continued on page 12
expressed a desire to “make sure
that progressive movements are
never tainted by antisemitism.
”
Second, Beinart added,
“Zionist Jews should not be
excluded from progressive
spaces.
” He then parsed the
ways different Jews define
Zionism and debate it amongst
themselves. The JN is just such
an organization: we are a Zionist
publication, but that doesn’t
prevent us from having honest
conversations about the term.
No one else elaborated on
this point (JVP defines itself as
anti-Zionist). But if you wanted
a productive topic to explore
in a left-leaning dialogue about
“dismantling antisemitism,
” that
seems like a pretty good one.
In her concluding remarks,
Tlaib also acknowledged
antisemitism on the left. “It’s a
problem in our country,
” she
said. “If anybody comes through
my doors or through any forum
to try to push antisemitism
forward, you will hear me being
loud with my
bullhorn to
tell them to
get the hell
out.
”
So how
do we know
when that
bullhorn comes out?
By way of explanation
for why the panel was titled
“Dismantling Antisemitism,
”
JVP’s Tallie Ben Daniel said
that antisemitism is “used as a
political tool and used to divide
people … Humans have made
it. Humans can undo it.
”
But how, and who will
dismantle it? Everyone has
different ideas. On Dec. 16, an
oppositional panel with the
similar title “Dismantling Anti-
Semitism: Jews
Talk Justice” was
held by Combat
Anti-Semitism,
a coalition
of many
Jewish and
Zionist groups
including AJC, Hadassah
and the Jewish Federations of
North America. This event
heavily featured Jewish and
pro-Israel voices, and was
largely devoted to defending
the IHRA
’s definition. Ethiopian
Israeli activist Ashager Araro
introduced some nuance when
she noted that she still criticizes
Israel often, but that she believes
a line does exist between that
and outright antisemitism.
For now, the debate over
antisemitism remains stuck.
Before we can dismantle it, we
must get better at defining it.
And that’s something not even
Jews can agree on right now.
For us, the Antisemitism
Project is not over. The JN will
continue to pursue stories about
this topic beyond 2020. And we
will continue to engage figures
from all sides of the debate
about this singularly important
topic. We hope that we can
continue to find responsible
ways to do so.
AntiSemitism
the
Project
AntiSemitism
AntiSemitism
DARKNESS TO LIGHT continued from page 8
other to take the place of our
large corps of volunteers who
could no longer come to the
warehouse to work.
March 30: “With every
call and email there is a new
challenge, a new issue that needs
attention … It’s truly energy-
zapping and taking an emotional
toll on all of us …
”
From the early days of the
pandemic, our board, led by
our president, Alan Reiter,
was extremely supportive and
helpful as we grappled with
many unanswered questions:
How would we reassure
our clients that they would
continue to receive groceries?
Would our client numbers
increase significantly? How
much more would food costs
rise? Would we find new
sources for groceries since
some vendors cut us off?
How to accomplish the tasks
of our volunteer work force
who couldn’t come to the
warehouse? How long would
this last?
While these questions
constantly swarmed in my
head, I was confident about
a few things: In addition
to board support, our
sister agencies, donors and
volunteers would come to
our assistance wherever and
whenever it was needed.
Federation immediately
generously provided us with
additional funds to purchase
food for client families for
Passover. Jewish Family
Service provided us with
drivers and vans to help make
grocery deliveries five days
a week (and continues to do
so), donations started coming
in from a variety of sources,
and volunteers adopted to
our new way of distributing
groceries by signing up to do
deliveries to clients’ homes.
And, throughout these nine
months, our board continues
to make themselves available
to our team with their
partnership, encouragement
and trust.
I continued to write in
my journal through the end
of April, when COVID-
19 became the new norm,
and I didn’t feel the need
to document my angst and
how we were managing. I
attribute this mostly to our
small team who truly stepped
up during these turbulent
times: David Jaffee, our
Warehouse Manager, who
found other sources for
grocery purchases and made
a quick and decisive switch
to a totally new operating
model, Darlene Rothman,
our Client/Volunteer
Manager, who dealt with
clients’ and volunteers’
scheduling, a mountain of
new client applications and
other concerns, Daniella
HarPaz Mechnikov, who
took the lead in coordinating
the logistics of grocery
From Yad Ezra’s annual event in September. Front Row: Daniella HarPaz Mechnikov,
Lea Luger, Lucinda Rosen (2020 honoree), Darlene Rothman, Jody Kaplan, Detroit
Circus Performer. Back Row: Detroit Circus Performer, Alan Reiter (Yad Ezra pres-
ident), Sandy Rosen (2020 honoree), Stathis Pauls, Josh Gordon, David Jaffee,
Heather Axe, Detroit Circus Performer.
DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 11