H eadlines
‘BLM’ Sign Vandalism Sparks Vigil in Mt. Airy
LOCAL SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
THE GERMANTOWN
Jewish Centre hosted a vigil
on June 10 in response to the
vandalization of a “Black Lives
Matter” sign on its campus,
visible from Lincoln Drive.

GJC co-organizer Rabbi
Adam Zeff said that on May 28,
a community member noticed
that the “Black” in the “Black
Lives Matter” sign had been
crossed out, and “Jewish” was
instead written in its place.

The GJC mailbox and a lamp
post were graffitied with spray
paint to read “Jewish Lives
Matter.” “It was somebody trying to
make a statement that being
Jewish means being anti-Black,”
said Jared Jackson, founder and
executive director of Jews in All
Hues, an advocacy organiza-
tion for Jews of color. “It’s also
erasure of Jews like myself, who
are Black and Jewish.”
Though there had been other
incidents in Mt. Airy of “Black
Lives Matter” signs being
vandalized and discarded in
people’s yards, the large sign
at the GJC remained unaltered
for nearly a year, according
to Zeff.

The vigil, organized by
members of GJC’s Committee
for Community Transformation
and the greater Mt. Airy Jewish
community (though not affili-
ated with the GJC itself), was a
means of standing in solidarity
with Black Jewish community
members, and Black community
members more broadly.

“We want to say very clearly
that Black lives matter, and that
we will not allow that to be a
statement that is diluted in any
way,” said Linda Holtzman,
one of the event’s organizers
and speakers.

For Andrea Jacobs, a
member of both the GJC and
the CTC, countering racism and
supporting Jewish communities
are not mutually exclusive.

“We stand in solidarity,
because we’re really clear as
white Jews, and as Jews were
broadly, that our liberation and
confronting the machinery of
antisemitism is 100% in align-
ment with and contingent upon
confronting and dismantling
the machinery of anti-Black
racism.” The rally, which took place
at the GJC’s “Black Lives
Matter” sign, had more than 50
attendees, many holding their
own “Black Lives Matter” signs.

As cars passed the rally, many
drivers on Lincoln Drive honked
in support.

Danetta Purnell, a GJC
community member, was one of
12 speakers or musical performers.

“Here I am: a Black, lesbian,
Jew-by-choice, and my life
matters,” she said.

To Purnell, the phrase “Jewish
Lives Matter” is similar to “All
Lives Matter:” a statement she
believes, but one that detracts
from what the movement is
trying to articulate.

“I do believe that all life
matters. It’s just that some
life is more endangered than
others; that’s the difference,”
she said. “You don’t have to
say this life matters, so this
life doesn’t. This life matters
because this one does, because
we are all one.”
Zeff was unsure about the
identity of the perpetrator or
motive behind the vandalism.

The vandalism followed
an increase in antisemitic
incidents nationwide, including
the vandalism of the Horwitz-
Wasserman Holocaust Memorial
Plaza in May.

“So many Jews are scared
right now,” Greenfield said.

“And I know that this is not
isolated from that.”
Moving forward,
the GJC wants to continue to
discuss racism and make
internal changes to “become
an anti-racist community,”
according to Jacobs.

“To put up the sign and say
“Black Lives Matter” is to say,
Rabbi Adam Zeff of Germantown Jewish Centre speaks at the vigil.

Photo by Sasha Rogelberg
‘we commit to engage in the
work’ ... of eradicating racism in
our hearts, eradicating racism in
our community and eradicating
racism in the world,” Zeff said.

Jacob said that in addition to
forming the CTC a few years ago
as a response to an anti-Black
incident within the synagogue,
the GJC has hired and contracted
consultants to run audits on the
organization to identify areas of
inequity. The GJC will continue
holding programming and
opportunities for community
members to learn about race
and racism.

While Zeff hopes to elimi-
nate racism in his community,
he believes that right now,
the GJC’s focus should be on
handling discrimination when
it inevitably occurs.

“What we need to do is not
hope that they don’t [happen],
or cover them up when they do,
but have a way of dealing with
them,” he said. l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com |
215-832-0741 Mission: Volunteer 52 Times in 52 Weeks
LOCAL DAVID STATMAN | JE FEATURE
LIKE THE REST of the world,
Jaret Lyons went through a lot
of change in the last year and
a half.

In the fall, Lyons left his
old company after 14 years.

And amid a once-in-a-lifetime
pandemic, he suddenly found
himself with some spare time on
his hands.

A board member of Temple
Emanuel in Cherry Hill,
4 JUNE 17, 2021
Jaret Lyons and his son, Brandon
New Jersey, Lyons was never
a stranger to dedicating free
time to charitable endeavors.

But to fill the new gaps in his
career and probably the last
time, more free time,” Lyons
said. “I was in a mood where
I was given to be thankful to
things and think about things
you want to do. I came up with
an idea after chatting with my
wife to volunteer more, and
because I like to go big when
I think of ideas, I thought,
what if I could volunteer for
Photo by Laura Rimmer
52 organizations in 52 weeks?”
schedule, Lyons decided to go
Lyons’ idea manifested
bigger than ever before.

itself in what he calls “Mission:
“I knew that I’d have, for the Possible,” which has seen
first time in my professional him put in shifts for nearly
JEWISH EXPONENT
40 different charities in the
Philadelphia area since begin-
ning in December.

Many have had to do with
food insecurity and homeless-
ness — not necessarily by
design, Lyons said, but because
those organizations were simply
more likely to pick up the phone.

Lyons also has volunteered
with many Jewish charities over
the past several months. On
his website, Lyons lists shifts
with Temple Emanuel, Jewish
See 52, Page 23
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM