this period could include joint civic rights mission to the South, interfaith youth service projects, cross-community advocacy, or art projects. We invite creative proposals to support specific projects within this time period that would have shown impact on cross-community relationships and allyship.

Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, May 3.  
For more details and to apply, please visit this form.  

To learn more about CJP’s work to combat antisemitism, please visit: https://ma.cjp.org/antisemitism-initiative