By Jenn Ross
Like the Passover holiday, working on behalf of the Jewish community can often be bittersweet. While Community Review is filled with examples of people and programs serving and uniting our community, too frequently our work and focus is on responding to and protecting against acts of antisemitism and violence in the US, Israel, and elsewhere overseas.
Acts of terrorism began surging in Israel in March and have continued to afflict her citizens. As I am writing this on April 7, I’m being updated by JFNA about a deadly shooting at close range in Tel Aviv. According to Secure Community Network, in March 2022, terrorism-related events in several Israeli cities were instigated by Arab Israeli citizens and Palestinians acting on behalf of Foreign Terrorism Organizations:
- 5 people were murdered in the suburbs of Tel Aviv during a drive-by shooting on 3/29
- Two Israeli border officers were murdered and twelve others were injured in Hadera on 3/27
- Four individuals were killed in a vehicle ramming/knife attack event in Be'er Sheva on 3/22
- Two Israeli police officers were stabbed in Jerusalem on 3/20
- An Israeli man was stabbed in West Jerusalem on 3/19
I extend my prayers to everyone who has been injured and/or lost loved ones in these heinous attacks and hope that these acts of violence cease permanently. As I noted in my column about Ukraine, we must do more than pray however. With this recent trend of violence against Israelis, we need your help in standing together as a community in support of Israel.
Please join us in honoring Israel by attending our Memorial/Independence Day program at 6pm on May 4 in the Harrisburg JCC’s Mary Sachs Auditorium. We will resume our traditional in-person programming and hope to have a large community turnout. Children can also show support, with new programming led by Macy Deskiewicz in the Spector Lounge. A reception featuring kosher Israeli food, sponsored by the Jewish Community Foundation of Central, will follow the program in the JCC Rotunda.
This program is proudly supported by the Israel Engagement Fund: A JCC Association of North America Program Accelerator.
The 58th Annual Celebrate Israel Parade, the world’s largest celebration of Israel presented by JCRC-NY, will be held on Fifth Avenue in New York from 11am-4pm on Sunday, May 22. Learn more about this event at CelebrateIsraelNY.org. If you attend, please take pictures and send them with us to share with the community.
We will provide details about opportunity to donate towards terror relief as we have more information. In the meantime, we continue to encourage you to support crisis relief in Ukraine where millions of people are suffering: https://jewishfederations.org/crisis-in-ukraine2022.
Despite all this turmoil, I hope you’ve had a joyous and fulfilling Passover. I can be reached at j.ross@jewishfedhbg.org or 717-236-9555 x3104.