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Persona: Community Members

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Boston teens visited the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism headquarters

By Molly Kazan, Fighting Antisemitism Manager at Combined Jewish Philanthropies

On Sunday, April 7, 18 teen leaders from CJP’s Jewish Teen Initiative (JTI) Peer Leadership Fellowship visited the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) headquartered at Gillette Stadium. Fellows explored how FCAS’ work connects to CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism, and how they themselves can become better change agents in local efforts to fight Jewish hate.   

The visit was planned in response to a February 2024 study the Fellows conducted amongst their peers citing growing concerns in antisemitism among Boston-area Jewish teens. The Peer Leadership Fellowship is a signature program of JTI at CJP that trains and empowers teens in grades 10 through 12 to become communal connectors through monthly gatherings.  

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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  

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Inspiring Anti-Hate Commercial Premieres at Oscars

By Foundation to Combat Antisemitism

Did you know 895 Jewish temples received bomb threats in 2023? This video, “Neighbors,” which debuted during the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 10, recounts the actual events that transpired in an American synagogue that received a bomb threat and was evacuated. In response, the neighboring evangelical church offered their space for the Jewish congregation to conduct their services.

Hate loses when we stand together.

#StandUpToJewishHate

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.

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Addressing Antisemitism Head-On

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

Underpinning Dara Horn’s newest piece on antisemitism appearing in The Atlantic, “Why the Most Educated People in America Fall for Anti-Semitic Lies,” is the same premise that grounds CJP’s growing work to combat antisemitism: that “one confounding fact in this onslaught of the world’s oldest hatred is that American society should have been ready to handle it.” Almost six months after the attacks of 10/7, it becomes clearer each day that antisemitism is both pervasive in our society and that American civic society and many of our leaders were not and are still not prepared to handle it.  

It is this exact space that CJP is building out our work to combat antisemitism.  

In this month’s newsletter, we highlight CJP’s increased investments in security for early childhood centers and day schools to ensure that our Jewish communal organizations are prepared on physical security as they are forced to contend with the rise of antisemitism. Our partners at JCRC also wrote this month about growing calls by city councils in Greater Boston to hold public hearings for ceasefire resolutions. While JCRC has worked with council leaders to better prepare them on the complexities of these issues, the public hearings themselves have also brought an onslaught of antisemitic rhetoric and comments. Finally, as CJP builds out and supports work to better train and resource campus administrators with tools on antisemitism, we are highlighting resources for students as anti-Zionism continues on campuses during spring semester.

Through communal security, working with civic leadership, and supporting Jewish students, CJP and its partners are working to address that “confounding fact” Dara Horn so aptly highlighted so that our society once and for all ensures that antisemitism becomes politically and socially unacceptable by addressing it head-on.

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“Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.” Debuts on March 15

By Kara Baskin

On Friday, March 15, “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.” premieres at The Castle at Park Plaza. It’s the New England debut of a harrowing exhibit that has captivated and devastated audiences around the world.

The exhibition spotlights more than 700 original artifacts gathered from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and others. The objects are devastatingly personal: child-sized shoes, dolls that would never be held again, suitcases packed by deportees—everyday items imbued with horror.

Then there are the artifacts from the chambers: barracks, gas masks, bunk beds, a Model 2 freight car used to transport Jews to the camps, striped prison uniforms: now set behind glass cases, out of context but haunting in their spareness.

“The difference between a good historical museum and an ordinary museum is that a historical museum uses artifacts to tell a story. Some museums tell the story of the artifacts. We believe that a museum tells a story, and the artifacts are the tools with which we tell the story,” says Rabbi Michael Berenbaum, one of the exhibit’s consultants. He has served as deputy director of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust and project director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

(Photo: Courtesy “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.”)

