O pinion
An Election on a Jewish Holiday: A Challenge to Overcome
BY ARIELLE FRANKSTON-MORRIS
WHEN I LEARNED that the
Pennsylvania Primary Election
would be held on May 18, I was
frustrated. A quick glance at a calendar
won’t sound alarms for the vast
majority of Pennsylvanians.

That’s because many calen-
dars miss the Jewish holiday of
Shavuot. For Orthodox and tradi-
tionally Sabbath observant
Jews like myself, May 18, the
second day of Shavuot, means
no writing, no driving or
taking buses, no working. And
that means no travel to the
polls. No careful darkening
of ovals with blue or black
ink. Instead, thousands of
Pennsylvanians will be swaying
in holiday prayer, enjoying
festive meals with family
and celebrating the giving of
the Ten Commandments on
Mount Sinai.

The calendar clash was
actually brought to my atten-
tion by a synagogue rabbi
many months back. With a
most admirable commitment
to voting and civic engage-
ment, he was distressed. I have
worked with this rabbi on
fruitful advocacy activities and
get out the vote campaigns and
he was entitled to his disap-
pointment and subsequent
musings: How do we feel about
the selection of this date? And
the operative question, what
do we do?
My years working as the
executive director of Teach PA
prepared me for this. Teach PA
organizes Jewish day schools
and their communities,
advocating for resources and
programs so these schools can
be safe, affordable and good
quality. Preserving Jewish commu-
nities and Jewish heritage
through education under-
lies our mission. We work
to strengthen our voice and
then exercise it, by voting and
engaging our legislators.

As a nonpartisan organi-
zation, we educate our
constituent communities
across the commonwealth
about registering
with whatever party they’d like and
voting however they’d like …
but to register and vote. Stop
kvetching, start voting, we
scream from carpool lines and
on robocalls!
But what happens when
barriers exist,
making exercising your voice harder?
We educate.

We are lucky in Pennsylvania
to have a safe and efficient way
to make your voice heard when
you can’t get to the polls. All
Pennsylvanians can vote by
mail and your vote will count.

So, is an election on a Jewish
holiday, when many cannot go
to the polls, frustrating?
Yes, it is. But we’re up for
this challenge: The challenge to
get our friends and family and
school and synagogue commu-
nities to take these extra steps:
Go online, request a mail-in-
ballot and when you receive it,
vote safely and efficiently from
your own home.

Or if you savor the in-person
voting experience, go to your
county elections office before
Election Day, request your
mail-in ballot in person, and
fill in those ovals with blue
or black ink right there on
the spot.

We’ll work in the future
to reduce conflict between
religious practice and voting
in-person. A safe polling place
voting experience is treasured
by so many individuals and
families and is an incredible
way to model voter responsi-
bility and excitement.

With strong voter engage-
ment, more Pennsylvanians
have a voice. We must take
this opportunity to show, that
despite challenge, we are up
to the task. A calendar might
miss our holiday, but there’s
too much at stake to miss this
election. Request your mail-in ballot
at pavoterservices.pa.gov/
OnlineAbsenteeApplication/#/ OnlineAbsenteeBegin l
Arielle Frankston-Morris is the
executive director of Teach
PA. For more information, visit
teachcoalition.org/pa. House Bill on Israel Is Flawed, But Our Jewish Civil War Is Worse
BY YEHUDA KURTZER
IN THE PARTISAN change-
over that resulted from the
2020 U.S. elections, there
were bound to be some tests
and challenges for those of us
who identify within the broad
spectrum of “pro-Israel.” The
first is now upon us: a proposed
bill emerging in the House of
Representatives that places a
set of limitations on how U.S.

aid to Israel is used.

The bill, introduced by Rep.

Betty McCollum (D-Minn.),
and endorsed by a growing
number of progressives, would
prohibit American dollars
from being used for actions by
Israel that involve the detaining
of Palestinian children, the
appropriation or destruction
of Palestinian property, the
forcible removal of Palestinians
or toward unilateral annex-
ation. The measure would put
in place a new level of oversight.

