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Eshel’s Welcoming Shuls Project
BY SAUNDRA STERLING EPSTEIN
ESHEL WAS FOUNDED in
2010 by Co-directors Miryam
Kabakov and Rabbi Steve
Greenberg more than a decade
ago as a support, education
and advocacy organization,
working to create community
and acceptance for lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender Jews
and their families in Orthodox
communities. We provide
resources and sensitively and
respectfully help open the doors
of Orthodox congregations,
schools, summer camps and
youth groups, and are dedicated
to supporting and validating
LGBTQ-observant Jews and
providing them a place in the
communities they love.

With a generous grant from
the Carpenter Foundation, Eshel
has been continuing and growing
its Welcoming Shuls Project to
assess levels of inclusion that
already exist in the Orthodox
community and to expand and
facilitate greater expressions
of welcome. In employing a
non-judgmental process, inter-
viewing religious leaders about
their experiences and helping to
clarify for them the needs of
LGBTQ Jews, we have learned
about the challenges posed by
an apathy that may destabilize
norms. Many of the conversa-
tions have generated a powerful
mutual trust and shown incred-
ible growth during the five years
of this project. We have also
expanded to include reaching out
to camps, schools, youth groups
and year programs in Israel
and have been able to identify
welcoming communities that
have all of these resources. The
Greater Philadelphia area is at
the top of this list.

Our growing confiden-
tial database is available to
help observant LGBTQ Jews
to choose more welcoming
communities. Our Greater
Philadelphia Area includes
18 shuls/community spaces,
schools, camps, medical and
social support systems and
everything one would need to
live a meaningful and obser-
vant Jewish life. The database
is not public, as discretion is
often preferred both by those
seeking communities and our
interviewed rabbis. Specific
information is shared on an
as-needed basis so that the
data on a particular city,
community, synagogue or
rabbi can be available to help
people navigate life choices.

Increasingly, we have found
allies who would also like to
become active participants in
these welcoming communities.

To date, we have conducted
208 interviews and identified
communities in 31 states in
the United States and four
provinces in Canada, as well as
others throughout Israel.

The rabbis who have
responded to our survey repre-
sent a wide range of rabbinic
training institutes, from
modern to centrist to more
right-leaning Orthodox insti-
tutions. Of our communities,
including those that are highly
welcoming and others that are
welcoming with some caveats:
1. 100% said LGBTQ people
deserve to be valued and
treated with respect;
2. 97% are aware of at least one
member of their congrega-
tion or children of members
who are LGBTQ;
3. 90% said that they had at
some point been personally
involved with families who
had LGBTQ members;
4. 93% said they would advocate
for children and teens who
came out so they would be
able to continue in their
schools, camps or youth
groups; 5. 90% said that the life cycle
events of children with
LGBTQ parents could be
celebrated in their shuls; and
6. 95% said that gay men receive
aliyot and participate as
leaders in the service, while
many indicated that there are
LGBTQ members active in
their community leadership.

Just over 50% of the rabbis
described their shul commu-
nity as somewhat more relaxed,
less judgmental than most
other Orthodox communities.

These are “big tent” Orthodox
communities with a diverse
membership body, whose
focus on outreach and being
welcoming is geared to attract
those on a spiritual journey but
who may not be ready to adopt
full halachic comportment. In
these environments, it can be
easier for an Orthodox commu-
nity to be more accommodating
of differences in a general sense,
including differences as related
to LGBTQ matters.

While many of these shuls
and communities do have same
sex/gender couples, transgender
and non-binary members and
are able to negotiate how their
space works for them, these are
the two main challenges to our
cause in the greater Orthodox
community. Even so, it is clear that so
much has changed in our
five-plus years of this work and
that more and more Orthodox
shuls, schools, camps and
communities are addressing
the challenges that occur at
the intersection of halachah
and sexuality/gender identity.

As this is a matter of ensuring
the wellbeing of our commu-
nity members and that an
increasing number of individ-
uals have people in their lives
who are LGBTQ, we know that
these conversations are now
occurring with regularity in
the Orthodox world.

And that alone is a positive
development. l
Saundra Sterling Epstein is director
of Eshel’s Welcoming Shuls Project.

Contact her at shulisrose@aol.com
for more information on Eshel,
the Welcoming Shuls Project and
how to have your rabbi and shul
interviewed or contact a community.

