The Activist
Nancy Zaretsky, Chair
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Tracey Spiegelman, Vice Chair
Carol Brick-Turin, Director
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Jacob Markey, Associate
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Volume 9, Issue 2 ∙ February 2019
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Dear Friends,
The last few months have been heartbreaking for the American Jewish community. The October shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh shook us to the core. According to the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. rose almost 60 percent in 2017 – the largest single-year increase on record.
I repeat, the largest single year increase on record.
Violence and the objectification of people based on religion, skin color or political beliefs have become commonplace in our public discourse. As you will see in this newsletter, community building within the Jewish community and outside it is key to finding that middle ground, where we can recover our shared values of equality, liberty and democracy. In doing so, we find unity in diversity.
The crucial work of community building is just one facet of JCRC’s work. Yet by sharing our city as neighbors, we deepen our own understanding of what it means to be Jewish and an American.
We were, heartened to see so many people at the Solidarity Vigil, s
ponsored by the GMJF and JCRC, the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, the Consul General of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico and the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami, and in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, MCCJ and the City of Miami Beach.
With thousands in attendance, including partners from the Christian, Muslim and African-American communities, we saw our power from standing together as one. May we continue to remember the victims in the months and years ahead.
Since then, we have continued to engage our community. On January 16, we brought attention to one of the key issues facing the Jewish community: the movement to delegitimize Israel. We welcomed over 300 participants to our Community-wide Forum on the Movement to Delegitimize Israel to hear Gidi Grinstein of the Reut Group offer his thoughts on the current state-of-play of this movement and then stay for multiple breakout sessions to dive deeper into relevant topics. Seventy-five high schools students gained tools during a pre-college campus preparation breakout session at the Michael-Ann Russell JCC. We are most appreciative of the dozen organizations that took part in the evening.
We are also hard at work planning for the upcoming legislative sessions, both at the state and federal levels. The relationships we form and cultivate through the year are crucial to ensure we best advocate for the needs of our community.
As always, thank you for your partnership in this crucial work of community relations.
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Gun Violence Task Force Update
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In October, the JCRC convened the first meeting of our Gun Violence Task Force. We then developed a Gun Violence Background and Call to Action to distribute to synagogues through the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami and to influentials throughout Miami-Dade County. It includes important facts to raise awareness of gun violence and urges support of H.R.8 - Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 and S.42 - Background Check Expansion Act.
Click here
to access this background sheet and find out how you can act on this issue.
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Intergroup and Interfaith Engagement
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Community Solidarity Vigil
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Reverend Priscilla Felisky Whitehead speaks at the Solidarity Vigil
In the aftermath of the tragedy at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, it was heartening to have 4,000 members of the Greater Miami community, from all different backgrounds, come together for a Solidarity Vigil: An Interfaith Gathering Against Anti-Semitism & Hate.
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JCRC at the Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board
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Members of Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board
As a member of the Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board,
JCRC was honored
to represent the Greater Miami Jewish Federation before the County's Board of Commissioners.
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JCRC Participates in JServe 2019
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From Left to Right: Ruban Roberts, President of the Miami-Dade Chapter of the NAACP; Tobi Ash, Chair of the Jewish Volunteer Center; Rabbi Ethan Bair, Temple Beth Sholom
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, JCRC took part in J-Serve, the Jewish Volunteer Center's annual day of service for teenagers. An important part of this day was a panel on racial justice, held in a church where Dr. King once spoke. Over 150 teenagers heard panelists discuss African-American-Jewish relations in the past, the current state of the relationship and what the future might look like.
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JCRC Attends The Women's Fund Impact Collaborative
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From Left to Right: Faith Kohler; Carol Brick-Turin, Director of the JCRC; DeAnne Connolly Graham, President of ROI Media Consultants; Kathy Andersen, Executive Director of Women's Fund
Each month, the Women's Fund holds Impact Collaborative meetings devoted to discussing challenges on various issues facing Miami and bringing together community members to develop solutions. This month, JCRC professionals attended and engaged with community members on the issue of human trafficking.
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February 25, 2019
JCRC Workshop with
Resetting the Table
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
GMJF
February 26, 2019
JFNA Disability Day Fly-In
Washington, D.C.
March, 2019
JCRC Advocacy Mission to Tallahassee
April 3-4, 2019
Washington, D.C. JCRC-Major Gifts Advocacy Mission
April 11, 2019
JCRC Advocacy Seder
4:00 – 6:00 PM
GMJF
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Israel Education and Civil Discourse
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Community-wide Forum on the Movement to Delegitimize Israel
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Panel on New BDS Trends.
From Left to Right: Phillip Brodsky, Executive Director of The David Project; Jonathan Bridge, Chief Programming Officer of AEPi; Stephanie Hausner, Deputy Director of the Israel Action Network; Mark Kleinman, Southeastern States Director of AIPAC (Moderator)
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Gidi Grinstein of the Reut Group offers his thoughts on the movement to delegimitize Israel
Nearly 325 people attended our Community-wide Forum, held at Temple Beth Sholom and the Michael-Ann Russell JCC. Participants learned about such issues as new BDS trends and fact checking and gained tools to become stronger advocates for Israel.
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JCRC Applauds Gov. DeSantis' Decision to Oppose Airbnb
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After Airbnb's decision to restrict Israeli Jews living in the West Bank from offering their homes as rentals on its site, GMJF, along with partner Federations in Florida, wrote to Gov. Ron DeSantis. We asked him to oppose this decision and urged him to look into placing the company on Florida’s “Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel” list. We applaud the governor’s efforts to oppose the company’s policy and to strongly pressure it to reverse its decision.
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JCRC-Sponsored Institute for Curriculum Services Training
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ICS trainer Dori Gerber offers professional guidance for teaching about Israel
At Miami Springs High School in November, we welcomed an educator from the Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) to train 26 middle and high school teachers on issues in the Middle East and environmental concerns in the region. Thank you ICS and Miami-Dade County Public Schools for making this happen! By training teachers, ICS, in partnership with JCRC, is improving the quality of education about Jews, Judaism and Israel in the United States.
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Deborah E. Lipstadt at GMJF
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Noted Professor Deborah Lipstadt spoke to a January lunch audience of GMJF, Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach and JCRC volunteer leaders and professionals about her new book,
Antisemitism: Here and Now
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The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), a standing Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, serves as the public policy and advocacy arm of Federation and is the instrument through which the organized Jewish community can explore and develop policies on issues affecting the community. The JCRC educates and engages the Jewish community on key international, federal, state, and local issues, builds consensus, establishes relationships and builds coalitions with ethnic, religious, governmental and civic organizations and the media, to ensure a vibrant community that is able to take positions and advocate in pursuit of social justice.
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The Mission of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation is to mobilize human and financial resources to care for those in need, strengthen Jewish life and advance the unity, values and shared purpose of the Jewish people in Miami, in Israel and around the world.
Greater Miami Jewish Federation
Stanley C. Myers Building
4200 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, FL 33137
(305) 576-4000
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