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Tag: allies

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Fostering Connection: Jewish ERGs in the Workplace

By Melissa Garlick, Associate Vice President, CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism

In the weeks and months after the attacks of October 7, 2023, I received an outpouring of calls from Jewish employees in secular workplaces looking for support, guidance, and a space to feel seen as antisemitism surged and our community grieved. Some wanted their employers to be more public and outspoken in their solidarity, but the vast majority wanted to be able to talk about what they were experiencing in a safe and supportive environment. CCA has since launched the first-ever local effort to combat antisemitism and foster connection in the workplace, beginning with the first research of its kind to better understand the experiences of Jewish employees in the workplace; trainings for corporate leaders and workplaces on antisemitism; and the creation of a network of Jewish Employee Resource Group (J-ERG) leaders across Boston. 

We uncovered two major trends in implementing this work: 

  1. Jewish employees want to connect. Jewish employees increasingly want and need to connect as Jews with others in the workplace, especially since October 7.  The recently released Boston findings of the Jewish at Work 2025 survey, sponsored by CCA and conducted by The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (Clal) found that 68% of participants in the survey joined J-ERGs after the October 7 attacks and 75% of Boston respondents felt it was important to bring their full Jewish selves to work. The data tracks the personal anecdotes I heard from community members: In a climate of increased antisemitism and fear for the Jewish community, Jewish employees generally want to feel connected and seen in the workplace. J-ERGs can provide a valuable space for that connection, to celebrate and educate about cultural experiences, and to advance efforts for education and belonging.  This is why CCA is supporting this growing movement through our new microgrant opportunity and an upcoming convening for leaders of Jewish ERGs. 
  1. Opportunities for Boston employers and corporate leadership to take internal organizational actions. We have many allies and potential allies in business and workplace leadership in Boston who displayed solidarity with the Jewish community this year. But the same study above that showed 75% of respondents felt it was important to bring their full Jewish selves to work also reported that only 56% felt supported by their employer to express their Jewish identity. As CCA also seeks to build deeper relationships with business and corporate leadership in Boston, we are also strengthening partnerships with civic leaders to address this critical opportunity. Through education, training, and relationship building, employers and leaders can seek to learn more about Jewish identity, contemporary antisemitism, and about the needs of their Jewish employees in their organization and then take internal actions to address them. Through a multi-year partnership with training partners at Project Shema, CCA is helping to bring antisemitism training and education to corporate leaders and their staff. 

We all need to join together in this work. I invite you to learn more through our newsletter this month, CCA’s WhatsApp, and on our landing page for Jewish ERGs. 

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Nation’s Only Special State Legislative Commission on Antisemitism Begins Work on Beacon Hill  

By Dan Seligson

Communal and organizational leaders from across the commonwealth participated in the first-in-the-nation Special Legislative Commission for Combating Antisemitism, led by Co-chairs Senator John Velis and Representative Simon Cataldo, seeking to recommend solutions to the intractable challenge of Jewish hatred.

Melissa Garlick, who leads CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA), spoke at the meeting, detailing CCA’s efforts to address antisemitism through mobilizing and unifying efforts to educate students, increase collaboration among faith communities, and bolster security for Jewish institutions and spaces.  
 
Garlick said the first meeting represented a “milestone day for everyone who has engaged for a strong response to growing antisemitism in our community.” 
 
In her remarks, Garlick said a critical first step for the commission is to figure out the scope of and spaces in which Jewish hatred is rife in the commonwealth.  
 
“We must commit to understanding the conditions of the past year that led to the surge of anti-Jewish rhetoric and action and the antisemitism going unchecked in all sectors of our society,” she said. 
 
Gov. Maura Healey, in a statement issued in advance of the first commission meeting, called antisemitism in the commonwealth and beyond “alarming, heartbreaking, and unacceptable.” 
 
“We recognize the pain and trauma this has caused for our Jewish community, and we are committed to combating it,” she continued. “We look forward to the important work that [the Commission] will do to advise us on how we combat antisemitism and hate in our communities and make sure everyone in Massachusetts is safe and respected.”  
 
With the first meeting now behind them, the work begins — policy recommendations, programs, and educational opportunities to address the growing scourge of antisemitism here, around the country, and globally.  
 
In a note to volunteers at the conclusion of the commission meeting, Garlick said she and partner organizations — including the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, Anti-Defamation League, AJC New England, and others — will look beyond short-term approaches to address antisemitism and focus on longer-term strategies that will be effective in the future.  
 
“This is crucial first step,” Garlick said.  
 
The meeting can be watched here. 

Dan Seligson is CJP’s senior director of strategy and impact communications.

