Tagged Women’s March

Why 2 Jewish women say they joined the Women’s March steering committee

Abby Stein, left (Debra Nussbaum Cohen); April Baskin (URJ)

NEW YORK (JTA) — April Baskin, one of three Jewish women newly appointed to the Women’s March Inc. steering committee, says it is unrealistic to expect co-founder Tamika Mallory to explicitly condemn Louis Farrakhan for his anti-Semitism. There is “a long history of asking black leaders to condemn each… Read more »

Why the co-founder of the Women’s March wants Linda Sarsour to step down

Teresa Shook attends The 2017 Common Good Forum at University Club in New York City, May 12, 2017. (Donald Bowers/Getty Images for The Common Good)

(JTA) — Teresa Shook says she likes to work “behind the scenes.” But this week, the woman who co-founded the Women’s March thrust herself front and center by calling its leadership to step down. Shook, a grandmother from the remote Hawaiian town of Hana, posted the Facebook event that… Read more »

Linda Sarsour apologizes to Jewish members of the Women’s March

Linda Sarsour speaks at BET’s Social Awards at the Tyler Perry Studio in Atlanta, Feb. 11, 2018. (Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for BET)

(JTA) — Linda Sarsour released a statement apologizing on behalf of the Women’s March for causing harm to the movement’s Jewish members and for being too slow to show its commitment to fighting anti-Semitism. “We should have been faster and clearer in helping people understand our values and our… Read more »

OP-ED Women’s March is the wrong target in the fight against anti-Semitism

The Women's March leaders, from left, Carmen Perez, Tamika Mallory, Bob Bland and Linda Sarsour on stage at the BET's Social Awards at Tyler Perry Studio in Atlanta, Feb. 11, 2018. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for BET)

  NEW YORK  (JTA) — The same Jewish liberals who gave in to efforts by the Jewish right to divide the black and Jewish communities in the ’70s are back again to divide Jews from their would-be allies, and this time they’re dead set on being the breach in… Read more »

OP-ED Why liberal Jewish women are demanding more from Women’s March

Women's March co-chairwomen Linda Sarsour, left, and Tamika Mallory at a voter registration rally at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Jan. 21, 2018. (Sam Morris/Getty Images)

  WASHINGTON, D.C. (JTA) — On the heels of actress and activist Alyssa Milano’s remarkable statement indicating that she plans to boycott the upcoming 2019 Women’s March because of its leaders’ persistent anti-Semitic behavior, there has been a backlash in our own Jewish feminist ranks. Jewish women are being urged not… Read more »

Women’s March renounces Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism, but supports a leader who embraced him

The organizers of the Women's March, from left to right: Bob Bland, Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez and Tamika Mallory at BET's Social Awards in Atlanta, Feb. 11, 2018. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Organizers of the Women’s March renounced the anti-Semitic views of Louis Farrakhan, but they stood behind one of its co-presidents who attended a speech last month by the Nation of Islam leader and seemed unperturbed by his attacks on Jews. Tamika Mallory, co-president of the… Read more »

Linda Sarsour: Why the Palestinian-American activist has courted controversy

Linda Sarsour speaks during a Women for Syria gathering at Union Square in New York City, April 13, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — One of the best symbols of the current Jewish political divide is a Muslim woman. To Jews on the left, Linda Sarsour is a courageous and effective activist who builds bridges and breaks stereotypes. To Jews on the right and some in the center, she’s… Read more »

ANALYSIS The false choice between Zionism and feminism

Women and their supporters rally at a New York City park to mark International Women's Day, March 8, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

  NEW YORK (JTA) — Two weeks ago the Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour started a fundraising campaign to help restore the graves at a St. Louis-area Jewish cemetery damaged by vandalism. The Jewish community there and across the country generally welcomed the effort — wildly successful, as it turned… Read more »

Not just prayers: synagogues are organizing to fight Trump’s agenda

Congregants of Bnai Jeshurun in New York City rally on behalf of immigrants Thursday, Mar. 9, 2017. Bnai Jeshurun is one of several synagogues more assertively embracing activism since Donald Trump's election. (Courtesy of Bnai Jeshurun)

NEW YORK (JTA) – The day after the presidential election, as congregants gathered in her Brooklyn synagogue to air their feelings, Rabbi Rachel Timoner was already starting to organize against the incoming administration. She called her local city councilman, Democrat Brad Lander, and together they organized an activists’ panel… Read more »

Reform movement’s challenge: Protesting Trump and remaining inclusive

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the Union for Reform Judaism president, speaks at the movement's biennial conference in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 7, 2015. (URJ)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Reform Jewish leaders largely oppose President Donald Trump’s policies — and they haven’t been shy about saying so since his election. They’ve marched in the streets by the thousands. They’ve protested at airports. And last week, some were arrested in front of a Trump hotel… Read more »

At dawn of the Trump era, two Jewish tribes descend on Washington

Marchers with the National Council of Jewish Women and other Jewish organizations assembled on the National Mall for the Women’s March on Washington, Jan. 21, 2017. (Ron Sachs) Photo credit: Ron Sachs

WASHINGTON (JTA) – “Cantor Kaufman!” Rabbi Jonah Pesner shouted across the intersection of 3rd and D in Washington’s Northwest quadrant, packed sidewalk to sidewalk with women in pink pussycat hats and their male friends. “A song!” Jason Kaufman, the cantor at Beth El in Alexandria, Virginia, draped in a… Read more »

For Jewish groups in Women’s March, many causes to fight for and a long road ahead

From left to right: Nancy Kaufman, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women; Rabbi Tamara Cohen, chief of innovation at Moving Traditions, and Debbie Hoffmann, NCJW's board president, at the National Mall for the Women's March on Washington, Jan. 21, 2017. (Ron Sachs)

(JTA) — One Jewish group that joined the Women’s March on Washington has seen its online donations double since the election of Donald Trump as president. Another has twice as many guests as usual attending its annual conference. A third has seen its social media engagement skyrocket. And after… Read more »