COMMUNITY NEWS
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia mobilizes financial
and volunteer resources to address the communities’ most critical
priorities locally, in Israel and around the world.

s June begins, so too does Pride Month
will guide participants through the complex
to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.

history and meaning of the pink triangle and
“By celebrating Pride Month, the Jewish
how knowledge of the Holocaust shaped
the fight for queer liberation and influenced
community makes it clear and joyful that
American gay rights activism.

LGBTQ Jews are beloved and an integral
part of our present and future,” said Program
Manager Galia Godel of Jewish Family and
Pride: The Continuing Struggle for
Queer Liberation Across America
Children’s Service of Greater Philadelphia
and Israel
that heads the J.Proud Consortium, the
Philadelphia collective of Jewish organiza-
Tuesday, June 27 | Noon-1 p.m.

tions committed to LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Virtual The Jewish Federation of Greater
Join the Jewish Federation's Jewish
Philadelphia is a proud member of the
Community Relations Council for a discus-
J.Proud Consortium, which will host several
sion on the history and current state of the
The Jewish
community is
showing up
for Pride
Month with
multiple events that focus on acceptance, inclusion
LGBTQ+ rights movement both locally in our
programs this June.

and community throughout the month.

community and across the sea in Israel. This
panel will feature academics, activists and
“It’s a core Jewish value to create an
lawmakers discussing where we have been and where
accepting and welcoming community for all,” said following to celebrate love and unity.

we must go to achieve full queer liberation.

Senior Chief of External Affairs Jeffrey Lasday of
the Jewish Federation. “We are proud to celebrate Building a New Home in Our Minds
Love is in the Ground: Album Release and
the LGBTQ+ community through upcoming programs Sunday, June 4 | 5 p.m.

Queer Jewish Music Night
as well as through funding to Jewish value-based Virtual
Join the Jewish Federation’s Kehillot (neighborhood Thursday, June 29 | 7 p.m.

agencies and initiatives that ensure historically discon-
nected groups, such as LGBTQ+ individuals and their groups) and community partners for an interactive Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish
families, are connected to Jewish life and receive the workshop that will give participants a roadmap to History and Virtual
resources that they need.”
support gender-diverse and transgender youth. Led by
Celebrate the release of Rena Branson’s new
According to the Jewish Federation’s Population Kohenet Harriette E. Wimms, a clinical psychologist and album, “Love Is the Ground” and compositions by
Study, conducted in 2019, one in 10 Jewish households contract trainer for Keshet, this program is an opportu- West Philadelphia-based queer Jewish musical collab-
in the Greater Philadelphia area includes an individual nity to gather information, ask questions and support orators. Branson’s music seamlessly weaves together
who identifies as LGBTQ+.

each other in a safe and affirming environment.

Hebrew liturgy, English poetry and wordless nigunim
“This year, it’s more important than ever to be loud
(spiritual melodies). Attendees are welcome to move
and proud and to show that we are here and we’re never The Big, Queer B’nai Mitzvah Party
and sing along throughout the event.

going to hide again,” Godel continued. “By raising our Tuesday, June 6 | 7-9 p.m.

voices, we can fight back against hatred and intolerance, Elkins Park; address given upon registration
Special mention: Sparking Connections
and keep LGBTQ folks safe, loved and proud.”
All of the celebrating, none of the studying. jkidpride, Information Session
From marches to learning sessions to parties, check J. Proud and Moving Traditions invite LGBTQ+ teens Tuesday, July 25
out these opportunities to show your pride.

(12-18) for an evening of music, food, games and
If you are 45 or under, identify as Jewish and
friends! Parents/caregivers will have the opportunity to LGBTQ+ and are looking to connect with others on a
PRIDE “Love, Light and Liberation” March
socialize while the teens hang out, if desired. Dress in deeper level — while learning more about specialized
Sunday, June 4 | 10:30 a.m.

whatever feels fabulous.

topics through an Israel lens — the Jewish Federation
Departing from the Constitution Center on 5th and
of Greater Philadelphia has a program for you. Sparking
Arch streets
‘Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the
Connections Near and Far is a yearlong program,
Shadow of
the Holocaust’
Walk in celebration of authentic selves. Before the
beginning in September, that brings people together to
march, there will be a short time for speeches, music Thursday, June 15 | 6 p.m.

learn more about diversity and inclusion topics through
and joy. March alongside the J.Proud Consortium and Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History an Israel lens and which offers an immersive travel
constituents from its 44 member organizations and
Join in commemorating Pride Month with a compel- opportunity to Israel.

synagogues. Whether joining with friends, family or ling discussion on the intersection of LGBTQ+ history
*** solo, all are welcome to enjoy this Pride March. Don’t and the Holocaust. The event will be moderated by
Visit jewishphilly.org/pride to learn more and register
leave: Once the march is over, there will be a festival Jake Newsome, author of “Pink Triangle Legacies,” who for these events.

