Dear Seattle Community,

I’m writing to you from Austin, Texas, where I am with our Loeb Leadership Institute (LLI) Fellows for a few days of learning from and with the Austin Jewish community. Our LLI program is supporting a group of rising Jewish leaders in the Seattle region through a year of learning and service on local nonprofit boards, and we are nearing the end of another outstanding year of the program. 

I hope you saw our newly released community survey data last week. This is the most comprehensive survey and dataset about our Seattle Jewish community since 2014. We conducted the survey alongside other communities across the country as part of a Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) initiative. 

One of the findings that caught my eye was how similar Seattle is to the national averages on so many questions. While we like to pride ourselves on our uniqueness, the data tells us we have far more in common than differences with other Jewish communities. That’s one of the reasons our LLI fellows are in Austin – strong Jewish communities learn from one another.

I’ve heard from many of you since last week’s StandWithUs event at Town Hall Seattle. I was at the event, and like many of you, I was deeply alarmed and shaken by the protestors’ violent rhetoric and harassment. I want to be clear. The right to assembly and peaceful protest is a core democratic value in our country. And free speech, including criticizing the policies or actions of our own government and foreign governments, including Israel, is a fundamental right in our country. But when protesters scream profanities in attendees’ faces, and surround and bang on their cars this crosses a line. When protestors physically attack attendees and police, this crosses the line. When protestors follow attendees so they are too scared for their safety to walk home, this crosses a line. We cannot have a vibrant and thriving Jewish community without basic safety. I have been in touch directly with the Seattle Police Department and civic leaders since the event to share the very scary experience many attendees had and explain the impact events of last Sunday had on our community. I urged them to take threats against the Jewish community seriously, and for them to be our partners in keeping the Jewish community safe. 

Earlier this week, there was another attack in London against the Jewish community – this time, two people were stabbed in what police are calling a terrorist attack. I know there are people in our Seattle community with close personal connections to the neighborhood where the attack happened, and this is just one of the latest anti-Jewish acts of violence we have seen in recent months. 

Incidents like the attack in London and the protest at the StandWithUs event, leave many in our community afraid and deeply worried about the future. I want to urge you to act and not be silent. If you are experiencing harassment or discrimination, or fear for your safety, please reach out to the police and report the incident to our Federation security team.

While these are heavy topics, I do want to share some wonderfully joyful communal experiences from last week. It is important to remember that the reason we are committed to countering antisemitism and keeping our community safe is so that we can be Jewish joyfully, openly, and with optimism about the future.

Last Friday night, I was on the UW campus for a “Mega Shabbat,” where over 200 Jewish students came together at Husky Stadium. Jewish football coach Jedd Fisch spoke, as did Jewish UW Regent Linden Rhoades. It was an evening that was absolutely joyful. There was a buzz of excitement – both from a beautiful setting overlooking the football field and Lake Washington, but also just from being together celebrating Shabbat. Thank you to Rabbi Mendel and Miriam Weingarten for their work putting this event together.

On Tuesday, I was at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Barnabie Point Project that Jewish Day School (JDS) and Herzl-Ner Tamid have been working on together for years. It was powerful to see so many communal leaders and supporters coming together not for a vigil or a somber experience, but rather to celebrate our work of building the future as a community. There were, of course, hard hats, golden shovels, and heavy construction equipment in the background of the photos, but more than that, there was truly a sense of hopeful optimism about the future. Yasher Koach to all who have worked so hard to get to this point in this exciting project for our community, especially Dr. Audrey Covner, Project Chair, whose tireless efforts have led the way.

From the JDS and Herzl Ner-Tamid event, I went to Seattle Jewish Community School (SJCS) to speak to students about the work of the Federation. SJCS has spent the year learning about what it means to be part of a broad Jewish community and what our various institutions do to make that community thrive. It was great to see the energy at SJCS and to chat with the students – and I even got to hand out some PJ Library books and stickers as an illustration of what the Federation does!

And, on Sunday, I was at Limmud Seattle speaking on a panel about reclaiming Jewish joy in front of a full room of attendees engaging in Jewish learning. It was an uplifting conversation about the world we find ourselves in and the need to not lose sight of who we are as Jews. Yasher Koach to the Limmud Seattle board and many volunteers for their work in putting together another successful learning experience for the community.

At all of these events, community members were coming up to tell me that they had looked at our new community survey data. If your Jewish organization or board would like to have a presentation or a conversation about the data, let me know – I’d love to join you! I am excited about using this data to spur our communal conversations about the future – a future that is as much about countering antisemitism and keeping our community safe, as it is about ensuring Jewish joy.

Shabbat shalom,