O pinion
Letter from the Editor
Putting Things Into Perspective
BY LIZ SPIKOL
PEOPLE TALK A LOT these
days about pandemic silver
linings — the unexpected
good that’s come from a very
dark time. Then there’s the
silver-linings guilt: How can I
possibly celebrate the fact that
I now bake kickass sourdough
bread when people are sick and
dying? My silver-linings guilt
started early, as I experienced
lockdown as the fulfillment of
my every fantasy. As a true
introvert, I always dreamed
of staying inside and working
from home without any social
obligations. But real life always
demanded something different,
so I scurried to catch trains
and planes, always running
five minutes late and feeling
stressed and exhausted. I used
to fantasize about a giant pause
button I could press to stop
the world for just a couple of
days. Then the pandemic hit
the pause button for all of us.

At the beginning of this
year, in the wake of that pause,
I reassessed my priorities —
informed not only by a year
of pandemic but also by what
I considered to be a disas-
trous authoritarian presidency
and a much-needed national
reckoning with racial inequity.

And I realized it was time to
make some changes in my life.

After five years in the Jewish
media space, I am moving on
to work in the nonprofit sector.

I’ll be joining an organiza-
tion, Mighty Writers, that has
been teaching kids to think
clearly and write with clarity
since 2009, a mission close to
my heart. In response to the
pandemic, Mighty Writers
has added food distribution to
its services, and continues to
expand its charge in order to
keep kids safe. I’m excited to be
a part of that very worthwhile
effort. In my two years as editor-
in-chief, I did not plant a
huge stake in the ground of
Jewish journalism. That was
deliberate. Past editors have
had rather distinct editorial
personalities and political
viewpoints, and I wanted to
stay away from that — perhaps
revealing my introversion more
than I intended. But I didn’t
want the paper to be about me
— I wanted it to be about you,
even as I attempted to expand
the idea of what “you” meant.

Under my watch, I have
tried to make sure the Jewish
Exponent represented the truly
multifaceted nature of the
Greater Philadelphia Jewish
community, including LGBTQ
Jews, Jews of color, affiliated
and unaffiliated Jews, Jews by
choice, Jews from different
denominational backgrounds
and Jews from disparate
countries of origin. I wanted
to ensure that women and
non-binary voices were heard
more often in the opinion
section, and that sources for
stories were diverse. The effort
to portray a full spectrum
of Jewish identity has paid
dividends for the publication
and for its growing readership.

Such a broad approach is
essential to the survival of the
Jewish press, so I’m glad that
the new editor of the Jewish
Exponent, Gabe Kahn, has so
much experience in dealing
with these issues. Formerly
editor-in-chief of the New
Jersey Jewish News, Gabe was
brought in last year by the
Jewish newspaper The Boston
Advocate to oversee their
final months. A graduate of
Columbia’s journalism school
and Brandeis before that,
Kahn, a husband and father
of two (well, three — a boy, a
girl and one pandemic puppy),
has contributed widely to both
Jewish and secular media. He’s
a smart editor, a friendly guy
and an all-around great pick
for this job, even if he does root
for Boston sports teams, which
is obviously a huge personality
flaw that readers will have to
overlook. I have no doubt I’m
leaving the paper in capable
hands — another pandemic
silver lining, you could say.

As for me, I will keep in
touch, probably by sending
Gabe little notes about AP
Style arcana and submitting
strident op-eds about the
wonders of working from
home. I am grateful to have
had the opportunity to spend
some time with such a devoted
and passionate readership. I’m
sure it has been the high point
of my journalism career.

I wish you all a lovely Pesach
and the best in the future.

Stay safe. l
Raising Asian Jewish Kids in the U.S. Has Never Been More Scary
BY MELODY MUHLRAD
LAST WEEK, eight people
were killed — including six
women of Asian descent —
at three massage parlors in
the Atlanta area. This horri-
fying shooting came at a
time of alarming xenophobia
and bigotry against Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders
in the United States amid the
18 MARCH 25, 2021
COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the start of the
pandemic, anti-Asian hate
crimes have increased by
1,900% in the United States,
with women reporting 2.3
times more hate incidents than
men. Experts have blamed this
troubling uptick in Asian hate
crimes, in part, on Donald
Trump’s dangerous rhetoric,
with the former president
using damaging terms such as
“China virus” and “kung flu” to
refer to COVID-19. The details
surrounding this tragedy are
continuing to develop, as more
information regarding the
victims and gunman are being
released. Despite the fact that
the majority of the victims were
Asian women, the motivation
behind the gunman’s massacre
is still to be determined.

I am an Asian American
Jewish woman living in
Los Angeles. My parents
immigrated from Taiwan in
the 1970s, and my twin sister
and I were born in Los Angeles
in the 1980s. I converted to
Judaism three years ago, before
my second child was born, a
decision that was many years
in the making. My husband
and I are currently raising our
two Asian American Jewish
preschool-aged children in
Los Angeles.

News reports surrounding
the violence in Atlanta have
been very careful in how they
describe the shootings and the
gunman’s motivations. The
media has carefully parsed
details of the victims, empha-
sizing that six of the eight
victims were Asian (two were
JEWISH EXPONENT
white) and seven of the victims
were women (one was male). It
is as if the fact that not all the
victims were Asian, and not all
were female — even though the
overwhelming majority were
Asian females — should make
the situation any less alarming.

Even if this tragedy does not
end up being classified as a
hate crime, it is undoubtedly a
hate-filled, violent attack aimed
squarely at Asian women. The
media’s couched and carefully
chosen statements do a disser-
vice to how horrific the crime
is that was committed.

When I first heard of the
shootings, I had just finished
putting my two energetic young
children to bed. As parents
of young children know, my
day had been jam-packed with
preschool dropoff and pickup,
meals, bath, bedtime and so
on, all amid the backdrop of
the pandemic. The moments of
quiet after my kids fall asleep
each day are precious to me —
a reprieve from the chaos that
riddles my days.

I finally sat down to rest
when I noticed I had missed a
text message from my husband,
who was still finishing up
his work. He had sent me a
Twitter link accompanied by
the comment, “So scary, 8
Asian women murdered in
ATL.” I stopped in my tracks.

In complete disbelief, I had to
read his description twice. I
quickly forwarded the link to
my sister, who had not heard
the news yet, and she wrote
back sharing my shock and
horror. As a mother of half-Asian
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM