H eadlines
Aftermath Continued from Page 1
of antisemitic incidents rise,
people like JCRC Director
Laura Frank are wondering
what the political environment
for Zionism might look like
in Philadelphia in the years to
come. “The anti-Zionism and
BDS movements are directly
affecting us, and it’s something
that we have built coalitions
around,” Frank said. “In Philly,
tensions have definitely risen.”
JCRC pursues a number of
political and educational goals
in the city, which frequently
bring them into contact with
non-Jewish political organiza-
tions. Priorities include “Israel
and World Jewry Affairs,”
“Racial Justice Initiatives” and
“Interfaith Affairs,” and their
work often requires lobbying
on a state and local level.

When former president
of the Philadelphia NAACP
Rodney Muhammad posted an
antisemitic meme to his public
Facebook page last July, Frank
convened a roundtable discus-
sion with local Black church
leaders to address antisemitism,
racism and other issues related to
bigotry. In January, JCRC hosted
a virtual discussion with U.S.

Jared Jackson, founder and
executive director of Jews in ALL
Hues 
Photo by John Lydon
Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, Mary
Gay Scanlon, Susan Wild and
Madeline Dean; the next month,
they took part in a “Virtual
Mission to Washington” to
advocate for Israel and laws that
fight antisemitism, lobbying
members of Congress along-
side Jewish organizations from
across the country.

Since the most recent
fighting between Israel and
Hamas, Frank said, antise-
mitic and anti-Zionist activity
in Philadelphia was as
pronounced as its been in her
tenure at JCRC.

“This is happening here
in Philly, it’s happening
on college campuses, it’s
happening everywhere,” she
explained. But when it came
to the organization’s own
partners, what Frank and JCRC
found was, almost univer-
sally, strong support during a
difficult period. When there
were questions about what
was going on — about war,
Hamas, colonialism, apart-
heid, antisemitism — they
were asked respectfully, in
good faith.

“There are people that are
questioning, trying to under-
stand, and we’re just really grateful
and proud that they’re turning to
us for that guidance, and they’re
listening,” Frank said.

A similar dynamic was at
play for AJC Philadelphia/
Southern New Jersey. The
fighting in Gaza and the clashes
in the streets of Israel reverber-
ated throughout the world in
the form of heated political
debate and, at times, criticism
of Israel gave way to antise-
mitic sentiment and attacks.

“It’s been a totally emotion-
ally fraught time,” said Marcia
Bronstein, regional director
of AJC.

On college campuses,
where AJC often works in
Philadelphia, it’s been “scary,”
Bronstein said, as popular
opinion turns against Israel.

The organization has noted an
increase in statements made
in support of the boycott,
divestment and sanctions
movement, and increased
categorization of Israelis and
Jews at large as “white and
privileged.” It’s frustrating to
Bronstein, who has worked
hard to build partnerships
and coalitions with organi-
zations of varied political
stripes. Those relationships
have been stressed by difficult
conversations, Bronstein said,
but have held because of trust
built up over years. Still, she is
concerned about the future.

“People just don’t get it,”
Bronstein said. “They sign up
for the underdog, or perceived
underdog, or they put it in the
lens of colonialism, you know,
white people against Black and
brown people. If anyone says
that about Israel, they just don’t
get it, it’s clear that they don’t
get it.”
Jared Jackson and the
leadership of Jews in ALL Hues
have faced a different sort of
challenge. Jews in ALL Hues, an
educational advocacy group
that also offers consulting, is a
younger, smaller organization
than AJC or JCRC. Jackson,
founder and executive director
of the group, is a native speaker
when it comes to the language
of contemporary social justice
organizing and education,
while larger legacy organiza-
tions are trying to pick it up
later in life. Their partners are
more likely to be young and
on the left, where criticism
of Israel is a more common
feature than it is among the
organizations that partner
with AJC or JCRC.

However, Jackson said, he
hasn’t gotten many questions
about Israel or Zionism during
the most recent conflagration,
and the strength of Jews in
ALL Hues’ relationships are
the reason why.

“Coming from clients,
coming from organizational
partners, there’s that built-in
understanding that we have
such a diversity of opinion
and diversity of experience
that it really isn’t the place to
bring that,” he said, “because
if you want to connect with
people and people inside of our
network, it also means meeting
them as a human, not as a
political pawn.” l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
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praying he will find an altruistic donor to save his life.

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PA I D A D V E R T I S E M E N T
12 JUNE 3, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H eadlines
In-person Continued from Page 1
leaders like Rabbi Eric Yanoff
at Adath Israel on the Main
Line are able to squint and see
something akin to regular life.

“I’m hopeful that we gradu-
ally move toward a sense of
normalcy,” Yanoff said of the
summer. At Adath Israel, the first
sign that congregants might be
willing to attend cultural and
communal events again came
at Pesach. The synagogue’s
outdoor barbecue required
congregants to wear masks, but
the next person to eat a grilled
hot dog with a mask on will be
the first; while their parents
ate, children played field
games that also necessitated
mask removal here and there.

For that outdoor event in late
March, Adath Israel declared
a 100-person capacity; it sold
out easily.

“People were so happy to be
there,” Yanoff recalled.

That was months ago.

As of June 1, 57% of all
Pennsylvanians have received
at least one dose of a COVID
vaccine, according to The
New York Times, and a suffi-
cient number of Adath Israel
congregants feel safe enough
that other pre-pandemic
staples are returning, though
in adjusted form. There have
been weekly kiddush spreads
outdoors, and two confirma-
tion classes graduated together.

Yanoff doesn’t think that
there would have been enough
congregants comfortable with
in-person gathering able to
host kiddushes two months
ago. The medical professionals
on the synagogue’s reopening
task force have made recom-
mendations based
on Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention guidelines,
and will continue to do so.

However, they must also take
the subjective comfort of their
congregants into account, “to
have a listening heart and a
listening ear to where our
people are,” Yanoff said. The
task force will cross the indoor
events bridge when they come
to it. In the meantime, their
minds are on the next looming
challenge: High Holidays.

At CBENT, preparations are
being made for a June 6 event
called “Pathways to Israel —
Mind, Motion and Munchies.”
Congregants who attend will
get a shuk-like atmosphere at
the Broomall synagogue, with
activities like Hebrew language
workshops, Krav Maga demon-
strations and a shofar-making
workshop. It’s not quite a
pre-pandemic event — it will
still be outdoors — but it’s not
far off.

“We decided that this was
the time, things are starting
to get back to normal, but
we still did not want to have
everything indoors,” said Amy
Blake, synagogue co-president.

In April, rounding up
enough congregants who were
comfortable with such an event
would have been out of the
question; in May, it would have
likely been an open one. But
in June, that critical mass of
congregants has been reached.

See In-person, Page 19
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A recent Kabbalat Shabbat service hosted by Makom Community. 
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JEWISH EXPONENT
JUNE 3, 2021
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