8 JUNE 1, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Courtesy of J.Proud Consortium
A Celebrate Your Pride This June



YOU SHOULD KNOW ...

Andrea Heymann
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
Courtesy of Andrea Heymann
B y now, anyone reading Jewish news has seen the Anti-Defamation
League’s “Audit of Antisemitic Incidents,” reporting the number
of hate and bias incidents that occurred nationally over the year.

For many, the report has become a useful statistic or numbers they’ve
grown numb to, but for Andrea Heymann, associate regional director of
ADL Philadelphia, the report is the culmination of a year of work.

“I am our point person for managing and responding to every bias or
hate incident that gets reported to us,” she said.

Liaising between local, state and federal officials, Heymann, 33, also
collects and investigates data from law enforcement. She oversees
ADL’s leadership division, which includes the associated board and
Glass Leadership Institute for young professionals.

Heymann can see antisemitism and other forms of hate beyond just
the numbers, observing the bigger picture on the future of discrimination
in the U.S.

“The most frightening thing that I’ve noticed in the past six months is
how intense and vile the rhetoric I’ve seen in K to 12 schools, in the past
six months specifically,” she said.

Heymann has heard of instances of physical attacks on Jewish
children in middle schools, students throwing paper airplanes with
swastikas drawn on them and mimick-
ing rapper Ye’s (formerly Kanye West’s)
antisemitic comments.

Schools are now the hotbeds of
antisemitic activity but, according to
Heymann, they can also lay the founda-
tion to combat hate.

“Education is by far the best remedy”
to antisemitism and other -isms,
Heymann said. ADL has a host of educa-
tional opportunities, including providing
diversity, equity and inclusion materials
for workplace leaders. But Heymann
is interested in what goes on in the
classroom. Heymann lives in Head House Square
and has lived in the Philadelphia area
most of her life. She was raised in a
Conservative Jewish household in Cherry
Hill, New Jersey, attending Perelman
Jewish Day School, then Solomon
Schechter Day School, before attend-
ing Goucher College to study history
and women’s studies and Stockton
University to get her master’s degree in
Holocaust and genocide studies. Before
joining the ADL, she was the assistant
director of the Jewish Graduate Student
Network. Jewish education was at the
heart of all she did professionally.

But teaching the Holocaust must
be done thoughtfully to be effective,
Heymann argued. Jewish educa-
tors haven’t always gotten it right, she
believes. Back in the 1990s, Solomon Schechter
Day School taught the Holocaust in a
way that represented the times.

“Every year, when Yom HaShoah
happened, they would dim the lights
in the entire school,” she recalled.

“Everybody would have to wear a yellow
zachor sticker with a Jewish star. And on
the walls, they would have the now-fa-
mous black-and-white photographs
documented by Russian and American
soldiers of people after liberating
Auschwitz.” From kindergarten through eighth
grade, Heymann was haunted by the
efforts. “I had no context. I just remember
being really scared by that,” she said.

Thirty years ago, role-play activities
to teach the Holocaust were common,
as were showing images and primary
sources that answered the “what,” as
opposed to the “why” of the Holocaust.

By showing young people disturbing
images of the Shoah, they would have
an emotional connection to the curricu-
lum, Heymann posited, but this form of
education risked having the opposite
effect. “Sometimes, if you cross an emotional
line with someone, it touches them and
it scares them and makes them turn
around and run the other way,” she said.

That approach has changed. Heymann
recalls recently going to the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum and
seeing graphic images hidden behind a
drape for audiences to view voluntarily.

Other exhibits feature sensitive content
at eye level for adults, not children, to
view. Today, age-appropriate Holocaust
education materials are ubiquitous, with
the Disney+ series “A Small Light” about
Anne Frank, told from the perspective
of the woman who helped hide her.

Holocaust educators feature art created
by children in Theresienstadt to teach
about the concentration camp.

But with a large push for Holocaust
education amid the rise in antisemitism,
there’s still risk in how stories of the
Shoah are told. It’s important that even in
times of rising hate, antisemitism doesn’t
become the dominant narrative of the
Jewish people, painting Jews as solely
victims of white supremacy.

“We sometimes forget that antisem-
itism shouldn’t define a Jewish person
or the Jewish community as a whole,
but there’s so much more to the Jewish
community than just the problem of
antisemitism,” Heymann said.

Heymann proposes teaching about
what makes Judaism great, so non-Jews
can garner respect for Jewish people.

“When I’ve been in conversation,
whether it’s a school administrator
or clergy or whoever, it’s been really
important to also acknowledge and talk
about Jewish joy,” she said. ■
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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