There is reason for the pro-Is-
rael world to be concerned
about this legislation. The bill’s
principal authors and its first
sponsors are lawmakers with
a track record of outspoken
criticism of the state of Israel
that at times has trafficked
in anti-Semitism. Some of
us who identify as progres-
sive Zionists would support a
good-faith attempt to criticize
Israeli policy while genuinely
supporting its security. This bill
does not strike that balance.

Moreover, the bill takes
some of the most extreme and
egregious moral failures of the
occupation — the detention
of minors, for instance — and
makes them emblematic of Israeli
policy rather than exceptional.

In this context, some Israel
advocates fear that even a bill
with limited scope and no
chance of passing represents a
slippery slope — namely toward
conditioning U.S. aid to Israel, as
some lawmakers are proposing,
or even eventually cutting the
aid entirely. Israeli government
policy has been shifting right-
ward, and American political
attitudes are changing. The
consensus bipartisan support
that Israel enjoyed for two gener-
ations is eroding. If Congress is
willing to question the histori-
cally sacrosanct commitment to
Israeli military aid based on the
question of home demolitions,
will this pave the way toward
more grievous sanctioning?
Meantime, on the other side
of the aisle, some progressives
view these legislative efforts
as the only available lever.

Frustrated with Israeli policy,
and believing that the status
quo entrenches unsustainable
injustices, they are grasping at
an obvious tool — even if this
change in policy challenges a
deeply held orthodoxy.

Now some of this divide —
AIPAC opposes, J Street supports
— is just reflective of partisan
instincts. Some of it is just good
old politics, using legislation that
is not likely to pass in order to
plant a flag. Besides, the Jewish
community likes a good public
fight, especially as it relates to
Israel. Our controversies are
witnesses to our values.

But beyond the political
theater, two separate issues about
the future of support for Israel
are being conflated. The first is
the importance of this particular
legislation and the “red line” it
appears to cross, and the second
is whether or not we can brook
legitimate dissent on Israeli
policy within the framework of
our community. Unfortunately
See Kurtzer, Page 22
14 APRIL 29, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



O pinion
For LGBTQ+, Don’t Let Politics,
Religion Mix
BY AVITAL KESSLER-GODIN
CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
has always been a big part of
my life. I grew up in an obser-
vant, tight-knit and active
Conservative Jewish commu-
nity that has, for as long as I can
remember, been committed to
social justice and the belief that
everyone is equal.

Studies have shown that of
the different religious groups
in the United States, Jews have
some of the highest levels of
support for non-discrimina-
tion laws for LGBTQ+ people,
and that we must continue to
modernize our laws. We have
found a way to adapt and create
change for the betterment of
society and for the sake of each
individual. In 2006, the Conservative
movement produced two
contradictory opinions on
LGBTQ+ relationships and
roles in Jewish practices;
one that would allow rabbis
and cantor who are gay and
lesbian to be ordained and
accept commitment ceremo-
nies, and one that rejected gay
relationships. Ultimately, the
movement left it to individual
Conservative rabbis to choose
which opinion to adopt.

Now, gay marriage is widely
accepted in Conservative
communities. No one likes excuses,
especially when they come
from elected officials who have
an obligation to ensure that
everyone is treated equally
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM under the law.

There is no more time
to waste. Years ago was the
time to pass a bill such as the
Equality Act, which ensures
equal protection under the
law for all LGBTQ+ people in
all 50 states. Yet, in 2021, the
fate of the bill is in the hands
of an evenly split Senate
between Democrats and
Republicans. The Equality
Act would bar discrimina-
tion against LGBTQ+ people
in issues regarding housing,
loans, access to public accom-
modations and more at the
federal level. With majority
support in every state,
senators have an obligation
to their constituents to fairly
represent them and advocate
for their needs — including
Sen. Pat Toomey.

Seventy-oner percent of
white Catholics are in favor
of LGBTQ+ nondiscrimina-
tion protections, according
to a study done by the Public
Religion Research Institute,
which aligns with the overall
increase in support for
LGBTQ+ rights. Over the years
there has been an increasing
amount of support for LGBTQ
nondiscrimination protec-
tions, with at least 68% of the
Pennsylvania population in
support as well, but not enough
concrete change to reflect that.

