20 June 20 • 2019
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of different groups but demanded 
participants display no Jewish stars. 
Berman and a friend decided to 
attend and to display Jewish symbols. 
When she shared that idea with 
another friend, a talented public rela-
tions expert, he said, “You can’
t do 
it that way as two people. You need 
a social media presence, an Internet 
presence, a logo, a title, an organiza-
tional name. You need to show up in 
numbers.” 
He came up with the name 
Zioness. “It feels exactly right to me,” 
Berman said. 
He arranged this in a few days. “It 
turned out that a lot of people felt 
the way I did, feeling excluded from 
causes that matters to them because 
of anti-Semitism.” 
Though Zioness began with activ-
ities, in August of 2017 it began to 
form chapters. “We quickly grew to 
28 chapters,” she said. “We need more 
professional staff to keep track of all 
our activities.” 
All sorts of progressive causes 
now are infected with anti-Semitism, 
according to Berman. When non-
Jews explain that they are anti-Zion-

ist, not anti-Semitic, we need to chal-
lenge their assumptions. No one has 
standing to tell black Americans what 
anti-Black rhetoric is legitimate; so, 
too, no one should have the standing 
to tell Jews what anti-Semitic rhetoric 
is legitimate. “We need to reclaim 
Zionism as a progressive value.” 
Rabbi Emeritus David Nelson of 
Beth Shalom said, “Ms. Berman . . . 
is a visionary and an important new 
voice in our polarized U.S. world.”

Sheyna Wexelberg-Clouser of Oak 
Park said, “I found Amanda Berman 
to be an inspirational speaker. She 
starkly described how anti-Semitism 
has taken root in the political left. 
She also spoke passionately about the 
need for pro-Israel Jews to be present 
and fight for our right to participate 
in the dialogue and not allow our-
selves to be shut out. 
“She made me aware that we can-
not be passive and abandon the caus-
es that we feel strongly about because 
those who are pro-Palestinian have so 
effectively changed the paradigm.” ■

For details on the Zioness Movement, go to 

zioness.org.

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Community Film & Conversation 
on Racism and White Supremacy

Join the Lenore Marwil Detroit 
Jewish Film Festival, Haddassah 
Greater Detroit and Anti-Defamation 
League Michigan for a screening 
of the Academy Award-winning 
short film Skin beginning at 2 p.m. 
Sunday, June 23, at the JCC in West 
Bloomfield.
In a small supermarket in a 
blue-collar town, a black man smiles 
at a 10-year-old white boy across 
the checkout aisle. This innocuous 
moment sends two gangs into a ruth-
less war that ends with a shocking 
backlash. Note: This film includes 
violent content.

Following the screening of this 
short film, join a panel discussion 
featuring: Moderator, Bankole 
Thompson (Detroit News); Guy 
Nattiv (director); Jaime Newman 
(producer); Daryle Lamont Jenkins 
(production designer; founder of 
One People’
s Project); and Rev. 
Kenneth James Flowers (senior 
pastor, Greater New Mount Moriah 
Missionary Baptist Church).
Free and open to the public. 
Light refreshments will be served. 
Registration requested. More infor-
mation and registration at jccdet.org/
skin or (248) 432-5459.

Central High School Shabbat at CSZ

Graduates of Detroit’
s Central High School from the years 1941-1955 are 
invited to the Central High School Shabbat at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in 
Southfield on June 22 at 9 a.m.
Shabbat morning services offer a participatory, clergy-led service, a trien-
nial Torah reading, a sermon and songs of the Musaf service with keyboard 
accompaniment. Following services, everyone will join for a festive Shabbat 
lunch.

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