PRAY
TELL COME ON, SUN!
New documentary explores
evangelical support for Israel
MARCH 4, 2021 / 20 ADAR 5781
PAGE 17
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM — WHAT IT MEANS TO BE JEWISH IN PHILADELPHIA —
$1.00 LOCAL
Philly Faces
Meet Rabbi Akiva
Pollock of Russian
American Jewish
Experience Page 8
ISRAEL Landmark Ruling
from Israel’s
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Non-Orthodox can
become citizens.

Page 10
Volume 133
Number 47
Published Weekly Since 1887
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
THOUGH THIS YEAR is technically
the 25th anniversary edition of the Israeli
Film Festival of Philadelphia, this spring’s
version will take a diff erent tack.

Rather than spoil the chance to celebrate
a quarter-century of bringing Israeli fi lm
to Philadelphia, festival organizers are
treating this edition as a one-off . Th ey
hope to have a proper celebration of 25
years in March 2022.

On top of that, admission to this year’s
festival, which will screen online, will be free.

“We decided that, given the miserable
state of people’s lives, because of COVID,
we wanted to kind of pay it forward, for
lack of a better word,” IFF founder and
Artistic Director Mindy Chriqui said.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but it appears
to have paid dividends. Requests for
tickets have been high enough that “if we
The Pennsylvania state Capitol building, the site of an ongoing legislative tussle over hate crime laws
pabradyphoto / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Frankel Reintroduces Hate
Crime Legislation
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
FOR YEARS, Pennsylvania state Rep.

Dan Frankel has been trying expand
the protections off ered by the Ethnic
Intimidation Act, the Pennsylvania law
that eff ectively created “hate crimes” as a
category of crime in the Commonwealth.

In January, Frankel reintroduced a
package of bills that are intended to impose
stiff er penalties on those convicted of hate
crimes, off er new educational opportu-
nities to off enders and police offi cers,
and allow students to report hate crimes
anonymously. Could 2021 be the year? Could
Frankel’s eff orts fi nally bear fruit?
At the very least, the idea that hate
See Fest, Page 12
See Hate, Page 13
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Page 5
76 Panel examines
the issue through
pragmatic lens.

ng 19
What Can We Do
About Racism?
c e
GLOBAL Philly’s
Israeli Film
Fest Opts
for Free
‘Theater’ Model
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