JULY 16 • 2020 | 27 “We went through the 10 [demands] and we didn’ t get commitments or timeframes or clear outcomes, ” Greenblatt said. “We expected specifics, and that’ s not what we heard … The answer we heard was, ‘ We’ re on a journey, we’ re doing better, we’ re almost there. ’ That’ s not good enough. ” The coalition maintains that its demands would be simple to meet and pointed to years of ongoing discussions. “ All Mark needs to do, all Facebook needs to do, is once and for all say, ‘ White suprem- acy, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hate, xenophobia — once and for all, it has to stop, and that it stops now, ’ ” Greenblatt said. Following the meeting, Facebook issued a statement saying the coalition wants them “to be free of hate speech and so do we, ” and that they have spent billions of dollars to moderate online content and removed hundreds of hate groups from its site. The day after the meet- ing, Facebook released a long-awaited civil rights audit of its policies and practices. While Zuckerberg has argued Facebook protects and promotes free speech and democracy, the audit highlighted the presence of extremists, white nationalists and hate groups on the social network — and algorithms that reinforced existing opinions encouraging polarization. “Unfortunately, in our view, Facebook’ s approach to civil rights remains too reactive and piecemeal, ” the audit said. Some of the largest and most well-known businesses pausing their advertising are Adidas, Best Buy, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, CVS, Hershey, Honda, Levi’ s, Microsoft, Pfizer, Starbucks, Target, Unilever, Verizon, Volkswagen, Walgreens and White Castle. Michigan-based Ford Motor Company and Beaumont Health have also joined the boycott. In late June, Ford announced, “We are pausing all national social media advertising for the next 30 days to re-evaluate our presence on these platforms. The existence of content that includes hate speech, violence and racial injustice on social platforms needs to be eradi- cated.” Besides businesses, non- profit organizations have also joined. ADL Michigan Regional Director Carolyn Normandin says the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus and the Detroit Center for Civil Discourse, founded by Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive direc- tor of the Federation’ s Jewish Community Relations Council/ AJC and the rabbi of Kehillat Etz Chayim in Oak Park and Huntington Woods, are among those groups. While the boycott can hurt Facebook’ s image and bottom line, smaller businesses, many with business models reliant on Facebook, provide the bulk of Facebook’ s income. For example, its top 100 advertisers account for less than 10% of its annual earnings, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some media observers speculate that given the pandemic and the slower summer sales sea- son, some companies paused advertising to save dollars and assess future advertising but will be back regardless of what Facebook chooses to do. Greenblatt doesn’ t buy it. “I believe this campaign will continue to grow, ” he said. “It will get more global; it will get more intense until we get the answers I think we are looking for. ” Learn more about the boycott at stophateforprofit.org. Sholem Aleichem Institute Welcomes New Director T he Board of the Sholem Aleichem Institute (SAI) announced that Hilary Duberstein has been appointed director. The SAI is a secular, non-po- litical Jewish orga- nization that brings educational, social and cultural activi- ties to its members and the communi- ty by incorporating Yiddish, as well as English and Hebrew, into programming, especially during the High Holidays. Duberstein earned her mas- ter’ s of music in vocal perfor- mance from Indiana University. She has been in Detroit Jewish for more than six years. Prior to moving here, she was the executive director and cantorial soloist for Moses Montefiore Temple in Bloomington, Illinois. Since she planted her roots in Waterford, Duberstein has worked within Jewish education for multiple area synagogues. Currently, she is working for Shaarey Zedek through its vir- tual platforms and is serving as cantorial soloist and spiritual leader for Temple Beth El in Battle Creek. “I have bounced around in different Jewish educational set- tings, teaching everything from early childhood through middle school, ” Duberstein told the JN. “I have previously taught private voice lessons, helped with Shir Tikvah’ s special needs program, taught third grade at Shir Shalom’ s Sunday school program and, prior to my job in Battle Creek, I was the cantorial soloist at Temple Kol Ami and worked with its seventh graders to get them ready for bar and bat mitzvahs. ” With the SAI going on almost 94 years, Duberstein looks forward to revitalizing the organization. “I was drawn to the idea of helping to rebuild the organi- zation, ” Duberstein said. “It has had a metamorphosis and has brought the idea that you can be Jewish and be connected culturally, not just religiously. ” Duberstein was also drawn to the SAI’ s emphasis on music through its Moishe Haar programs, which honors the memory of its school principal and former institute director through music. As director, Duberstein will overhaul the SAI’ s website and get it up and running on social media platforms. She hopes that its social media presence will help it reach a demographic that it hasn’ t reached before. Due to the COVID-19 pan- demic, Duberstein is moving a lot of SAI’ s normally scheduled programming to the virtual setting, including High Holiday celebrations. This will be the first time in the program’ s histo- ry that it will be offering virtual programming. “I would like to grow our membership and grow our pro- gramming. I would like to start implementing family- focused programming as well, ” Duberstein said. “I would also like to connect the older gener- ation of Yiddish speakers with the younger generation. “I look forward to expanding and growing SAI’ s presence. ” CORRIE COLF CONTRIBUTING WRITER Hilary Duberstein