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First-Ever Jewish
Legislative Caucus Forms
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
P ennsylvania Jewish legislators
and their allies are coming
together to fi ght antisemitism
and other forms of hate.

State Rep. Dan Frankel and state
Sen. Judy Schwank announced on
March 21 the creation of the common-
wealth’s fi rst-ever Jewish Legislative
Caucus to address the concerns of
Jewish communities. Fourteen of the
22 caucus members, all Democrats,
represent Philadelphia’s fi ve-county
region, including Reps. Jared Solomon
and Ben Waxman of Philadelphia.

“There’s an added sense of urgency
today to do something on an organized
basis with my colleagues,” said Frankel,
who represents Allegheny County.

“We continue as a neighborhood and
community to experience incidents
of antisemitism, physical attacks on
people who you can easily identify
as being Jewish, particularly in the
Orthodox community,” he added.

Frankel represents the Squirrel
Hill neighborhood where the Tree of
Life synagogue shooting occurred
almost fi ve years ago but cited the
Anti-Defamation League’s Audit on
6 APRIL 6, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Rep. Tarik Khan
Antisemitism 2022 as the need for
growing vigilance to address anti-Jew-
ish hate. The ADL’s audit found 3,697
cases of antisemitism last year, includ-
ing 114 in Pennsylvania.

To address growing antisemitism,
Frankel plans to introduce a series
of bills to “modernize laws relating to
hate crimes and ethnic intimidation in
Pennsylvania,” according to a press
release. These bills include an expan-
sion of the Ethnic Intimidation Statute;
providing law enforcement training on
identifying, investigating and address-
ing ethnic intimidation; and expanding
programs for reporting discrimination
in schools, among others.

On April 24, the caucus will host a rally
and press conference in Harrisburg to
introduce the four pieces of legislation.

Intentionally, each bill not only
addresses antisemitism but hate crimes
and discrimination more broadly.

“We’re very concerned about the
increase in hate crimes against the
Jewish community but as well as other
communities in the commonwealth
too,” Schwank said. “That leads to
the work on looking at hate-based
violence against all groups, not just
against Jewish communities.”
The caucus’ broad agenda is
Sen. Judy Schwank
refl ected in its makeup. A handful of
non-Jewish legislators have joined
the caucus, including Rep. Tarik Khan,
whose Philadelphia district includes
Mishkan Shalom, a synagogue he calls
“one of the pillars” of the district.

A member of Circle of Friends, the
Philadelphia chapter of the Muslim-
Jewish Advisory Council, Khan grew
up with a Muslim father and Catholic
mother in a largely Jewish neighbor-
hood. He has seen fi rsthand how
diff erent faith communities can come
together to support each other.

“We have to stand together, and it
can’t just be when your own group is
aff ected,” he said. “You have to stand
with your community.”
While caucuses provide symbolic
shows of solidarity, they are also useful
in gaining legislative support. Khan
uses an example of a bill he intro-
duced to increase the accessibility of
playgrounds. He turned to the common-
wealth’s Disability Caucus and Autism
and Intellectual Disabilities Caucus to
fi nd support for the bill. Similarly, if
other legislators were pushing legis-
lation to address discrimination, they
could know where to fi nd co-sponsors.

The caucus also will educate legis-
lators on Jewish issues, Schwank said.

Rep. Ben Waxman
For the group’s fi rst meeting in April,
ADL Philadelphia will share informa-
tion about the Audit on Antisemitism
2022. She identifi ed another goal of
the caucus — to educate the general
public about what the legislator is
doing to address hate, such as the
passage and growth of the Nonprofi t
Security Grant Program; Schwank
introduced an earlier draft of it.

Waxman, who represents Center
City Philadelphia, sees the caucus as
an opportunity to educate other legis-
lators on Jewish culture.

“It’s good for people to be exposed
to Jewish culture, and it’s good to have
it coming from legislators,” he said.

In addition to pushing legislation,
the caucus can host cultural events,
such as a Chanukah party, to educate
non-Jewish legislators on Jewish
issues beyond antisemitism.

“The legislative perspective is really
important, the work that outside
advocates do, bringing people’s faiths
and cultures and concerns to the legis-
lature — but there’s something incred-
ibly valuable about it happening at
a peer-to-peer level, and a caucus
allows us to do that,” Waxman said. ■
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of the PA General Assembly
Rep. Dan Frankel