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Bay Area Jewish social service and education agencies have jumped into the post-election chaos, alerting community members that help is available for those suffering acute Trump trepidation.
Avi Rose, executive director of Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay, said his agency has seen a surge in calls from people looking to volunteer. Typically the agency receives about 30 such inquiries a week. In the week after the election, Rose said he had 100 calls.
The outpouring of support, Rose says, “speaks to the level of alarm people are feeling and their commitment and determination. Given the vulnerability of refugees in our community, people want to be part of a positive response.”
In a Nov. 11 email, Rose noted that one potential volunteer said, “In 1939, my great-grandparents sponsored the visas of three young men who were fleeing persecution in Germany, I would like to work directly with a refugee family so they, too, know they are welcome in our country.”
Rose also said some of his agency’s clients, including refugees, immigrants and people of color, fear harassment, deportation and loss of insurance. The agency has resettled 151 refugees in the past year, including several from Syria.
Seth Brysk, Central Pacific Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League, reported an increase in calls this week, many of them requests for information and training to combat anti-Semitism and intolerance.
Brysk attributes that to the spike in acts of bigotry, violence and racist vandalism during the campaign and after, much of it cheered on by white supremacist and anti-Semitic hate groups. His agency has received reports of increased hate incidents locally in recent months.
“I wouldn’t ascribe blame to a single candidate or campaign,” he said, “but to the environment we witnessed over the course of the season. There are some groups who decided that [the election] validated their extremist views. They’ve taken that and moved to be more aggressive in the way they express these extremist views. We want to push back and say no, anti-Semitic bias and bigotry is not an acceptable form of political expression.”
David Waksberg, executive director of Jewish LearningWorks, which provides education resources to Jewish day schools and religious schools, said his agency has heard from parents whose children were “really distraught and looking for help and guidance.”
“Certainly parents with daughters were concerned and frightened,” he said. “Parents said their kids wondered whether their friends who are Muslim or Latino will be kicked out of the country, what this means for the LGBT community. Most I’ve spoken to are angry, confused and in a fog. Lots of tears and feelings of malaise and unhappiness.”
Jewish LearningWorks has made resources available to parents and educators, among them a pamphlet from the American Psychological Association titled, “How to talk to children about difficult news.”
Waksberg emphasized that his agency is nonpartisan, and that his response comes from a place where Jewish values are front and center, among those values that Jews believe everyone is created in the image of God.
“Role models do make a difference,” he added. “What seems like an increase in hate crimes and hate speech in the days since the election is an indication that people look above to see what’s OK and what’s permitted. [President-elect] Trump did come out and said this is bad.”
He also sees a potential teachable moment. Jewish educators can respond to acts of misogyny, racism and bullying by teaching students, especially boys, what Judaism has to say about being a man.
“I’m partisan about Jewish values and I make no bones about that,” Waksberg said. — dan pine