There are also the painfully ordinary stories of victims: The museum displays what’s known as the Lili Meier album, depicting the arrival of Hungarian Jews and the selection process imposed by the SS. Meier and her family were sent to Auschwitz from Bil’ki, Ukraine, then part of Hungary. They arrived on May 26, 1944, coinciding with professional SS photographers. Meier survived Auschwitz, forced labor in Morchenstern and later a transfer to the Dora-Mittelbau camp, where she was liberated. She brought the original album with her when she immigrated to the United States. 

But there’s also the Hoecker album, a stark juxtaposition showing laughing SS officers socializing and having fun, likely assembled by SS Obersturmführer Karl Hoecker, chief to the commandant of Auschwitz, SS-Sturmbannführer Richard Baer.

“We see the perpetrators of Auschwitz at play in their leisurely camp, a retreat center outside of the camp—the way in which they sang, the way in which they sunned themselves, the way in which they flirted,” Berenbaum says.

The voices of survivors are also woven throughout the exhibit, including those who endured the Sonderkommando, forced to dispose of gas chamber corpses. They describe the horror of deportation and killings, but also their hope for the future.

(Photo: Courtesy “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.”)
(Photo: Courtesy “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.”)
(Photo: Courtesy “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.”)
(Photo: Courtesy “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.”)
(Photo: Courtesy “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.”)

“We’re in the twilight. We’re one minute to midnight in the life of the survivors, and we’re now about to move from lived memory to historical memory,” Berenbaum says. “Auschwitz should be far away and long ago. But we’re hearing echoes of hatred, echoes of venom, echoes of antisemitism throughout society.”

And in an era when antisemitic incidents are on the rise, particularly in Massachusetts, it’s a stark reminder that the past isn’t far away at all. As part of CJP’s initiative to combat antisemitism, CJP is providing funding for 7,000 public school students to visit the exhibition to deepen education about the Holocaust and contemporary antisemitism. 

“I’d like visitors to understand where hatred can lead and where venom can take us as a society and as individuals,” Berenbaum warns. “We have a section on the rise of Nazism. A photographer went through Germany, city by city, town by town, village by village, and photographed all the antisemitic signs that were found throughout the towns: ‘Jews not wanted,’ et cetera. They put it in a photo album to demonstrate the pervasiveness of this venom. When you see that in its entirety, you realize that these have the potential not to be isolated instances of hatred but can morph into something much more explosive.”

The exhibit is recommended for visitors 12 and up. 

Tickets are expected to sell out; buying in advance is recommended at theauschwitzexhibition.com.

“It’s not an easy exhibition, but it’s an important exhibition. And for a family to spend quality time with something that’s deep, that’s important, that’s relevant—I’m sorry that it’s relevant—and has to be seen through the prism of rising antisemitism and rising hatred in our society, it’s an important opportunity to go as a family,” he says.

Kara Baskin is a writer for FaceJewishHate.org. She is also a regular contributor to The Boston Globe and a contributing editor at Boston Magazine. She has worked for New York Magazine and The New Republic, and helped to launch the now-defunct Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Meet Israel’s Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism

By Rich Tenorio

As Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, Michal Cotler-Wunsh has been seeking to forge alliances since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on her country. In the U.S., she’s met with multiple officials, from legislators to mayors to university presidents.

She sees a number of possibilities for partnerships, including with fellow antisemitism envoys from other nations, as well as with administrators on college campuses. For her, the need has never been greater: Noting that antisemitism was surging even before the attacks, she cites an even greater rise since then, by hundreds of percentage points. 

“Antisemitism is like any other form of racism and bigotry,” she said. “It cannot be fought alone by Jews. It’s not just a threat to Israel, or Jews around the world. I do believe it is a threat to the foundations of democracies, to shared principles of life and liberty.” (Learn more about how CJP is responding in Greater Boston with its 5-Point Plan to combat Jewish hate.)

“Hopefully we can make a dent in it,” Cotler-Wunsh said, “whether by coalitions of special envoys, legislators around the world, and Jewish and other leadership.”

There are roughly 30 special envoys for combating antisemitism around the world, representing such countries or bodies as the U.S., Canada and the European Parliament.