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Massachusetts Unites Against Antisemitism With New State Commission

By Melissa Garlick, Associate Vice President, CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism

When I first heard that Governor Maura Healey and the Massachusetts legislature approved the establishment of a historic Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism, I breathed a sigh of relief. It is so encouraging that our government partners recognize the dangerous surge of antisemitism in our communities and are dedicating a formal space to learning, hearing from the community, and working with us on a plan through a formal commission. With the Commission now in place, our communal partners have a platform for serious discussions — and for action. The first meeting of the Commission took place this week.

Since announcing its establishment, we have seen three positive steps: 

  1. The Commission invited CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism to make a presentation to its members at its first meeting to discuss antisemitism in our community and interventions that CCA is exploring, evaluating, and implementing. Our goal is to ensure the CCA is a leading consultant to the commission, providing evidence-based recommendations on priority interventions we believe will be  powerful tools in addressing and preventing antisemitism throughout the Commonwealth. (Watch the full recording of the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism from Tuesday, Oct. 29). You can also read Governor Healey’s statement.
  2. The Commission has appointed its members and Co-chairs, Representative Simon Citaldo and Senator John Velis, who will set the commission’s agendas and priorities. We are thrilled by this news – Representative Citaldo and Senator Velis are long standing allies of our work- and they have already established a deep partnership with CJP’s CCA and the community on these issues.  The chairs have released a powerful introductory statement on the potential of this Commission. The commission also includes CCA’s core partners –  JCRC, ADL, and AJC — who have been leading key aspects of CCA’s overall agenda.
  3. The Commission has started to review the White House U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism to recommend steps for local implementation. Released in the spring of 2023, the national strategy is a historic and comprehensive plan with a robust runway for holistic interventions at the state level. CCA considered the plan in implementing its strategy, for example, CCA launched its own version of the “ally challenge” (pg 49 of the plan) in Greater Boston. In order to effectively counter antisemitism, we need a whole of society approach that leans into greater education, understanding, and accountability for all of Boston’s civic society to take action on antisemitism.  The Commission’s starting with the White House National Strategy is a step in the right direction.

In order to be successful, this Commission to Combat Antisemitism will need all of us to collaborate with government, business, education, and philanthropic institutions. As I told the Commission at its first meeting- this is a Commission that must first commit to understanding the conditions in civic Boston the past year that led to not only the surge of anti-Jewish rhetoric and action but to that antisemitism going unchecked in all sectors of our society.  That understanding will ensure that the State looks beyond solely short-term approaches that may be blunt instruments in fighting antisemitism and also commits itself to effective approaches for the long-term. 

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A Grant From CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism Helps Community Members Find Connection Amid Brokenness 

By Kate Whitney 

For many Jews, Oct. 7, 2023, marked a turning point.  

Since that day, which saw more than 1,200 killed and over 250 kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in Israel, Jews are experiencing record-breaking levels of antisemitism, campus protests, challenges to Israel’s right to exist, and questions regarding their safety and security in spaces where they were once taken for granted.  

They’ve also run up against what feels like unbridgeable divides in their own communities and within their own families. Difficult conversations can feel impossible.

“Post-Oct. 7, we’ve been trying to make sense of the impact of this on our community,” says Sheri Gurock, executive director of The Beker Foundation, a Boston-based family foundation dedicated to addressing some of the most pressing issues in Jewish life and engagement. The foundation was working with Boston Jewish day schools who stepped up to assist displaced Israeli families arriving in the community. They kept hearing about the struggles many were experiencing after the terror attacks, both from Israelis and local community members. “We’ve been holding so much. Many of us are feeling really stressed and alone right now.” 

Group support for those in need  

Gurock heard through a colleague about the success of Group Peer Support (GPS), a program created over 20 years ago to address the gaps in mental health care for perinatal populations. GPS’s trauma-informed, evidence-based program incorporates elements of mindfulness-based stress reduction, cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, peer-to-peer support, psychosocial education, and other evidence-based modalities to address mental health issues. The program had since evolved and been adapted numerous times to provide group support to diverse populations, including parents, those recovering from substance-use disorder, refugees, and other vulnerable groups. Although mental health training and background aren’t essential to leading a group, facilitators are thoroughly trained and educated to address the specific needs and unique perspectives of participants.

“I watched a webinar on GPS and fell head over heels in love with what they were doing,” Gurock says. She contacted Liz Friedman, GPS’s CEO and co-founder, whose organization was already considering a GPS program for the Jewish community.  

“I was invited to a first meeting with Sheri, and she said, ‘I’ve seen your webinar; we’re going to do this,’” Friedman recalls. 

Through funding from The Beker Foundation, The Ruderman Family Foundation, other foundation partners across Boston, and a $110,000 grant from CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA), GPS teamed up with Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Boston (JF&CS) and JCC Greater Boston to launch “Circles of Connection” to help mitigate the stress, anxiety, and trauma of the past year.

