Table of Diversity Weekly: Jewish American Heritage Month

May is Jewish American Heritage Month and it is a great time to recognize the rich history of the Jewish community. Over the last few years, I have been on a journey to learn more about Jewish history for a couple reasons:

1. There's a lot to learn! The Jewish community has contributed so much to many of the norms we recognize and have incorporated into our day-to-day life.

2. I was introduced to the shared legacy of the Jewish and Black community and I have been intrigued! There is a long history between these groups that isn't talked about enough. As an Intersectionality Expert, the intersection of these two identities opens up a world that I didn't know about, but want to know more.

3. The rise of antisemitism means that we have to speak up and that requires being knowledgeable about what antisemitism looks like and how to confront it.

Did you know that after Mahalia Jackson sang at the March on Washington, but before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took the stage to deliver his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech, American Jewish Congress President, Dr. Joachim Prinz spoke to the crowd? Check out his speech in this newsletter. I'm not sure about you, but growing up, this wasn't what I was taught. I was taught that Mahalia Jackson sang then Dr. King improvised his speech at Jackson's urging 'tell them about the dream, Martin.' Retellings of this story often leave out Dr. Prinz, even though his message is one we all need to hear.

This issue of A Healthy Dose of DEI is focused on the Jewish community and the ways we, as leaders, can create a space for them to exist, feel safe, and contribute in ways that are meaningful to them. We explore the first national strategy for fighting antisemitism. The four main pillars of this plan can be replicated within your organization in a very easy way. We work through it in the activities section.

We've added a new section to the newsletter, only for subscribers! Sometimes, we need to see real people who have accomplished amazing feats to understand how we can do the same. We will share a person that you need to know, who embraces our DEI philosophy, and has done some great work that society has benefitted from. This week, we focus on Julius Rosenwald. Have you heard of him?

Read. Listen. Watch.

The first national strategy for fighting antisemitism is finally here. What's in it? -NPR

"The Biden administration has released the country's first national strategy for combating antisemitism, a landmark plan aimed at addressing a growing problem.

The strategy outlines over 100 steps that federal agencies have committed to completing within a year, and more than 100 specific calls to action aimed at Congress, civil society, state and local governments, academic institutions, businesses and religious communities.

The White House says it was informed by input from more than1,000 stakeholders from all areas of society. Its four pillars focus on raising awareness, improving security, reversing normalization and building solidarity.

President Biden called the plan the 'most ambitious and comprehensive U.S. government-led effort to fight antisemitism in American history' at a virtual launch event on Thursday.

"It sends a clear and forceful message," Biden said. "In America, evil will not win. Hate will not prevail. The venom and violence of antisemitism will not be the story of our time."

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What Is Jewish American Heritage Month? A Proud Jew Explains -Readers Digest

"The Jewish calendar is filled with well-known holidays- most people have heard of Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah and Passover even if they don't celebrate them. But every May, Jewish American Heritage Month invites people of all faiths and obvservance levels to celebrate in a different way. The holiday is all about acknowledging and celebrating the contributions Jewish Americans have made to this country.

'All of this is an antidote to antisemitism,' says Emily August, chief public engagement officer for the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, which organizes the monthly holiday. That's important because there's been an alarming increase in antisemitism in America (cases rose by 36% from 2021 to 2022) and internationally. With that in mind, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History partnered on a monthlong campaign using the hashtag #StandUpToJewishHate to raise awareness of and stand up to antisemitism.

But the celebration goes beyond that. Jewish American Heritage Month is a way of inviting people to embrace all things Jewish in the most positive ways possible. It centers on our cuisine and our major contributions to science, law, tech, literature and, yes, the movie industry. 'Jewish Heritage Month is about history, culture and knowledge,' says historian Miriam Mora, PhD, director of academic and public programs at the Center for Jewish History."

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Op-Ed: How I learned to embrace my Black and Jewish heritage -LA Times

"In the small town in New Jersey where I grew up, the Jewish population was almost nonexistent. I was always embarrassed to admit I was half Jewish. It was bad enough I was one of the only Black kids in our school, but to reveal being half Jewish meant I was going to be known as 'the Black Jew' -a heritage of two of the most oppressed peoples in history. The ridicule would never end.

So, I never owned or affiliated myself with Judaism. I never read the Torah or had a bar mitzvah or circled 'Jewish' on any form.

But through a string of personal encounters with family members and with history, I eventually came to think that maybe my Black identity was connected to my Jewish identity, as I found common themes between our peoples' experiences. What seems to separate us -our skin, our culture, our history- is really what binds the Black and Jewish people. We have defied persecution and slavery and genocide and systemic and institutional racism and antisemitism, but we're not defined by just our struggles. Our resolve, our irrefutable drive for freedom and equality define us. As a kid, I didn't understand any of that."

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10 key findings about Jewish Americans -Pew Research

"Jews in the United States are on the whole less religious than the overall public, at least by standard measures used in surveys. But Jewish Americans participate in a wide range of culturally Jewish activities as well as traditional religious practices.

A new Pew Research Center report, based on a survey of 4,718 Jewish American adults fielded from Nov. 19, 2019, to June 3, 2020, takes a closer look at these and many other topics. Here are 10 key findings from the report."

