O pinion
Power of Connection More Important Than Ever
BY LAURA FRANK
THIS WEEK MARKED the
start of Black History Month,
an opportunity for Jews
to honor and reflect on our
special relationship with Black
communities and to actively
work to strengthen our kinship
at a critical moment in our
collective history.

To mark the occasion, Jewish
communities across the country
often cite the familiar story of
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel,
who marched arm-in-arm with
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and
U.S. Rep. John Lewis in the
third Selma civil rights march.

Dozens of rabbis throughout
the country joined Heschel
in the Jewish cause for racial
equality, including a handful of
rabbis in the South.

But many Southern Jews
feared that their participa-
tion would trigger a hostile
backlash among anti-Semites.

Heschel, who observed the
violence directed at Jews and
synagogues that participated
in the movement, proclaimed,
“The problem to be faced is:
how to combine loyalty to one’s
own tradition with reverence
for different traditions.”
I see this “problem” as more
of an opportunity, one that I
hope to spend much of my time
as the director of the Jewish
Community Relations Council
working to address. Since
joining the Jewish Federation in
2017, after stints in local polit-
ical and public relations work,
I’ve seen firsthand how imper-
ative the role of the JCRC is in
building an equitable society in
which Jews and other minori-
ties are secure, free to flourish
and supportive of one another’s
goals — and shared humanity.

When asked about the role of
the JCRC, I like to refer to it as
the advocacy arm of the Jewish
Federation. Our outreach is
both internal and external:
We bring our Jewish commu-
nity together around common
causes and we advocate for those
causes by building relationships
with elected officials, interfaith
religious leaders and commu-
nity activists.

Throughout its history, the
JCRC has been instrumental
in organizing on behalf of a
wide array of causes, including
Philadelphia’s rallies in support
of Israel, Soviet Jewry advocacy,
Holocaust remembrance
activities, vigils in response
to anti-Semitic violence and
vandalism, and missions to
Israel for Pennsylvania political
leaders and non-Jewish clergy.

JCRC’s core mission is to
combat anti-Semitism in every
way possible. With a signifi-
cant rise in hatred toward Jews
and other minorities in recent
years, we have relied on our
community relations to build
coalitions to fight back against
BDS and other anti-Zionist
efforts on college campuses and
in the halls of our government.

We have worked with our local
partners to soundly reject white
nationalist movements and have
pledged to do the hard work of
dismantling systemic racism in
our society, and in our own
communities. But, to effectively
eradicate a thousand-year-old
hatred like anti-Semitism, we
must work urgently and proac-
tively, and in collaboration with
community partners.

JCRC’s interfaith and inter-
group relationships allow us
to cut this prejudice off at the
source. Anti-Semitism, racism
and other forms of hate are
nurtured ideologies, and they
spread all the more rapidly
when not confronted by a coali-
tion committed to destroying
them. In many cases, these
ideologies and biases are spread
due to a simple lack of exposure
or interaction with Jews and
other minority groups.

Working in partnership on
issues of common concern with
religious leaders and elected
officials in other minority
communities is an incredibly
important way to make these
introductions and build new
relationships. But, as we see in
our Jewish communities, more
and more of our neighbors
are becoming less affiliated
with any kind of institution,
religious, political or other-
wise. Reaching these people is
vitally important to advance
the mission of the JCRC, but
doing so won’t be easy. It will
require commitment, resolve,
and intentional engagement.

The next phase of our inter-
group outreach will require us
to take up seats at unfamiliar
and sometimes unwelcoming
tables. It will require speaking
with and connecting with
communities where it may
seem difficult to find common
cause. It will entail meeting
with people who may believe
the worst of us, or don’t trust
us, or don’t want us there at all.

Facing this work is daunting,
but it is also exciting and has
the potential to be transfor-
mative, both on the individual
and community levels.

During my time at JCRC, I
have experienced the power of
these connections firsthand. I
genuinely believe it’s possible
that a single conversation can,
in fact, change hearts and
minds. Paired with organizing
and community building, it
can be a gamechanger.

We know that bridges of
understanding do not fall
from the sky or rise from the
ground. They are built by
engaging in dialogue, forming
a relationship and engaging in
joint advocacy work.

As the poet and historian
Aberjhani once said, “Individual
cultures and ideologies have
their appropriate uses, but
none of them erase or replace
the universal experiences, like
love and weeping and laughter,
common to all human beings.”
This is something I intend to
carry with me throughout my
work as the JCRC’s director. And
I welcome all Exponent readers
to join me and the JCRC in this
critically important work l .

