Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
On Wednesday, Feb. 26, a host of local Jewish organizations are hosting an event at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History that organizer Meir Zimmerman of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia called important at a moment that feels “extremely vulnerable” for Jewish people.
The event is a town hall on antisemitism, designed to get key decision makers in the local Jewish community on a stage in front of members of the public where they can answer questions.
Zimmerman will moderate the event with Ayal Feinberg, director at the Center for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights at Gratz College. The featured speakers are American Jewish Committee Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey Regional Director Marcia Bronstein, Gratz College President Zev Eleff, Anti-Defamation League Philadelphia Regional Director Andrew Goretsky, Weitzman President and CEO Dan Tadmor and Director of the Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council Jason Holtzman.
“Ultimately, we want the Jewish community to feel supported and feel like we’re taking the issue seriously, because we are,” Zimmerman said. “I think that this kind of program can go a long way in helping a lot of people feel more supported by the legacy organizations working in this space and inspire people [to] get more involved.”
Holtzman said the event is simple in its idea but important given the need in the community.
“Obviously, living in the post-Oct. 7 world, there has been a tremendous uptick in Jewish hate since Oct. 7. Unfortunately, it’s not going away. There’s really no way of putting the genie back in the bottle,” he said. “We want to take this opportunity to unite voices from ADL, AJC, JCRC and Gratz College to send a clear message that fighting antisemitism is our collective responsibility, and that we as the leaders of the community, as the organizations that are really taking on this fight, are joining together to offer thought leadership and resources to our community.”
Zimmerman said that the event was born from the idea that the community has questions and deserves answers. He said that the people that the Federation and their peers serve — Philadelphia-area Jews — have been through a lot in the past 16 months.
“How do we make sure that the community feels heard and supported? That was the genesis of the idea. We thought, “Let’s just put our leaders out there on a panel, town hall style, and give people the opportunity to ask them questions and to engage with us in our work.”
While the event isn’t for another couple of weeks, the results are already showing success. In the first couple of days since the event was announced, over 100 people have registered and dozens more have inquired about attending virtually. The event is free to attend and produced by the Weitzman, Gratz, Federation, AJC and ADL.
Holtzman said the interest is a reflection of how pervasive the issue of antisemitism is right now.
“We see this in K-through-12 schools, on college campuses, in the workplace and generally throughout our society,” he said. “So coming together in a unified front, saying that we’re working together, being able to educate the community on what all of our organizations are doing, and giving them the opportunity to work with us and interact with us, we think it’s the best thing that we can really do to empower the local Jewish community and our allies.”
Zimmerman said that the input of these allies is essential. He said the Federation is proud of the work it does with other ethnic and faith-based communities, and that it expects allies to show support for this event in the same way that the Federation has for them in the past.
“It’s one thing for a Jewish community leader to stand up and say, ‘We have to stop antisemitism,’ but it feels different when it’s someone like a Ritchie Torres or a John Fetterman, and I think most Jews would agree with that,” Zimmerman said. “For the moment, we can inspire our non-Jewish neighbors to stand with us.”
As for the event, Holtzman said that it will run from 6 to 7:30 p.m., with doors opening a half hour before the discussion starts.
“The four of us who are going to be speaking will have a chance to offer some opening remarks about the times that we’re living in, the trends that we’re seeing and how our organizations are responding to antisemitism,” Holtzman said. “And from there, I think we’re going to just hear from the audience and really meet the moment of where we are, and give [the public] tools that they need to make them feel that they’re not isolated in fighting against antisemitism.”
At the end of the month, local leaders will look to pass on the tools necessary to combat antisemitism. Then, it’ll be up to the public to use them.
Is there a virtual option?