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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.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
State Rep. Simon Cataldo and State Sen. John Velis Announce Commission to Combat Antisemitism
“Walking on Eggshells”: The Experience of Being Jewish in the Workplace Post-10/7
By Kate Whitney
Since Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents — already at historic highs in the U.S. even before the terror attacks by Hamas — have surged. And while much of the focus has been on colleges and universities, more and more adults are finding themselves demonized and discriminated against in the workplace for identifying as Jewish.
One of the most surprising areas for this increase in intolerance has been in the health care field where “first, do no harm” is the foundational ethics precept taught to all medical students.
Dr. Caroline Kaufman is an assistant psychologist in the Spirituality and Mental Health Program at McLean Hospital and an instructor in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Last month, with help from CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism in mobilizing a local contingent of representatives, Kaufman traveled to Washington, D.C., with Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), along with 40 other Jewish leaders, to urge Congress to take action against the rise in antisemitism in the medical and health fields.
The stories she brought with her were disturbing: virulently antisemitic rhetoric on academic listservs. The distribution of antisemitic cartoons and imagery. An intern and granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor crying about the guilt they felt because they were scared to reveal their Jewish identity. A list of supposedly “Zionist therapists” (some not even Jewish but with “Jewish-sounding” last names) added to a blacklist in the Chicago area.
“Prior to Oct. 7, I took for granted that my colleagues were broadly supportive of my identity and how I live my life as a Jew,” Kaufman says. “It was only after that I realized how precarious that support is and that there’s a litmus test for Jews in professional spaces. Are you a Jew who passes the test with your views on Israel and other political issues, making you a good and acceptable Jew, or the opposite? It became apparent that it is more acceptable to express views that previously, in my experience, were not tolerated. The impact of that has led me to have a more defensive stance in professional spaces. It’s been very stressful.”
Supporting Jewish employees in the workplace
Many workplaces have diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives designed to foster a diverse workforce, ensure equal opportunities, and create an inclusive culture, but individuals who identify as Jewish are increasingly finding themselves perceived as an unprotected class, having to answer for the Israeli government (regardless of their feelings on the matter), and facing sweeping allegations of racism and supporting genocide. Jewish employee resource groups (ERGs) are on the rise, providing a safe space to support community, culture, career, and care for Jewish and Jewish-identifying employees.
As part of CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism’s (CCA) work to support Jewish ERGs — a key component of CCA’s effort to address antisemitism in the workplace — CCA helped support Mass General Brigham’s (MGB’s) new Jewish ERG, along with ADL New England, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. As the largest employer in Massachusetts, MGB’s ERG provides significant momentum and inspiration to other Jewish ERG members who are already connected to CCA.
Dr. Jacki Hart, director of the Heal Ukraine Group, is an advisor to MGB’s Jewish ERG and was part of the JFNA fly-in to Capitol Hill last month after Melissa Garlick, associate vice president of CJP’s CCA, told her about the opportunity.
Hart too had heard heartbreaking stories from Boston-based colleagues and patients to bring to D.C.: clients being treated differently by their practitioners because of their Zionist leanings, and patients afraid to disclose their Jewish ancestry to a health care provider wearing a “Free Palestine” T-shirt or watermelon earrings.
Hart says that employers in Greater Boston and elsewhere, including in health care, are beginning to appreciate the need for antisemitism training. However, she says, there is often a confounding of the issues with a desire to merge teaching about anti-Jewish bias in the context of all forms of hate. “You feel, sometimes, like you’re walking on eggshells; no one wants to take the first step,” she explains. “Conflating the issues and offering a resolution so milquetoast and middle of the road that it becomes essentially the equivalent of ‘All Lives Matter.’”
Meanwhile, a mixed-method, evidence-based survey conducted in late fall 2023 and six months later by MGB’s Jewish ERG co-chairs and Harvard Medical School professors Elyse Park, Ph.D., MPH, and Mark Poznansky, M.D., Ph.D., showed concerningly consistent levels of feelings of unsafety in the workplace. Almost all feelings of unsafety were related to interactions with staff and co-workers. These findings reflected the anecdotal reports Park and Poznansky had heard from colleagues, and no organization-wide training to educate employees on antisemitism has yet been offered — although there are plans to complete this.
“The point is to protect our two most vulnerable groups: patients and trainees,” says Poznansky. “And what we’re seeking is education about antisemitism, efforts to call out hate in health care, and a clear reporting and disciplinary process for hate speech — including posting on social media. We’ve been very clear about this since the beginning.”
“We just want neutrality in health care delivery,” Park adds. “That includes rules and regulations around clothing and accessories that are political in nature.”
“They may seem benign, but these things cause tremendous angst and hesitancy that affects patient care,” Hart says. “On top of which, people then deny our experience. If another marginalized group said they felt prejudiced against, you would believe them, right? It’s so hurtful to even have to say that out loud.”
Bringing attention to the issue
The September fly-in to Washington, D.C., was meant to shed light on what Jewish employees are facing in health care spaces, with the aim of getting Congress to establish an oversight committee or hold hearings, akin to those that brought attention to antisemitism on campus.
“It was truly remarkable,” Hart says. “This was put together fairly quickly, and we did have some Zoom training on how to talk to policymakers, but here you had 40 clinicians who dropped everything, paid for themselves, and flew in voluntarily to raise awareness about this issue.”
Altogether, the Jewish leaders stated their case to 25 lawmakers and policymakers from Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina, Connecticut, Illinois, California, Nebraska, New Jersey, and New York.
“This was an amazing experience for me and my colleagues,” Kaufman says. “Many of us spoke about challenges and harassment, and limitations in career aspirations due to identity. I provided statistics and background about what I see happening. Depending on the representative’s office, we were sometimes approached with surprise; some had no idea it was happening. But what I got from all of them was a willingness to listen and a desire to change, even if there was some lack of certainty on how to make that change.”
“I think JFNA is really motivated to make something happen,” Hart says. “It felt like this is just the beginning. I didn’t know any of the folks prior to the trip, and now I feel like I could call up any one of them to connect and discuss this issue. It was profound and empowering. It didn’t take away the pain, but it felt like, despite people trying to tamp us down and quiet us, we can work together and make a difference. It helped me know that we’re not alone in this.”
Get help, get involved
- If you’ve experienced or witnessed an antisemitic, bias, or discriminatory incident, report it to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
- Call your congressperson and call for hearings and investigations to shed light on antisemitism in the workplace
- Learn more about CJP’s CCA work in fighting antisemitism and supporting Jewish ERGs in Greater Boston
And, finally, some professional advice on how to take care of yourself if you’ve experienced discrimination in the workplace:
The first thing you need to address prejudice of any kind at work is awareness,” Kaufman says. “Give yourself time and space to reflect and feel. The next step is providing space for the hurt and recognizing that it hurts where it matters — your pain is also a recognition of values. Then, take space to heal, which is easier said than done for many of us, I know. The final piece for me as a Jewish person is to look to my Jewish history and culture. People in my family and ancestry — and Jews worldwide — have faced worse and we’re still here. This doesn’t minimize it, but I’m part of a line of strong and resilient Jews who have survived, and we will continue to survive.”
Kate Whitney is the associate creative director at CJP.
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.
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.