This Congress has the power
to change that. After the House
voted in late February to pass
the legislation with bipartisan
support, 224 to 206, all eyes
are on the Senate to pass this
necessary legislation that will
ensure equality and a better
future for all. While the legis-
lative responsibilities fall onto
the Senate, the Jewish people
must continue to actively
advocate for and support
nondiscrimination protections
for all LGBTQ+ people. To be a
proponent of the Equality Act
and other nondiscrimination
legislation is at the root of
Jewish values.

When it feels as if I have
little to no control over the
outcome of legislative pieces,
I think back to the months
leading up to the 2020 presi-
dential election, and the
Senate special election in
Georgia, and all of the phone
calls that people made to get
people registered to vote, to
get people to take action. Call
your senators. Urge them to
end the filibuster so that the
Equality Act can be passed. If
enough people called Toomey
to express their support for
this crucial piece of legislation,
and implore him to join them,
his vote could be influenced.

The LGBTQ+ community
and its allies are counting on
Toomey to be an advocate for all
of the people of Pennsylvania.

This is his chance to make
a lasting difference in our
society, one that will benefit
millions of people across the
country for years to come.

This change will not
happen if we continue to let
our religious differences come
between us and a more just
future. I am not asking you
to completely change your
religious beliefs; I am asking
that you take the time to think
about your values guided
by your religion, to think
about how old those laws or
commandments are and if they
can be adapted to our modern
society, and to think about the
differences between religion,
politics and equal rights. Those
are three separate things and
should not be confused for
each other.

Supporting the Equality Act
aligns with my religious beliefs
and values that my family and
community fostered in me. I
hope it does for you, too. l
Avital Kessler-Godin is a resident
of Teaneck, New Jersey.

JEWISH EXPONENT
KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Arkoosh Should Not Have Been Featured
REGARDING JESSE BERNSTEIN’S April 22 article, “Val
Arkoosh Joins Crowded Race for Senate Seat,” I am baffled as to
why the (well-written) article appeared in the Jewish Exponent.

Although I know and like Val, there is nothing in the
article, or even about Val herself (she is not Jewish), that makes
the article appropriate for the Jewish Exponent, a newspaper
directed to and about Jews, matters Jewish and the Southeastern
Pennsylvania and South Jersey Jewish community in particular.

If I want news believed to be generally of interest to residents
of Philadelphia and its suburban communities, I can read the
Inquirer or my local paper.

William R. Wanger | Gwynedd Valley
Editor’s Note: Mr. Wanger’s criticism is correct. It came to our atten-
tion recently that Dr. Arkoosh is not Jewish. We regret the error.

Candidates Must Stand Up to GOP
Since he defeated Arlen Specter in 2004, Sen. Pat Toomey has
misrepresented Pennsylvania and the Jewish community. While
Everett Stern (“Whistleblower Prepares for GOP Senate Run,”
April 1) benefits from the fact that the troglodytes in Harrisburg
reject him, his sympathy with the Republican Party should
preclude against our endorsement, despite his personal rejection
of Donald Trump.

We need to know if Stern would continue the phony reform
precedents that Toomey has set, and to know that there will be
policy differences between Toomey and a Sen. Stern. Toomey
fooled thousands with his nominal endorsement of “gun control”
— while reducing funds for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives’ national criminal and violent threat
database, which would make instant screening for gun purchases
possible. Toomey has also refused to endorse reintroduction of
an assault weapons ban.

Where would Stern stand? Would he support President
Joe Biden’s infrastructure reality check, or would he continue
his Republican colleagues’ support for potholes on Roosevelt
Boulevard? Will he continue Toomey’s support for district
gerrymandering throughout the commonwealth, and continue
to support Republican voter suppression programs nationwide
in the name of fraud protection, for whose evidence has never
been found?
Are there no Democrats running for Senate whom the
Exponent can find worth mentioning? l
Ben Burrows | Elkins Park
STATEMENT FROM THE PUBLISHER
We are a diverse community. The views expressed in the signed opinion
columns and letters to the editor published in the Jewish Exponent are those of
the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the officers and boards
of the Jewish Publishing Group, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
or the Jewish Exponent. Send letters to letters@jewishexponent.com or
fax to 215-569-3389. Letters should be a maximum of 200 words and may
be edited for clarity and brevity. Unsigned letters will not be published.

APRIL 29, 2021
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