“They’re not only allies, they’re critical allies,” Cotler-Wunsh said. “Many of them advise their own governments and heads of state. They’re entrusted to monitoring and combating antisemitism.”

Part of this, she said, is through the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by over 10,000 entities. She calls it a working definition, meant to be used as an educational resource, not as a censor.

Based in Raanana, she took up her current position only about three weeks before the Oct. 7 attacks. Before that, she had a wide-ranging career that included serving as a member of the Knesset, where she founded an inter-parliamentary task force to combat antisemitism on social media. Raised in Canada, she is the stepdaughter of the former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler, whose legal career has included defending both Natan Sharansky and Nelson Mandela at various points.

Building allyship since Oct. 7

Cotler-Wunsh’s collective experience allows her to battle antisemitism on three fronts—in international institutions, on college and university campuses and on social media.

“What I have done over the last several decades includes my own legal work as an activist, lecturer and academic,” said Cotler-Wunsh, who holds a master of laws degree from McGill University in Montreal. “It’s intersected by the research, professional and legislative [spheres]. It has been, over time, focused not just on antisemitism but on its modern, mainstream strain of anti-Zionism, as well as on the positives of Jewish indigeneity, identity and peoplehood.”

Fighting antisemitism on college campuses

On American college campuses, she would like to see more awareness of what she describes as a strong connection between many Jewish students and Zionism.

“I have a very simple demand,” Cotler-Wunsh said. “I expect an equal and consistent application of an infrastructure that protects everybody else…to those who self-identify as Zionist—Jews and non-Jews.” She noted, “Not all Jews have to self-identify as Zionist, but they cannot deny those that do have the right to do so.”

She’s pleased by the reception she’s gotten from high-level administrators. “All of the university leaders have been very civil, as I would expect from conversations with presidents, chancellors and provosts,” Cotler-Wunsh said.

Yet, she added, “It’s the complete opposite with students who may disagree but are unwilling to engage with ideas with which they may disagree in this critical moment of reckoning for academic spaces.”

When Cotler-Wunsh spoke at Stanford University in January, she recounted a particularly tense situation.

“I had to be snuck out the back door by the police,” she said. “I did not walk out the front door like any other human being.” She added that she was escorted out of the event “in the face of demonstrations and chants like, ‘We don’t want no Jew state, we want all of ‘48,’ ‘Zionist, Zionist you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,’ and, ‘There is only one solution: intifada revolution.’”

Read about how CJP recently provided support to local Hillels to help create safer and more welcoming campuses.

Israel and global Jewry

Despite such experiences, Cotler-Wunsh sees reason for optimism for Israel and global Jewry.

“I do think this [is] a critical moment of reminder that we are a people,” she said. “When you see us as a people, what binds us together is far greater than what sets us apart, enabling [us] to overcome challenges we have faced as a people from time immemorial.”

Rich Tenorio covers antisemitism news for JewishBoston.com. His work has appeared in international, national, regional and local media outlets. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a cartoonist. Email him at richt@cjp.org.

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Webinar: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Universities, and Terror Financing

March 13, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

Part of the “Navigating Antisemitism on Campus and Beyond” series presented by the Brandeis University, this talk will delve into the financial aspects of individuals and entities associated with terrorist groups and, in turn, their connection to national organizations influencing campus politics and student groups. Presented by Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research, Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Register Here
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Why Is the World Against Jews? How To Respond During a Time of War

March 13, 2024, 7:30 p.m.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed when seeing statements or hearing from friends about the Israel-Hamas war? Not sure how to engage in a meaningful, productive way? This discussion will help you to respond to statements like, “Israel is committing genocide of the Palestinian people,” and, “The Palestinian people were oppressed by Israel for so long that is no wonder they lashed out on Oct. 7,” and, “Netanyahu is just after Gaza’s resources.”

A mixture of history, politics and parenting, this discussion is designed to give you tools to respond to statements like this. No prior knowledge of the conflict or history is needed. Join us for real information to answer these complex statements.