Laura Frank is the director of the
Jewish Community Relations
Council. I’m a Student and I’m Not Afraid of Where My Party’s Headed
Afraid of Where My Party’s return the United States to the
Headed,” which ran last week. Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action, also known as the Iran
LIKE SOPHIA RODNEY, I nuclear deal. In fact, between
am proud to be an American 2015, when the deal was agreed
Jew. I am a Democrat. And I to, and 2018, when former
am proud to stand with my President Donald Trump
Israeli and Palestinian peers unilaterally walked away from
for self-determination, peace it, Iran had complied with its
and health. But unlike Rodney, requirements. This judgment
I do not allow Israel to be the was rendered not only by the
deciding factor when it comes respected International Atomic
BY JACOB T. MARDER
to determining where I fall on Energy Agency, which had
responsibility for monitoring
the political spectrum.

Ed. note: This column is a
Rodney cites two issues the JCPOA, but also the U.S.

response to Sophia Rodney’s of concern. One is President State Department. The deal
op-ed “I’m a Student and I’m Joe Biden’s stated intention to was never intended to address
14 FEBRUARY 4, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
Iran’s ballistic missile program
and its malign activities in the
region, rather to remove the
nuclear threat that poses the
greatest existential threat to
Israel. Since the U.S. walked
away, Iran, feeling it was not
obligated by the deal if the U.S.

was not bound by it, has moved
closer to nuclear breakout.

President Joe Biden wants
to return to the deal to roll
back Iran’s nuclear program.

He also wants to strengthen
the deal and expand its scope
to include those problems not
addressed back in 2015. That
would be good for Israel, and
good for the United States and
our other allies in the Middle
East. Rodney also cites worries
about “The Squad,” a group of
Democratic congresswomen —
including Reps. Rashida Tlaib,
Ilhan Omar and Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez — who advocate
for climate justice, health care
and human rights. These legisla-
tors, especially Ocasio-Cortez,
are often characterized as
See Marder, Page 17
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



O pinion
Lessons My Holocaust Survivor
Mother Taught Me
BY BENNY GANTZ
I DON’T THINK it would
be an exaggeration to say that
2020 was one of the toughest
years that the world has endured
in recent history. In the wake
of International Holocaust
Remembrance Day and the
76th anniversary of the libera-
tion of Auschwitz, I reflect on
the lessons I learned from my
parents, both Holocaust survi-
vors, who taught me the capacity
for both evil and kindness that
exists within the human spirit.

Even as a general who
witnessed up close the ravages
of war, and as a politician who
engages in challenging political
battles, I couldn’t have foreseen
the current state of affairs facing
the Jewish people today.

For many years, we have
seen the rise of anti-Semitism
disguised in its many faces,
shapes and forms. But nothing
could have prepared me for the
moment when I saw a shirt with
the words “Camp Auschwitz”
at the insurrection on Capitol
Hill, the symbol of American
democracy. At the same time, seeing
these manifestations of hate is
not surprising. Anti-Semitism
always rears its ugly head during
times of stress. Hatred always
thrives when there is a lack of
love; darkness always prevails in
the absence of light.

We can learn this lesson from
the history of 1930s Germany:
Isolated and humiliated,
forced to carry the shame and
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM responsibility for World War I
on its shoulders, suffering from
inflation, unemployment and
poverty, the fractured German
society turned toward violence
and hatred, placing the blame
for their woes on the Jews.

In a report issued this week by
the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora
Affairs, we see an alarming
rise in anti-Jewish sentiment
worldwide in 2021. Especially
alarming is the widespread
growth of malignant conspiracy
theories that often blame the
world’s troubles on the Jews.

We must not allow the past
to repeat itself. We must under-
stand once and for all that
division leads to polarization and
extremism, which in turn lead to
hate and violence. A fragmented
society whose members feel
alienated and marginalized is a
society ready to target those it
holds responsible for its troubles.

My mother endured first-
hand the consequences of the
Nazi ideology of hate in the
Bergen-Belsen concentration
camp. But after surviving and
rebuilding her life in Israel, she
always ensured that she spoke
softly and respectfully, even to
those with whom she disagreed.