Getting started 

“Liz knew what she needed to do,” Gurock recalls, “but for us as a community, how do you get people to find out and sign up? And then, once the facilitators are trained, how do we deliver it into the community? Liz said GPS could train up to 100 people, but even figuring out how to get 50 people to engage in a 22-hour training seemed like a big ask during a very distracting, very traumatic time.”

And they needed to figure out if this model was something the community would respond to in a positive way.  

In June and July 2024, Circles of Connection launched a pilot program to gauge community interest in the model, with “circles” open to six specific populations in the Greater Boston area: LGBTQIA+ Jews, Jewish college students, parents of Jewish college students, Orthodox Jews, Jewish professionals, and Israelis. A seventh circle was offered as an open group, available to any Jewish person interested in attending, regardless of identity or affiliation. Every circle offered for a specific population had to be infused with and take into account that particular group’s values, beliefs, strengths, and resiliencies, as well as current, historical, and generational traumas. Sessions took place via Zoom, were 90 minutes long, and led by GPS-trained facilitators. 

“The results blew me away,” Friedman says. “One participant shared with us, ‘I was holding my breath through what felt like a private emotional collapse.’ They told us, ‘My relief at being in the group was overwhelming,’ and, ‘I had no hope before the session about how to speak with other folks who held different opinions, but I felt both connected and enormous relief.’ Keep in mind, this is from a one-time session. Jews are feeling so alone right now and it’s important for us to remember that we need one another and that we’re connected.”

“So much of our work is in breaking isolation to increase connection and reduce stigma,” Friedman continues. “What we hear all the time in this work is: ‘Oh, I’m so relieved I’m not alone,’ ‘I’m not the only one,’ ‘I need community,’ and, ‘I thought that I was crazy but I’m not.’”  
 
According to findings from the pilot, most participants (97%) said they would recommend Circles of Connection to others, with the same percent reporting that their Circles of Connection experience was “excellent” or “good.” Over half (55%) of participants found the experience so positive they want to bring it back to their community by becoming a Circles of Connection facilitator.

So far, Circles of Connection has more than 80 individuals training to become facilitators, including lay leaders, volunteers, synagogue members, rabbis, Jewish professionals, social workers, coaches, and clinicians. Groups are launching soon within the community and within Jewish workplaces, including CJP.
 
“Circles of Connection is the exhale we all need. Throughout facilitator training, I’ve learned key skills in how to create and maintain brave spaces that foster healing, relief, and a powerful antidote to our current fear-filled realities,” says Molly Kazan, engagement manager with CJP’s CCA and one of CJP’s Circles of Connection group facilitators.   
 
“What’s so clear to me is that whether we are grieving and our minds go to hostages or to the Palestinian community or all the places in between, we’re all feeling enormous sorrow,” Friedman says. “And this opening up allows healing to take place. We have to address the issues causing us pain. If we’re not healing from the trauma, we can’t see what’s right in front of us. We are not trying to get people to agree on everything. What we’re doing is bringing people together to heal, to eliminate the binary, and to be connected heart to heart. That’s where I think change is really going to happen.”

Learn more about Circles of Connection, joining a group, or becoming a facilitator.

Kate Whitney is the associate creative director at CJP.

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A Community Comes Together To Fight Jewish Hate

By Judith Forman 

During the pandemic, Fran Jacobs joined a task force at Temple Emunah that had formed to tackle the growing hums of antisemitism.  

After months of study, conversation, and lectures from local Jewish experts, task force members came to an obvious conclusion: They needed partners beyond the Jewish community to truly make change.   

So, in March 2023, Temple Emunah hosted a dinner to reach out to the broader Lexington community. After the meal, Dr. Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, the Kraft Family Professor and Director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College, spoke to the group about antisemitism, including the Christian responsibility to acknowledge it, address it, and even alter practices that may promote it. 

The presentation sparked interest in some of the attendees, including Jacobs, who wanted to do more to bolster the community’s stand against antisemitism. She volunteered to help organize a group that began to meet regularly — and LUAA was born. 

A common effort

Since then, LUAA — which stands for Lexington United Against Antisemitism — has become an initiative of about 115 residents representing a broad swath of religious, public, and private community organizations. LUAA members hail from different backgrounds, but they’re united in their desire to fight Jewish hate. 

“There is a lot of work to do,” says Jacobs, who’s lived in Lexington since 2008. “I was somewhat surprised and gratified that there were non-Jews who were interested in rolling up their sleeves and getting something done.” 

One of those non-Jewish residents was Steve Van Evera, a member of Lexington’s Pilgrim Congregational Church, United Church of Christ. 