Speakers:

  • Marc Baker, president and CEO, CJP
  • Emily Briskman, associate vice president, JUF campus affairs and executive director, The Hillels of Illinois at Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago
  • Emily White, assistant vice president of campus affairs and executive director of JUF’s Israel Education Center
Register Here
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What International Holocaust Remembrance Day Means in 2024

By Rich Tenorio

As the Boston Jewish community reflects on the historical tragedy of the Holocaust ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, many of its members are also concerned about a contemporary tragedy: the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel. The attacks represent the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust, and they have been followed by an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and worldwide unrest over the situation.

What is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and what does it commemorate?
(Photo courtesy of Yad Vashem)

International Holocaust Remembrance Day was established by the United Nations as an annual event occurring on Jan. 27 of each year. The date marks the liberation of Auschwitz from the Nazis in 1945 and recognizes the deaths of all Holocaust victims, including Jews, Roma, LGBTQIA+ individuals, disabled people and political prisoners.

Jeremy Burton, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, differentiates its backstory from that of Yom HaShoah, which was created by the Israeli Knesset to commemorate the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Yom HaShoah falls in May, reflecting the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. “There was a long, complicated and interesting debate back in the ‘40s and ‘50s over when Jews should mark and remember the victims of the Holocaust,” Burton says. “A young Jewish state needed heroes to celebrate Jewish strength and active Jewish resistance. It’s why Yom HaShoah falls when it does.”

In contrast, he notes, International Holocaust Remembrance Day was chosen by the “U.N. General Assembly, not by the Jewish community. It’s a slightly different rationale. The world marks this day in January because it was the beginning of the end of the Holocaust.”

Contemporary tensions
New England Holocaust Memorial (Photo: CJP)
New England Holocaust Memorial (Photo: CJP)

This year, research indicates that International Holocaust Remembrance Day will take place in the midst of new fears over antisemitism. Both the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League have come out with surveys pointing to an uptick in antisemitism around the U.S. In a survey of Jewish Americans last fall, the AJC found that almost 80% of respondents who had heard about the Oct. 7 attacks felt less safe to some degree. Meanwhile, the ADL reported a 360% increase in antisemitic incidents nationwide in the three months since the attacks, with the majority being “verbal or written harassment.”

“Obviously, in contemporary antisemitic contexts, we are grappling with an existential threat to our community since 10/7,” says Melissa Garlick, senior director of combating antisemitism and building civic engagement at Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. “There’s a real reckoning with this form of antisemitism and the safety and security of Jewish people. It’s really critical, as a community, that we understand generational trauma, that we understand Jewish trauma, that we understand how what we’re dealing with today is shaped by history.”

Keeping the memory alive

Francesca Colletti, executive director of Facing History & Ourselves, notes the importance of Holocaust education for the next generation.

(Photo courtesy of Yad Vashem)

“Education is key in addressing the rising antisemitism and hate today,” Colletti says. “In Facing History classrooms, students examine memory and legacy as part of their learning journey. Students, by studying the lessons of history, confront the past so they can examine their own choices and the challenges in the world today. Students study the roots and ongoing rise of antisemitism and other forms of bigotry and hate. They also explore opportunities for more compassionate and courageous acts. This year’s theme of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, ‘Recognizing the Extraordinary Courage of Victims and Survivors of the Holocaust,’ reinforces how critical survivor and second/third-generation stories and voices are to understanding and learning the impact of the Holocaust on individual lives. Focusing on the humanity of the victims and learning and hearing their stories allows students to think about their own humanity and their responsibility to confront hate and indifference and work to ‘repair the world.’”

Around 245,000 Holocaust survivors remain worldwide, with most of them women, the Associated Press reported, with the majority of survivors living in Israel. The global population is falling, with 86 years old the median survivor age. “The number of survivors continues to dwindle as people age,” says Emily Reichman, director of volunteer programs for the JCRC. “It’s more important than ever for second-generation and third-generation survivors to share the story of their families. They are now the bearers of their family story. We want to encourage second- and third-generation survivors, as much as possible, to share their family stories.”

