O pinion
When It Comes to Denouncing White Supremacists, Words Matter
BY SHIRA GOODMAN
WORDS MATTER. This is
a lesson we teach our kids,
but adults must heed this as
well. And often, the intent
behind the words becomes less
important than the meaning
imbued in those words by the
audience. Our country is again
realizing this as we deal with
what President Donald Trump
did and did not say during last
week’s debate.

Trump was asked by moder-
ator Chris Wallace, “Are you
willing, tonight, to condemn
white supremacists and militia
groups and to say that they need
to stand down … ?” Rather than
condemn white supremacists,
Trump repeatedly dodged the
question, and then responded,
“Proud Boys should stand back
and stand by. But I’ll tell you
what, somebody’s got to do
something about antifa and the
left.” Immediately following the
debate exchange, ADL CEO
Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted
that he was “trying to deter-
mine if this was an answer or
an admission. @POTUS owes
America an apology or an
explanation. Now.” Forty-eight
hours later in an interview on
Fox News, the president finally
said, “I condemn all white
supremacists.” This delayed
response, however, could not
undo the messages sent and
heard Tuesday night.

Here are the facts. Domestic
extremism is a growing and
increasingly deadly problem.

In 2019, domestic extremists
killed at least 42 people in the
United States in 17 separate
incidents. Although there are
extremists on the left and the
right who have engaged in
violence, over the last decade,
right-wing extremists have
been responsible for 76% of
all domestic extremist-re-
lated murders. Trump’s own
FBI director recently testi-
fied that “the most lethal of
all domestic extremists since
2001” have been those who
are racially and ethnically
motivated, with white suprem-
acists encompassing the largest
share of such extremists.

And a September 2020 draft
report from the Department
of Homeland Security identi-
fies white supremacists as the
greatest domestic terror threat
to the United States.

We cannot defeat this deadly
form of hatred if we fail to
recognize it and if our leaders
fail to condemn it unequivo-
cally, every time. Tuesday night,
those who fight hatred, bigotry,
anti-Semitism and racism heard
silence where there should have
be a simple, strong statement.

Worse, those motivated
by hatred and bigotry heard
a call to action. They were
emboldened and empow-
ered; one Proud Boys chapter
used the phrase “Stand Back,
Stand By” in a new logo. The
Philadelphia Chapter posted a
doctored image of the presi-
dent wearing one of the Proud
Boys’ standard polo shirts.

Others tweeted, “Standing by.”
Words matter. In the
pyramid of hate that ADL
uses to demonstrate how hate
unchecked can escalate from
biased attitudes to violence, we
emphasize how important it is
to interrupt hate at every level.

That includes calling out friends
and family for telling offen-
sive jokes and posting racially
biased memes, criticizing and
correcting those who misgender
trans people, and condemning
community leaders for racism,
anti-Semitism or any other
hateful speech.

When we fail to do so, a
cycle of escalation begins that
is harder to interrupt. This is
because once we tolerate the
jokes and posts, those speakers
are emboldened. It is not a
tough leap from words to
action, and as we normalize
that kind of speech, it creates
an atmosphere where discrim-
ination, hate incidents and
violence can occur.

We all share the responsi-
bility to call out hate wherever
we see it, whichever side of
the aisle it comes from, and
whoever the speaker is — ally
or opponent, friend or critic. In
these highly polarized times, it
is easier to call out the other side
and to give more leeway to those
we might agree with or support.

This is a dangerous trap because
those who are motivated by
hate will be empowered by that
polarization and any silence it
creates. Words matter — what
is said, what is heard, and how
we respond. l
Shira Goodman is the regional
director of ADL Philadelphia, which
serves eastern Pennsylvania,
southern New Jersey and
Delaware. Teaching and Understanding Culture Is Vital
BY CAROLYN LEIGH KELLERMAN
I HAVE OFTEN wondered
about the meaning of “culture.”
As an adult, I am still learning.

As an educator, I must know.

It’s a crucial topic to be taught
today. It’s as important as
learning mathematics. When
children grow up appreciating
each other’s differences, we
are creating a generation of
individuals who will have more
16 OCTOBER 8, 2020
respect for each other.

I grew up in a town just 15
minutes from Cherry Hill, New
Jersey. I was born and raised
Jewish. I had my bat mitzvah
in my adulthood. When I was
younger, there were probably
only two Jewish children in my
grade. The town I grew up in is
a beautiful town with excellent
schools; however, there are few
Jewish families.

