Dear Friends,
In my column last month, I spoke about the strength of TBT coming from our members and their dedication to our community. That was on clear display this weekend. For those of you who missed it, the TBT Kulanu group hosted a community discussion about antisemitism. We had tables and chairs set up for 120 people.
The night before the event when I spoke to Harry Schanzer (my Dad and chair of the Kulanu Working Group), he admitted that he was worried “about the numbers.” I asked, “too many or too few?” He said, “too few.” WRONG answer!!!
We had more than 300 people from the Shoreline show up to learn how to combat antisemitism. It was truly emotional and uplifting to see so many congregants, neighbors, friends, teens, politicians, clergy, educators, and allies come together against hate. It made me proud to be Jewish, proud to be a member of Temple Beth Tikvah, and proud to live on the CT shoreline.
After listening to Stacy Sobel, CT ADL Director, discuss what the ADL is doing to fight hate, two TBT congregants spoke of their own experiences with antisemitism. Thank you to Maya Daniels, our courageous middle schooler, and the eloquent Susan Ottenheimer, daughter of founding members of TBT. We then broke into groups of ten to talk about our own experiences with hate or antisemitism. In just my small group I heard about a landlord saying, “don’t go to that pool, that’s where the Jews go.” Someone else told the story of leaving her job after her manager told her to “not market to the Jews” and the lawsuit that followed. A third member talked about his struggle when he found out someone he does business with is a Holocaust denier.
These were powerful stories that made me think about how I would respond in these situations and how I would want my children to react. If we truly believe NEVER AGAIN, we must act.
Step one is realizing that there is no place for hate and there is no such thing as a “microaggression.” A racist joke is not funny, a Jewish slur is not “just a saying,” a homophobic comment is never OK, and speaking up is our duty.
Kulanu means all of us. And it will take all of us to continue the mission to confront and fight antisemitism in our world. This forum was only the first that our team is planning. We look forward to many more. I would like to thank the Kulanu task force - Harry Schanzer, Rabbi Moss, Kim Romine, Rosemary Baggish, Nancy Fliss, Irma Grebel, Louis King, and Andrea SanMarco – for their initiative, hours of planning, dedication, and leadership.
Karen Goldberg