In any military campaign
or operation I led, my mother
always asked me if I had remem-
bered to provide humanitarian
aid, medicine and food for
the civilian population on the
other side. I imagine she must
have been very proud when she
looked down at me from heaven
on the day that the Israeli army
offered to treat casualties from
Syria’s bloody civil war; perhaps
even more proud than the day
I was promoted to the rank of
general. I remember she held
me, smiling, and then calmly
said: “Now General — please
take out the trash.” She always
understood the value of human
connection and the perils of
alienation. She understood that
the human fabric of society is
what deters people from turning
to hateful ideologies as a way of
filling the void.

Looking at global trends
today, I am deeply troubled by
the growing social and polit-
ical divisions across Europe
and the United States, even
at home in Israel, and by the
hate-filled online discourse
that, regrettably, we’ve come
to know so well. They repre-
sent the most fertile soils for
xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

As someone fortunate enough
to head the defense establish-
ment of the miracle that is the
State of Israel, I will not know
peace until every Jew, near or
far, feels secure. Protecting the
people of Israel, who lived as
a persecuted minority for over
2,000 years, will always be the
absolute imperative for this
Jewish general.

That was my parents’ legacy
to me. But I know that without
global action to stop extrem-
ists and their attacks against the
Jewish people, we won’t manage
to curb this troubling trend.

World leaders must immediately
and uncompromisingly reject
any expression of anti-Sem-
itism and
anti-Zionism. Simultaneously, they must also
work to advocate for tolerance,
and for creating bridges among
communities. These two efforts
must go hand in hand in order
for us to truly rid this world of
anti-Semitism, bigotry and hate.

So with the spirit of my mother
dwelling within me always, I
remember and remind others
that hatred can only give birth
to more hatred and that darkness
cannot be driven away by more
darkness. No, my friends, that
requires something far more
powerful. That requires light. l
Benny Gantz is Israel’s defense
minister, the Israel Defense Force’s
20th chief of staff, and chairman of
the Blue and White Party. This piece
was originally published by JTA.

JEWISH EXPONENT
KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Torah Portion Makes Hateful Generalizations
UNLIKE MOST OF the Torah portion submissions, Rabbi
Jankovitz’ “The Question of Unity” (Jan. 28) is not a “perspective
on Torah commentary” as envisioned by the Board of Rabbis, but
a shameless excuse to engage in a blatantly political and hateful
rant that has nothing to do with the Torah, but much to do with
the author’s left-wing politics.

Yes, hateful, as the writer manages to demonize half of the
population of this great country while making arguments for
ostracizing them or worse. The article is full of generalizations,
short on specifics and long on outright lies. And it ends with a lie.

No, Rabbi, this Jew who happens to be a Republican, just like
the tens of millions of us, Jews and non-Jews alike, is not part
of some sort of a cabal who “sought to destroy [you]” or eager
to debate civil liberties every four years as you stated — this is
because we believe they are not up for debate, period.

And no, we have nothing in common with few, yes few, idiots
and scum who attacked the Capitol.

And finally, unlike you, we have the decency and common
sense not to equate you and other good people on the political left
with the death and destruction that your fellow travelers inflicted
over the past year.

Isaac Svartsman | Philadelphia
This is the most hateful column I can ever recall reading in the
Exponent. I am surprised that a rabbi would write such a divisive
and mean-spirited column.

Howard Lurie | via jewishexponent.com
Protect Israel’s Reputation
A news outlet that serves the Jewish community should care
about the well-being of the Jewish state of Israel. Part of that
well-being includes Israel’s reputation.

Yet in an online-only article from JTA asserting that a signif-
icant member of Congress was upset with Israel and accused it
of depriving COVID-19 vaccines to Palestinian-Arabs (“Some
Democrats, Including Joaquin Castro and Rashida Tlaib, Criticize
Israel on Vaccines for Palestinians” Jan. 27), author Ron Kampeas
placed the most salient part of the story at the bottom rather than
in the lead and/or the headline: The Palestinian-Arabs do not want
the vaccine from Israel, nor, under the vaunted Oslo Accords,
is Israel responsible for supplying the Palestinian-Arabs with
vaccines. The Palestinian-Arabs are governed by the Palestinian
Authority and Hamas, and not Israel. Furthermore, Castro reveals
his bias by accusing Israel of committing “occupation” in the quote
the Exponent published. There is no “occupation.”
See Letters, Page 17
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.

FEBRUARY 4, 2021
15