I will never forget the
moment in the lunchroom when
I first felt excluded. I was sitting
with my friends eating lunch
when I felt something cold hit
my skin. I looked up and didn’t
see anything. Then it happened
again. It was a coin. I looked
around and found another coin
on the ground. A bunch of boys
were laughing and staring at me.

I immediately thought, “Why
on earth is someone throwing
money at me?” It wasn’t until I
spoke to my parents about what
happened that I realized I was
being singled out. Before lunch,
I’d felt included. The minute
someone threw a coin at me, I
felt excluded. In one second a
child’s well-being can change.

We need to change that
as a community. We need to
educate our friends, students
and families so that we appre-
ciate each other’s differences.

Of course, this wasn’t the
only time in my life when I
was treated unfairly due to
being Jewish. There were many
instances as I grew into my
teenage years when I was criti-
cized, laughed at, joked about
and belittled for being Jewish.

Someone I considered a friend
even said to me, “I could never
marry a Jew!” Once again, I
wondered: Why do people think
JEWISH EXPONENT
this way? What makes someone
have these feelings? I believe
the answer is that they are not
educated properly about their
own traditions. It’s our customs
that make us all unique and
special. Families need to take
more time to do this.

Cleopatra had it right when
she ruled Egypt as queen.

Her native language was not
Egyptian, but she believed
a ruler should know her
people’s language. She studied
the Egyptian language and
continued to learn several more.

What happened to George
Floyd has brought national
attention to the importance of
teaching kindness and compas-
sion toward others. It’s more
important than ever to change
the way we raise our children
and educate our students about
culture. My story is just one
of many.

My parents are educators.

My dad was a principal of a
middle school and my mom
taught elementary education.

During my graduate studies, I
substituted at my father’s school
to earn extra money. Not always
happy about waking up at 5:30
a.m. to get ready to head to
Northern Burlington Middle
School, I didn’t realize my time
there would forever change
my view about education. My
father ran that school in and out.

Everyone loved him. The school
was warm and welcoming. The
cafeteria workers loved my dad.

As I watched him work hard,
communicate and create a warm
working environment for his
staff, I knew at that moment
the importance of leadership.

See Kellerman, Page 20
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



O pinion
The American Jewish Story Needs to
Include More Non-Ashkenazi Jews Like Me
BY LAYLA RUDY | JTA
WHEN I WAS in first grade,
during my first few weeks of
yeshiva in New Jersey, my
teacher asked the class what
we knew about Shabbat. I kept
quiet, but my classmates had
plenty of answers.

“We can’t cut paper with
scissors,” one said.

“I’m not allowed to use
glue,” a classmate behind me
pointed out.

Another student raised their
hand and gleefully shouted
out, “Kibbeh and lachmagine!”
Our teacher laughed and
responded, “Yes, we do eat kibbeh
and lachmagine on Shabbat,
that’s my favorite part!”
That was the moment I
realized my fellow classmates,
my teachers, my community,
were just like me. They ate
kibbeh, lachmagine, sambusak,
ka’ak and every other food I
thought would be considered
weird or different. It was in that
moment I realized the stark
difference from the stories I
heard from my mother about
her own upbringing.

My entire paternal family
came from the Syrian city
of Aleppo in the early 20th
century. My maternal grand-
father was born in Damascus,
my grandmother in Istanbul.

They married in Lebanon, had
two children and escaped in
1967 when it became unten-
able for Jews to live there. My
mother is the first in her family
to be born in North America.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM She was raised in Montreal and
attended a Jewish school with
mostly Ashkenazi children.

My mother and I were in
our backyard a few weeks ago
when I was imparting my
thoughts on being raised in our
Syrian community surrounded
by people who shared our
background, values and tradi-
tions. I told her about my
experience in first grade and
the small, stunning revelation
of my community.

Sitting on lounge chairs
under the sun, my mother
relayed the story I’ve heard since
I was a child: my great-grand-
mother Leila baking pita bread,
then spreading labneh and mint
with a drizzle of olive oil and
rolling it up for my mother to
eat for lunch. And my mother —
nearly the same age I was when I
heard “kibbeh and lachmagine”
— taking the rolled-up pita out
of her bag at lunchtime and
attempting to eat it, only to
be surrounded by questioning
classmates. “What is that?” they asked
my mother.