Combating Surging Antisemitism Demands Both
Vigilance and Fearlessness
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
famously proclaimed, “The
only thing we have to fear is fear
itself.” This was a bold asser-
tion: America was in the throes
of the Great Depression, which
sent millions of Americans
into destitution and suffering.

Yet Roosevelt knew that the
economic crisis was a problem
that Americans could solve if
they remained resolute, strong
BY SHIRA GOODMAN AND
and united. He understood that
JEREMY BANNETT
the biggest threat to America
was not the Depression itself,
EIGHTY-EIGHT YEARS ago, but the division, extremism
16 JUNE 10, 2021
and inertia that would come
from our nation succumbing to
fear and anxiety.

Today, as Jews around
the world are buffeted by a
wave of vicious antisemi-
tism, Roosevelt’s words hold
important lessons. Fear is
not the only thing we have
to be afraid of, but fear
exacerbates the problems we
are confronting. American
Jews can defeat this surge
in anti-Jewish hate as we
have before, but only if we
stay focused, vigilant and
JEWISH EXPONENT
undivided — and if we do not
give in to fear.

Let us be clear: Jews around
the world are facing a very
real spike in antisemitism.

During the two weeks of the
recent military conflict between
Israel and Hamas, antisemitic
incidents in the U.S. reported to
ADL increased by 75% compared
to the two weeks before the
fighting began. Incidents
included vicious assaults on Jews
in Los Angeles, New York and
elsewhere, people harassed on
the street with calls of “Death to
the Jews” and the promotion of
antisemitic rhetoric, images and
conspiracy theories at rallies,
including in Philadelphia.

Since May 16, there have
been more than 200 rallies
protesting Israel, an unprec-
edented number, and while
many did not include antise-
mitic language, much of the
spike in antisemitic incidents
can be traced to individuals
attending these events. Jews
found no safe haven online,
where extremists across the
ideological spectrum tried
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



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to take advantage of the
conflict to mainstream their
antisemitism. Anti-Jewish hate
ballooned on sites like 4chan,
long a cesspool of hate, but
also on mainstream platforms
like Twitter, which hosted over
17,000 Tweets promoting some
iteration of the phrase “Hitler
was Right” during the first
week of the conflict.

Placing this recent surge in
the context of record-breaking
numbers of antisemitic incidents
over the last few years, it will
come as no surprise to learn
that American Jews are deeply
concerned. A recent survey
better of us. Fear clouds our
judgment, reduces our credi-
bility, divides us and fuels a
vicious cycle that undermines
our ability to effectively counter
anti-Jewish hate.

Fear has played a central
role in the uptick in unfounded
antisemitic incident reports
that have circulated around the
region and across the nation in
recent weeks. Fear has led some
to misinterpret their interactions
with strangers as antisemitic
incidents. Because our lives are
entwined with social media,
our first reaction is often to post
about an incident so that others
Jews Always Speak Up for
Everyone Else. Now’s the Time
to Stand Up for Ourselves
BY ELISHA WIESEL
If we want to defeat antisemitism, we cannot
allow fear to get the better of us. Fear clouds
our judgment, reduces our credibility, divides
us and fuels a vicious cycle that undermines our
ability to effectively counter anti-Jewish hate.

found that 59% of American
Jews feel less safe today than they
did just five years ago. Nearly
a third of Jews have changed
their behaviors out of fears of
antisemitism, including avoiding
Jewish institutions and events,
refraining from wearing Jewish
clothing or symbols and not
identifying themselves as Jewish
on social media. Thirty-three
percent of Jews report trouble
sleeping because of antisem-
itism, with smaller but still
significant numbers reporting
negative financial and psycho-
logical impacts from antisemitic
harassment. Indeed, these are frightening
times, and many Jews under-
standably feel afraid. But if we
want to defeat antisemitism, we
cannot allow fear to get the
know and can share our experi-
ences. This impulse, though
well-intentioned, has fueled the
widespread dissemination of
unsubstantiated allegations of
antisemitism, increasing levels
of anxiety in the Jewish commu-
nity. It has caused infighting and
increased tensions and strained
the community’s credibility with
critical partners.

