local
Jewish Federation Joins National
Campaign Against Antisemitism
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
6 APRIL 13, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
run and display the message at games.

“You’re at the 76ers game. We want
it to be right there on the scoreboard,”
Balaban said.

After the stadiums and arenas,
the CEO wants to see the message
on billboards while he is driving on
Interstate 95 and other area highways.

“We haven’t reached out to any of
the billboard networks, but we will be
moving on to that next, as well as the
city skyline,” he said. “A few roaming
billboards in the city to see if we can
get the message going there as well.”
In its news release about its
decision to join the campaign, the
Federation listed fi ve steps that people
can take to help. They are: Post and
share the blue square emoji along-
side a message of support for the
Jewish community. Tell other people
you know about the campaign.

Tell a story to your social followers
about a time when you experienced
antisemitism or saw someone stand
up to it. Visit StandUptoJewishHate.

org to learn how to identify and
report antisemitism. And follow the
#StandUptoJewishHate campaign on
the @StandUptoJewishHate accounts
on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

Antisemitic incidents increased by
36% across the country and 65% in
Pennsylvania in 2022, according to the
Anti-Defamation League. Philadelphia,
The #StandUpToJewishHate symbol distributed by the Foundation to
Combat Antisemitism
Montgomery County and Bucks County
saw 34, 24 and fi ve incidents, respec-
tively. A recent Wunderman Thompson
SONAR survey found that 52% of U.S.

adults do not see antisemitism as a big
problem, but an ADL study discovered
that 85% of Americans believe at least
one antisemitic trope.

“If it’s not front and center in people’s
minds — they very quickly forget about
it and move on to the next item,”
Balaban said. “Being able to reinforce
it during a 76ers game or when you’re
watching HGTV is critical.”
It is, of course, not just Jews who
watch the Sixers and HGTV. So, the
goal of the campaign is to transcend
the Jewish community, according to
Balaban. It is to help non-Jews see the
problem as clearly as Jews do. The
biggest problem, as the CEO explains,
is “complacency.”
“When you’re in line at a grocery
store and someone makes a comment
and you hear it. When a student
witnesses a friend being harassed,
there’s a tendency for people not to
want to get involved,” he said. “We
need people to get involved. And we
need to call it out when it’s hate against
other groups.”
“We cannot let 2.4% of the popula-
tion fi ght antisemitism on its own,”
Balaban concluded.

“The #StandUpToJewishHate
campaign is designed to raise aware-
ness for the fi ght against antisem-
itism, specifi cally among non-Jewish
audiences and to help all Americans
understand that there is a role for each
of us to play in combating a problem
that is unfortunately all too prevalent in
communities across the country today,”
Kraft said in the news release. ■
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
Courtesy of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism
Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia President and CEO
Michael Balaban
Courtesy of Michael Balaban
J ewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia President Michael
Balaban already laments how
much his organization and others have
to spend on security in this era. It is
many millions of dollars to protect
against rising antisemitism. Balaban
would prefer to spend that money on
productive, not defensive, endeavors,
like education.

But now, the local Federation is
adding another layer to its defenses
against antisemitism. The Philadelphia
Federation is joining the national
#StandUptoJewishHate campaign,
started by New England Patriots owner
Robert Kraft, who is Jewish.

Kraft began the initiative with
a $25 million investment and the
creation of the Foundation to Combat
Antisemitism, according to a news
release. The national campaign uses
a blue square as a symbolic reminder
to #StandUptoJewishHate, and it
“features digital platforms, billboards
and social media content.” A public
service announcement is also airing on
“The Voice” and “TODAY,” among other
shows. The Philadelphia Federation
announced a local partner campaign
on March 27.

“People have to be aware that this
is growing,” Balaban said of antisemi-
tism. “That awareness is vital.”
Security may protect Jewish build-
ings. But messaging gets into people’s
minds, and that is the campaign's
goal. Kraft’s Foundation to Combat
Antisemitism has provided Balaban’s
team with the content. Now it’s on the
local Federation to work its regional
contacts. Balaban said all the local
news affi liates — ABC, NBC, CBS and
Fox — have agreed to air spots.

