JCRC is closely monitoring the attack on a Michigan synagogue and sends love and support to Michigan's Jewish community. We are grateful that reports indicate the synagogue's private security neutralized the threat and no other injuries have been reported.

March 2026

Welcome to Gesher (‘Bridge’ in Hebrew) – JCRC's monthly impact newsletter to keep you informed on our work and the challenges and opportunities before our community.

JCRC Staff Column

L’hitraot, Minnesota: Why my aliya completes a circle three generations in the making

Sami Rahamim

Director of Communications and Community Affairs

Sami is moving to Israel!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt called to live in Israel. After 30 years in Minnesota, I'm answering the call, with plans to make aliya (moving to Israel) later this month, flights permitting. It is both the closing of a circle and the beginning of work at the other end of a bridge.

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One big thing we're focused on

2026 JCRC Annual Event

Reclaiming Our Story

Sunday, June 7, 5:30-9:00 PM | Downtown Minneapolis

Featuring Sarah Hurwitz, author of, As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Shame, Blame, and Try To Erase Us, is an urgent exploration of how antisemitism has shaped Jewish identity and how Jews can reclaim their tradition, by the celebrated White House speechwriter and author of the widely acclaimed Here All Along.

“Beautifully written and brilliantly argued, As a Jew is that rare book that defines an historical moment. The American Jewish awakening is upon us, and Sarah Hurwitz is its prophet.” - Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, author of New York Times bestseller Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, and 2018 JCRC Annual Event keynote speaker

PURCHASE TICKETS

Upcoming Events

The Persian-Jewish Story: Past, Present, and Future

Tomorrow: Friday, March 13, 1:00-2:00 PM | Webinar

To help us make sense of this pivotal moment—what brought us here, and where we might go—we turn to Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh, a Los Angeles-based Persian Jewish leader, and Ali Alizadeh, a local Iranian American entrepreneur and advocate for a free Iran.

Moderated by JCRC's Sami Rahamim, whose grandparents left Iran for Israel in 1949, this conversation will take us beyond the headlines to the deeper stories of our peoples as we hope and pray for a new chapter in this remarkable story.

Transfer of Memory Exhibit

University of St. Thomas O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library

Now through April 30

This exhibition illustrates Holocaust survivors living in Minnesota, in their homes, in full color. Each is a story of survival during exceedingly difficult circumstances.

Map and hours | Learn more about Transfer of Memory

Yom HaShoah Commemoration

Monday, April 13, 7:00 PM | Mount Zion Temple

Finding a home in America: This year's annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration will highlight the Holocaust survivor immigrant experience.

Statements

Blotting Out Evil: In Solidarity with the People of Iran, Israel, and All Who Yearn for Peace in the Middle East

Advocacy Alerts

A Moment of Civic Strain. A Call to Show Up

JCRC invites you to join us to advocate with your state legislators during this moment of profound civic strain.

In the wake of Operation Metro Surge, many Minnesotans are still experiencing fear, instability, and a loss of trust in public institutions. At the same time, nearly two-and-a-half years after October 7, anti-Jewish politics continue creeping toward the mainstream of American life—creating a constricted civic climate for Jews.

These realities are not separate. Both reflect a political environment increasingly shaped by polarization, propaganda, and rigid binary thinking.

We are convening Jewish community advocates to meet directly with state legislators to share lived experiences, articulate concerns, and affirm the democratic values that bind us together as Minnesotans and Americans.

Learn more and join us to advocate

Building Bridges

Recent impact highlights from JCRC

Education

Mia Exhibit: Modern Art and Politics in Germany: 1910–1945

Minneapolis Institute of Arts asked JCRC to support its new exhibit which aligns with Jewish history, culture, and civilization by providing a professional training for 150 staff and volunteers on Jewish civilization with a special focus on Jewish life in German lands from the medieval period through emancipation and leading up to the rise of Nazism. This training equipped museum staff and docents with historical context to better interpret the exhibit’s themes. Our partnership with MIA will continue through public tours and educational programs while the exhibit runs through July 19.

See the exhibit

Advocacy

Operation Metro Surge Legal Webinars

JCRC convened two expert panel discussions on the legal and community impact of Operation Metro Surge. Members of the Twin Cities Cardozo Society, Bob Aronson and Norm Pentelovich as well as Amy Weiss of JFCS and Rabbi Jill Avrin of JCRC discussed what we learned from the past two months of extraordinary federal actions in Minnesota, what are our rights and responsibilities when rule of law is threatened, and where things stand now.

Recordings available on our resource page