Unfounded reports of
antisemitism are a serious
concern for the Jewish commu-
nity. Our ability to swiftly and
seriously respond to antisemitic
incidents relies on relation-
ships and reputation, which
are jeopardized by unfounded
reports. Law enforcement,
government agencies, civil rights
organizations and community
leaders must trust us when we
See Goodman/Bannett, Page 27
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.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM IN THE 1960S, the Communist
Party cut the Russian Jews off
from the Jewish people. They
prohibited them from wearing
tefillin or celebrating b’nai
mitzvah or expressing support
for the state of Israel. They
intimidated and imprisoned
them. And the Communist
Party governed with one big
antisemitic lie: The Jews are the
enemy of the workers.

When my father, Elie Wiesel,
visited, the Russian dissidents
would ask him eagerly: How
many in America are marching
for us? And my father would
be too ashamed to tell them
how few there were. He wrote
a book about it called “The
Jews of Silence.” Many thought
he was referring to the Soviet
Jews, who had to study our
sacred texts in hushed secrecy.

But he was referring to
us: the American Jews who
refused to speak up for their
Jewish brethren across oceans
and borders.

Today, we are still victims
of a terrible antisemitic lie, one
that well-intentioned progres-
sives who care about justice
have too often swallowed. This
big lie seeks to turn the fire
of the racial justice movement
against its earliest supporters:
The Jews are white, the
Palestinians are Black.

The inconvenient truth for
our haters is that the Jewish
JEWISH EXPONENT
people are not the enemy of the
workers. Or of people of color.

Or of social justice. And that
the modern Jewish nation has
sought peace with her Arab
neighbors since before she was
created in 1948.

The truth is that when half
of our number finally governed
themselves once again in their
ancestral homeland of Israel,
they built the socialized health
care system that Sen. Bernie
Sanders dreams of. The sons
and daughters of the Ethiopian
Jewish community, airlifted out
of Africa by Israel in the 1980s,
are reaching the Knesset and
the Eurovision stage. LGBTQ
Arabs can follow their hearts
and their faith freely in Israel,
and an Arab political party
may yet be the kingmaker in
this year’s elections.

The truth is that Hamas
endangers civilians
— Palestinian and Israeli — just
to feed hatred. Their goal is the
total eradication of the state of
Israel. And now, once again, too
many of us have shamefully
become the Jews of Silence. We
have spoken up for every cause
but our own.

It is time to shed our silence
and speak with a loud voice.

If you have been silent
because you feel Israel can
take care of itself, think again.

Your voice matters. Just weeks
ago, Hamas fired thousands
of rockets at Israeli popula-
tion centers with the express
intent of maximizing civilian
deaths. Iron Dome is why there
aren’t thousands of murdered
Jews. Some in Congress are
clamoring for the United States
to defund it.

If you have been silent
because you feel Israel can
never have security without
peace, then commit yourself to
peace. And while you build this
critical common ground with
our Palestinian cousins, speak
up for Israel, which has given
up land in the name of peace,
most recently with disastrous
consequences in Gaza.

If you have been silent
because “antisemitism could
never happen here,” then take
a look around. It is no longer
just the Lubavitch asking, “Are
you Jewish?” to help you do
a mitzvah. Roving gangs of
anti-Israel demonstrators in
New York and Los Angeles are
asking the same question. They
brandish knives. They throw
fists, bottles and hateful words.

And if you have been silent
because you felt you stood
alone, I promise you that you
are not alone. Over 30 years
ago, my father and other
leaders of the Jewish commu-
nity convened a quarter of a
million of us and our allies
in Washington, D.C., to show
solidarity with Soviet Jewry on
Freedom Sunday.

It is now our generation’s
turn to speak our truth:
Neither the millions of us here
in the United States nor our
Jewish brothers and sisters in
Israel are going anywhere. We
will not bow to terror.

At the height of this most
recent conflict, President Biden
defended the dream of a two-state
solution and directly spoke
against the hatred at the core
of the Hamas charter, saying,
“Until the region says unequiv-
ocally that they acknowledge
the right of Israel to exist as an
independent Jewish state, there
will be no peace.”
I am grateful to President
Biden for standing with the
Jewish people.

Now it is our turn. Let’s end
our silence and join him. l
Elisha Wiesel is the son of Marion
and Elie Wiesel.

JUNE 10, 2021
17