“Yesterday, I turned on Channel 6,
and it aired during the news,” he added.

The Federation also is working with
the city’s professional sports teams to



local
Yom HaShoah Event to Mark 80th
Anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
Wikimedia Commons
T here is a key diff erence between International
Holocaust Remembrance Day, declared by the
United Nations and taking place each January,
and Yom HaShoah, established by Israel and recog-
nized every spring.

The former remembers the 6 million Jewish victims
of the Holocaust and the liberation of Auschwitz
on Jan. 27, 1945. The latter has a full name of Yom
HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah, which means the
day of remembrance of the Holocaust and the bravery.

That last part is crucial. Yom HaShoah, declared by
the modern symbol of Jewish strength, the state of
Israel, is about resistance as much as remembrance.

It is aligned with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the
biggest act of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust,
for a reason.

Jews were victims in that period, ultimately liberated
by the United States and its Allies. But they did not just
take Nazi oppression lying down. Both lessons are
important, according to Jason Holtzman, the direc-
tor of the Jewish Community Relations Council in
Philadelphia. That’s why, on April 16, JCRC, an agency within
the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, will
host a Yom HaShoah event that marks the 80th
anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The
commemoration is open to the public starting at
1:30 p.m. at the Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust
Memorial Plaza on 16th Street and the Benjamin
Franklin Parkway. It will include a candle lighting,
music, prayer and remarks by Jewish Pennsylvania
Gov. Josh Shapiro, among others.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was a response to
the Nazi eff ort to deport Jews to the Majdanek and
Treblinka death camps. Jews used Molotov cocktails
and hand grenades to ambush Nazi offi cers and
soldiers. In the end, SS commander Jurgen Stroop
ordered the burning of the ghetto, killing 13,000 Jews.

Stroop later estimated that only 17 Nazis died in the
fi ghting. But the Jews knew what the result would be.

The point was to fi ght.

“It wasn’t like all Jews just went down like sheep
getting slaughtered,” Holtzman said. “The Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising represents the fi rst instance of fi ght-
ing back and the largest instance of fi ghting back.”
That is important to remember in a time of rising
antisemitism, according to Holtzman.

“Right now, we’re seeing a major uptick in
Polish Jews captured by Germans during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
antisemitism and all forms of bigotry. It’s very uncom-
fortable,” he said. “It’s important to send a message
that even during a time of the greatest hate against
the Jewish people, some Jews found the strength to
fi ght back against it.”
As Holtzman explained, Israel commemorates the
moment when Jews fought back, while the U.N. remem-
bers the day when the rest of the world liberated
Auschwitz. He called those diff erent interpretations
“very interesting.” His grandfather was liberated from
Auschwitz, so he sees both interpretations as import-
ant. But American Jews too often see it like the rest of
the world and forget that their people fought back.

“I would consider those people to be heroes,”
Holtzman said. “They were saying we’re going to go
out standing up for our community.”
Zev Eleff , the president of Gratz College and a
scholar of American Jewish history, said that, after the
Holocaust, Americans were more likely to embrace
the survivor narrative and discussion of the Shoah.

Israelis preferred the resistance narrative. Many survi-
vors who went to Israel even hid their numbers. That
is why, in the United States, Yom HaShoah is often just
called Yom HaShoah, with the descriptor of bravery
taken off at the end of the name.

“Many Jews who do observe Yom HaShoah do
so not fully aware of its association with the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising,” Eleff said.

But they must become aware, he added.

“What’s the reason to attach it? Agency,” Eleff
concluded. Rabbi Lance Sussman, also an American
Jewish historian and the rabbi emeritus at Reform
Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, views
resistance as a major part of Holocaust history in
general. “Going to your death with dignity is a form of resis-
tance. But we tend to see them as passive martyrs.

There are all types of forms of resistance,” he said.

Moving forward, Sussman would like to see
Holocaust education emphasize resistance as much
as remembrance.

“It’s a question of balance and as best as possible
to see things comprehensively,” he said. “We need to
teach it. We need to teach it in the Jewish community.

And we need to push that in general society.” ■
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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