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How I rediscovered my lost Jewish heritage -The Sunday Times

"If I'd known anything about being Jewish I'd never have asked the question, 'Am I Jewish?' But I didn't. So it was naively that I set off to explore my Jewish identity, not knowing it was a journey with no end. I also didn't realise that I was seeking something else as well.

There were clues that I, Katie Rebecca Glass, may be Jewish. People told me quite often: 'You look Jewish.' Whatever that meant. I love Leonard Cohen, Amy Winehouse, Tel Aviv, salt beef and chess. I am anxious and bookish with frizzy hair and sallow skin. Still, if you'd asked me if I was Jewish, I'd have told you: 'No. Because it goes through your mother.' That is what my non-Jewish mother had always said: and that's where our conversations about Judaism had started and stopped. In a way, she was right. In Orthodox Judaism, descent follows the matrilineal line. In Somerset, where I grew up, I never met another Jewish person to ask. It was only later that I discovered things were a little more complicated.

My parents had a difficult divorce. I saw my father in London sporadically and although. I was aware he was Jewish, I could not tell you how I knew. I never saw him wear a kippah, the little cloth cap traditionally word by Jewish men. We never had Friday night dinners on Shabbat (or Friday night dinners at all). I don't think he was even a Woody Allen fan. The thought of him going to synagogue would have been absurd. The only vaguely Jewish thing about him was that he would take me to Selfridges' Brass Rail, a restaurant famous for its salt beef sandwiches. Somehow this food -comforting, sharp but sweet, and so different from what my school friends ate at home- tasted exotic and signalled something intriguingly different about him."

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Joachim Prinz, March on Washington, 1963

"Between a song by Mahalia Jackson and Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream speech (prompted by Mahalia, saying, 'Tell them about the dream, Martin!'), Jochim Prinz delivered this speech. A leading rabbi in Berlin under Hitler, Prinz came to the United States as a refugee, expelled from Germany, and led a congregation in Newark, New Jersey, becoming president of the American Jewish Congress. Prinz was struck by the parallels between racism and discrimination against the African Americans and the plight of European Jews under Hitler, and throughout history. He joined forces with Dr. King and made the fight for racial equality the centerpiece of his rabbinical activities."

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Weekly Activities

Activity 1: The Biden administration has released the country's first national strategy for combating antisemitism, a landmark plan aimed at addressing a growing problem.

There are four main pillars of the plan. The strategy's main objectives are:

• increasing awareness and understanding of both antisemitism and Jewish American heritage;

• improving safety and security for Jewish communities;

• reversing the normalization of antisemitism; and

• building coalitions across communities to fight hate

This week's activity is focused on the fourth pillar of the plan: Building coalitions across communities to fight hate.

From the plan: "Antisemitism does not exist in a vacuum. While antisemitism has unique characteristics, people who express hatred toward Jews frequently hold other biases based on actual or perceived religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. The perpetrators of hate-fueled attacks frequently deploy rhetoric that contains antisemitic, anti-Black, and anti-LGBTQI+ themes. The Neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville in 2017 believed in a toxic brew of myriad hatreds. Those who target Jews also target women, Black, Latino, Muslim, AANHPI, and LGBTQ+ Americans, and so many other communities. One report found that 91% of Americans believe antisemitism is a problem for everyone, and yet, in many instances, Jews feel as though antisemitism is ignored, discounted, or not taken as seriously as other forms of hate and bigotry."

How do you build meaningful partnerships with community coalitions that align with your team's/department's mission and vision? Does your organization has a Jewish community partner (either internal or external) that can help raise awareness, create safe spaces, and actively fight against antisemitism?

Activity 2: The Biden administration has released the country's first national strategy for combating antisemitism, a landmark plan aimed at addressing a growing problem.

There are four main pillars of the plan. The strategy's main objectives are:

• increasing awareness and understanding of both antisemitism and Jewish American heritage;

• improving safety and security for Jewish communities;

• reversing the normalization of antisemitism; and

• building coalitions across communities to fight hate

This week's conversation starter is focused on the third pillar: Reverse the normalization of antisemitism and counter antisemitic discrimination.

From the plan: "America must beat back and overwhelm hateful and antisemitic speech with a powerful chorus that rejects it, especially when it is spread by public figures. America will not be silent. As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, 'indifference to evil is worse than evil itself...in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.'

We must all say clearly and forcefully: Antisemitism and all forms of hate and violence can have no safe harbor in America."

Ask yourself and your team: How comfortable do you feel recognizing and speaking out against antisemitism? What support do you need to feel more comfortable?

Activity 3: The Biden administration has released the country's first national strategy for combating antisemitism, a landmark plan aimed at addressing a growing problem.

There are four main pillars of the plan. The strategy's main objectives are:

• increasing awareness and understanding of both antisemitism and Jewish American heritage;

• improving safety and security for Jewish communities;

• reversing the normalization and antisemitism; and

• building coalitions across communities to fight hate

From the plan: 'In 2020, the first 50-state survey on Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Gen Z found that most young Americans lack basic knowledge of the Holocaust. For example, 63% of survey respondents did not know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the holocaust, nearly 60% did not know what the concentration camp Auschwitz was, and 11% believed that Jews caused the Holocaust.'

How do you combat misinformation within your organization? If these generations are not learning these facts in schools, how do you close the knowledge gap to promote empathy, understanding, and tolerance?