Local remembrances

There are several ways for Boston-area Jews to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The JCRC is partnering with other organizations on two such events:

International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration | January 25 | Online

International Holocaust Remembrance Day | January 28 | The Vilna Shul

The Lappin Foundation program is a virtual one, while the Vilna Shul event will be in person, with other partners including the educational nonprofit Facing History & Ourselves and Boston 3G, a resource for third-generation descendants of Holocaust survivors.

Reichman says it’s “more important than ever to commemorate the Holocaust, to learn survivors’ stories [and] to make sure they are carried on through the next generation.”

Rich Tenorio covers antisemitism news for JewishBoston.com. His work has appeared in international, national, regional and local media outlets. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a cartoonist. Email him at richt@cjp.org.

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A Guide to Staying Safe at Community Events

By Rich Tenorio

In the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks against Israel and subsequent Israeli response, tensions have become inflamed in the U.S., including Greater Boston. For members of the Jewish community who wish to attend public events—whether a pro-Israel rally or Shabbat services at synagogue—there are safety considerations to take into account.

That’s according to Jeremy Yamin, vice president of security and operations at Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, who heads the Communal Security Initiative. In a Zoom interview, Yamin detailed best practices that Jews and allies can follow at public events.

Before going

Ask organizers if there will be security, and if so, what type of security will there be?

Think about what kind of event you’re attending. Is it small- or large-scale, indoors or outdoors?

Going to/from
(Photo: Alex Rodas/iStock)

Scan the environs, taking note of whether there is a police or security presence, where you can hide and where you can make an exit.

Think about your attire, including visual representations of Jewishness, such as a kippah, and whether you feel comfortable displaying it on the way to or from an event in addition to at the event itself. “I don’t feel we should be hiding ourselves in any way,” Yamin explains, “but it’s OK if I have concerns about my appearance … [going] to and from might be different from what I wear at a march.” And if you’re concerned about being photographed or filmed on video, a facemask could be useful, Yamin says.

At the event
The Jewish Community Gathers at a rally outside in Boston Common.
(Photo: Jack Brotman)

Keep an eye out for signs of unusual activity, such as a backpack left unattended. If you see something out of place, don’t approach it head-on, but alert someone. If you feel unsafe, you can leave at any time.

If there are counter-protestors, ignore them and avoid confrontations. “If you’re at a rally, terrific,” Yamin says. “If there’s a counter-protest, it’s not the time to engage in a debate where you can change someone’s mind, there’s civil discourse, you agree to disagree. They want to disrupt; they’re looking for [this] to escalate in a short moment, record us, get us to overreact.”

Stay alert at all times. This means not looking down at your smartphone, or rushing straight into a building if you’re running late and looking to make a minyan.

Virtual events
(Photo: Cameron Prins/iStock)

Consider what personal information you’d like attendees to see on-screen. This includes your full name, first and last.

Think about what you’d like to disclose if there are introductions. You don’t have to share your name or location.

It’s up to you about whether or not to turn on your camera.

Good news – with caveats

“There is no imminent known credible threat to the Jewish community in Boston, Greater Boston or Massachusetts, nothing that is imminent or credible,” Yamin says. “That said, the concern is, people can act on their own, without any notification. They’re not going to transmit all the time, ‘Hey, I’m planning to do this, that or the other thing tomorrow.’ They’re not necessarily going to tell ahead of time.”

“We’re constantly communicating with federal, state and local law enforcement and the ADL,” Yamin adds. “The current situation in Israel, U.S. politics and social media have created antisemitic tensions that can fuel incidents with little or no advance warning. So, preparation is key.”

Rich Tenorio covers antisemitism news for JewishBoston.com. His work has appeared in international, national, regional and local media outlets. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a cartoonist. Email him at richt@cjp.org.