“I knew that the Jewish community could not solve the problem of antisemitism alone — and shouldn’t have the sole responsibility of solving it alone,” says Van Evera. “This is a common effort to do something that everybody ought to be doing.” 

Van Evera joined Jacobs as co-chair of LUAA. Under their leadership, LUAA volunteers developed a mission statement, organized into subcommittees, and created an action plan to focus on four projects: continuing to build interfaith and cross-community relationships within Lexington; reforming Christian religious practice and Christian education on antisemitism; incorporating material on antisemitism into the Training Active Bystanders (TAB) program of Quabbin Mediation; and curating resources on antisemitism and hate for targeted local use. 

Moving the needle

Within a few months, Jacobs and Van Evera knew that LUAA needed help with administrative tasks, technology, communications, and events. After learning about the inaugural Ally Challenge run by CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism (CCA), they applied for a grant to start to scale their work. 

In the spring, LUAA was one of three grassroots initiatives awarded a total of $105,000 in CCA grant funding to help increase hyper-local community engagement and mobilization in the fight against antisemitism.  

“After extensive vetting and assessment, we awarded this support to strategic community-based projects well-positioned for moving the needle toward our shared vision of making antisemitism politically and socially unacceptable in Greater Boston,” says Melissa Garlick, CJP’s Associate Vice President, Center for Combating Antisemitism. “We’re grateful to these local leaders and volunteers who are helping us shape a more joyful, safe, and healthy future for our community.”  

CCA’s investment, says Jacobs, is allowing small organizations like LUAA to experiment with programming and pivot as needed to create meaningful impact. 

“I’m very impressed that we’re being funded as somewhat of a social laboratory, to try out strategies,” she says. “CCA and CJP really appear to value innovation.” 

Deepening community connections 

In the 18 months since its inception, LUAA has already started to move the needle in Lexington. A group of local Christian clergy is working on a toolkit to help churches audit their practices to avoid antisemitism. LUAA members are in the process of designing and implementing a website to share resources on antisemitism.  

Earlier this year, LUAA ran a pilot TAB workshop to train Lexington residents on how to become active bystanders and stronger allies when witnessing acts of antisemitism. Plans are in the works for two additional TAB workshops, to train up to 50 more people on clear language to use and actions to take as a Jewish ally. 

(Photo courtesy of Lexington United Against Antisemitism) LUAA organized a screening of a documentary about the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers at Lexington High School.

To bring the community together, LUAA organized a successful screening of a documentary about the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, followed by a panel discussion. Next month, with CCA funding, LUAA will host a community-wide lunch at Lexington’s Follen Church to help all residents expand and deepen their relationships with others, regardless of connection to faith groups or religion. The lunch will be followed by a community workshop on allyship by CCA partner Project Shema.  

“It’s nice that CCA is making it a little bit easier for volunteers to do good work,” says Maggie Herzig, a member of both Follen Church and the LUAA Steering Committee. “The grant is helping us be more hospitable and arrange events to really bring the community together. We want people to eat together, sit with people of other faith communities, and get introduced to each other.” 

LUAA has also helped unify the town and its leaders to respond to acts of antisemitism in Lexington. Christina Lin, chair of the Lexington Human Rights Committee, began working with the group in June 2023, after antisemitic graffiti was discovered at the town’s Cary Library. 

“Prior to that, I didn’t understand the depths and history of antisemitism, and it’s been powerful to have LUAA help us understand its roots,” says Lin, who doesn’t identify with a faith group. “I’ve been impressed with LUAA’s intentional approach to bringing people together, supporting the community, raising awareness about antisemitism, and helping us all take action.” 

Love our neighbors

After hearing Joslyn-Siemiatkoski speak at Temple Emunah — and learning about the rise in Jewish hate reported to the Lexington Interfaith Community Association — Pilgrim Church’s Rev. Reebee Girash says she knew she had to step up as a Jewish ally. 

“My faith tells us that we must do what we can to love our neighbors and help our neighbors,” says Girash, who also sits on the LUAA Steering Committee. “It was very compelling to me personally to think about how I can show up as an individual and how I can make sure my congregation is aware of this problem. I believe we have a special responsibility as Christians to address practices within Christianity that may have contributed to antisemitism.” 

Girash says she’s grateful for LUAA — and the work the group has done during a particularly complicated moment in time.  

“It’s been a very intense and terrible year,” she says. “Within LUAA, we have focused on being tender with each other as we may have different understandings of what’s going on in the world. “We’re empowering people in Lexington to address antisemitism within our community. I don’t know that we’ve done it perfectly so far, but it’s what we’re doing.” 

Judith Forman is CJP’s senior development writer.