Of necessity, our work as a JCRC is partially reactive. When antisemitic incidents occur, we pick up the phone and provide support. When on December 4, for example, about two dozen students from the School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) walked out and staged a protest that included p…
More and more, I find myself sharing the following memory: In high school, I was the president of my school’s Model UN. At one convention, our group was representing Israel, and we succeeded at brokering peace in the Middle East and a two-state solution. And it wasn’t even that hard.
I …
What a week it has been. Since last Wednesday (2/7), our community has been abuzz over whether we might join the many other American cities that have adopted polarizing and anti-Israel-biased ceasefire resolutions. After close to 200 members of our community came to Cincinnati City Hall th…
Some months ago, while providing proponent testimony for a bill to create religious accommodations for K-12 students (SB 49), I had a special experience. What I said that day really didn't matter; however, after I spoke, a member of Columbus’ Muslim leadership explained to the legislators …
It was Heraclitus who, thousands of years ago, said that “you can’t step in the same river twice.” In our post-October 7 reality, the river doesn’t just feel changed—it feels almost entirely unrecognizable. This perception is consistently reaffirmed as we learn more about what happ…
As much as our data indicates incidents of antisemitism have ballooned, the reality may be even worse. Here's how I know: In the last several months, while connecting with community members, Jewish folks have commonly told me some variant of “oh, by the way, something happened the other da…
These days, many Jews feel alone, sensing that they have been abandoned by allies. One could muster ample evidence supporting this belief, including a recent Cincinnati “interfaith peace vigil” for Gaza which opted not to include any local Jewish voices. Admittedly, such missteps are cle…
I often hear how we must “inoculate” folks against antisemitism. The thinking goes: If only we can educate them early—teach them, for instance, about the Holocaust—then they’ll understand. Then they’ll stand firm, not contributing to the proliferation of Jew-hatred.
The last eig…
It was in Columbus, Ohio that General Sherman once said the words that were famously adapted to “war is hell.” As we see again today, he was right. Yes: Israel has a moral duty to root out Hamas and ensure that nothing like October 7 ever reoccurs. And: There are breathtaking numbers of …
None of this is easy. Not only did we just experience the gravest terror attack on Jews in ages, not only is there now a war raging between Israel and Hamas, but we must also now deal with waning empathy for Israel and Jews in the wake of it all. No, it's not easy; and many feel hopeless and…
Approximately six weeks ago, I told our Jewish Federation of Cincinnati staff the following:
“Work sometimes feels like firefighting in the JCRC: When there are issues of antisemitism, we get called in to extinguish flames, mitigate damage, and help in the aftermath. When we respond to a …
This week, Jeremy and I attended the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh, PA. Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, spoke near the beginning of the conference. She observed:
There are some who’d like us to think that the safety and rights of one community…
This week, I could hardly write about anything but our recent work regarding the antisemitic nature of the West Chester Tea Party (WCTP). There are two main themes I must address: 1) Why it’s imperative we shed light on this problem, and 2) A reflection on the courage shown by our elected …
Recently, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s Jewish Community Relations Council learned that—on September 5—the West Chester Tea Party hosted a speaker who disseminated numerous extreme antisemitic conspiracy theories. The West Chester Tea Party subsequently repeated many of these i…
Next week, Amy Spitalnick—JCPA’s new CEO, who formerly led the legal charge against the organizers of 2017’s deadly neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville—will visit Cincinnati. This is a huge opportunity for our community, and I'm so excited to tell you more about it.
Amy will arrive la…