She told them about her pita
sandwich with labneh and mint,
a sandwich her grandmother
made for her, a sandwich my
grandmother still makes for me.

“Arab! She’s an Arab!” they
taunted her, faces twisted in
disgust. I have heard this story since
I was young, nearly every time
my mother or grandmother
prepares me a pita sandwich
with labneh and mint (and
tomatoes and olives). But this
was the first time my mother
told me the actual taunts thrown
her way, the manner in which
they spit out the word “Arab!”
I have never met that level
of blatant hostility, but now,
venturing out of my commu-
nity and onto a university
campus in Brooklyn and now
Montreal, I do encounter
confusion and questioning
when I tell classmates that I’m a
Syrian Jew. I’m often met with,
“There are Jews in Syria?”
To which I respond, “Well,
not anymore.”
As I proceed further out
of my community and into
the “real world,” I realize my
Jewish identity is a puzzle to
nearly everyone I meet. I didn’t
understand it at first. How
could people not know about
Jews, about where we come
from and our histories, how we
ended up where we are today?
Learning more about my
Jewish history, as well as the
histories and heritages of our vast
community, has made me realize
that the lenses through which
the world views Jewish people is
very much centered on Ashkenazi
Jews (and even then, people aren’t
aware of nor educated fully on the
multifaceted history of Ashkenazi
Jews, either).

Mizrahim (Jews who were
exiled to Middle Eastern
countries), Sephardim (Jews
who were exiled to Spain) and
other subdivisions within our
larger Jewish community are
too often ignored by Ashkenazi
Jews and the institutional Jewish
world. The dangerous connota-
tions and rhetoric that comes
along with our erasure within
and outside of Jewish commu-
nities is more than just a matter
of “they don’t know about us.”
With our existence being barely
an afterthought, the mainstream
idea of Jewish people — what
we look like, our traditions, our
historical backgrounds — is
inherently warped.

The conversation on Judaism
and Jewish history, as well as the
modern Jewish experience, has
largely been led by and centered
on Ashkenazim. That conversa-
tion is an important one. There are
people who deny the Holocaust
and those who subscribe to
the preposterous notion that
KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Runyan Wrong on Trump
IT IS DISAPPOINTING that Rabbi Joshua Runyan (“Why
Trump’s Not Getting This Orthodox Vote: He’s Neither Good for
the Jews, Nor for Judaism,” Sept. 10) has not applied the teach-
ings of the Torah and the wisdom of the sages to his analysis of
our upcoming election.

The relocation of the U.S. Embassy was authorized in 1995 by
the United States Congress. Successive presidents of both parties
delayed doing so. The recognition of Israel by the UAE is the first
movement of rapprochement in a quarter-century. And these
steps are supposed to make the USA more dangerous for Jews?
Four years ago, we began the biggest economic growth from an
economy that was undergoing the slowest recovery since the Great
Depression. We are now recovering from the worst pandemic in
over 100 years with a vaccine months, not years, away.

It is difficult to understand how the rabbi can support a candi-
date who wants to reinstate millions of U.S. dollars annually to
the Palestinians with their “Pay to Slay” government. It is equally
difficult to understand how he can vote for a party who honored
noted anti-Semite Linda Sarsour by allowing her to speak at their
recent national convention. This same candidate wants to rejoin
the horrible Iran deal, reopen the Palestinian pseudo-embassy
in Washington, and supports Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her
anti-Israel squad.

It is unfortunate that Runyan does not seem to remember the
words of Hillel the Elder, “If I am not for me, who am I?”
Robert M. Rubin | Huntingdon Valley
Rose Wrong on Trump
Binyamin Rose (“Many Orthodox Jews Support President
Trump. I’m One of Them — Here’s Why,” Sept. 10) should worry
more about the blatant anti-Semitism in this country, which is a
direct result of Trump’s unleashing of hatred and bigotry.

Rose should also be more worried about the narcissism that
puts thousands of Trump’s followers at risk of contracting and
spreading COVOD-19 when urged to attend Trump’s rallies.

Rose should also realize that Trump really does not care about
Israel or the Jews. He cares only about himself — currying favor
with the Jews and evangelicals is self-serving, as is everything
Trump does.

Suzi Gerber | Lafayette Hill
See Letters, Page 20
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.

See Rudy, Page 20
JEWISH EXPONENT
OCTOBER 8, 2020
17