Connect with us

RSS

A Florida JCC canceled a slavery-focused talk with a Jewish author, citing ‘the current political climate’

(JTA) – A South Florida Jewish community center has landed in the middle of the state’s culture wars after canceling a talk by an author whose novel focuses on race in America.

The Mandel JCC in West Palm Beach had booked Jewish author Rachel Beanland to headline a $100-a-plate luncheon in January 2024. The plan was for Beanland to discuss her latest novel, “The House Is On Fire,” a work of historical fiction concerning a deadly Richmond, Virginia, fire in the early 1800s that the city tried to blame on its enslaved population.

But in August, Beanland received an email from the JCC’s arts and culture coordinator asking for more details about her planned presentation and seeming to imply that it would be best to steer clear of some topics.

“Of course, this is Florida and our politics around the Black community, the history of the Civil War, and education in general are… complicated,” the employee wrote. The ellipsis was present in the original message.

For Beanland, the language was shocking. “I don’t think I was wrong to interpret it in this way: It was asking me not to talk about Black people,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Beanland wrote back with her publicist copied on the email to say that “any presentation I give is likely to address slavery and the rights of women.” A few weeks later, the JCC employee wrote back.

“After much discussion and debate, we have decided that this book is not the right choice” for the scheduled event, the employee wrote, adding, “Also, our decision is very much affected by the current political climate here in Florida.”

Last week, Beanland made the email exchange public by posting it to Instagram. The JCC issued a public apology on Monday. On Tuesday, the Jewish Book Council, a major organization for Jewish author,s issued a statement criticizing limits on free expression and calling for Beanland to be reinvited.

The episode highlights the new ways in which Jewish authors and even institutions have become embroiled in a broad effort, driven by conservatives, to constrain how race and racism are discussed in public. Florida has been an epicenter of that effort, with Gov. Ron DeSantis urging his state education department to deemphasize race in school instruction and inviting parents to challenge books in school libraries. DeSantis barred public schools from using the national Advanced Placement African-American history curriculum, prompting it to be revised, and the state recently approved new guidelines that historians and activists say whitewash topics such as slavery and racism. DeSantis ignited a firestorm in July when he defended the guidelines and said slavery afforded benefits to some people who experienced it.

The state’s guidelines do not apply to non-public schools and institutions, but the emails from the West Palm Beach JCC employee add to a growing body of evidence that a chilling effect can be felt beyond the letter of the law.

“Obviously, we were dismayed to see this happen,” Naomi Firestone-Teeter, executive director of the Jewish Book Council, told JTA.

The council promotes Jewish books and authors and facilitates a virtual author marketplace to give JCCs and other Jewish institutions the chance to book authors for events. The Mandel JCC had booked Beanland through this network, which, Firestone-Teeter said, made the cancellation particularly disappointing to the council and led to its decision to issue a statement criticizing the JCC.

“When our sites make commitments, it’s our hope that they would honor the commitments that they’re making to our authors,” Firestone-Teeter said.

After Beanland posted the exchange with the JCC employee, who has not been named publicly, the center’s CEO Jesse Rosen spoke to her by phone. Beanland insisted that Rosen issue a public apology, which he did Monday, on the JCC’s Instagram page.

“We are deeply sorry for what our JCC communicated with Rachel, as it does not reflect the values we stand for,” Rosen and board chair Joel Yudenfreund wrote.

They added, “We are deeply committed to promoting diverse voices, opinions, and perspectives,” and said that the opinions about Beanland’s talk came from two members of their volunteer-run book committee, whose views “are completely counter to our values.”

Speaking to JTA, Rosen said the employee in question had been terminated, but for a separate issue. He condemned the employee’s emails and said they did not reflect the JCC’s views.

“The wording that she used is just not who we are, and doesn’t represent the work we do,” he said. “We hope that you look at the 40 years of work we’ve done, including many [on] slavery and civil rights and LGBTQ and other topics — that we’ve never been afraid to have hard conversations. That’s what we do.”

He also said that the email’s wording, in addition to being inappropriate, wasn’t reflective of “the actual reasons” why the center canceled the talk. Instead, he said, the committee had determined that the event would be too “topically similar” to one the previous year that had also focused on slavery — evidence he also cited for why he believes the JCC has “a long history of taking on hard topics, and we have every intention of continuing to.”

Both Beanland and the Jewish Book Council say it should have been clear from the outset that her book discusses slavery. For Beanland, the bigger issue is that the center’s actions are in line with the state’s larger culture war over Black history — and an abdication of a Jewish responsibility.

“I feel like if there’s any community in the United States outside of the African-American community that should understand how essential it is for us not to erase or obscure history, it should be the Jewish community,” she said. “And in light of everything that’s happening in Florida, and the fact that DeSantis has kind of ushered in this wave of legislation that is really trying to make African-American history, Black history, just disappear — it felt really concerning.”

Beanland’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, supported her in a statement.

“Difficult subjects will not go away by pretending the books that address them don’t exist,” the publisher told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “We stand against book banning in all its forms, including preemptive self-censorship.”

Rosen insists, despite the employee’s email, that the JCC’s staff never discussed the political climate when determining their bookings.

“There was just never any conversation that, based on whatever’s happening in the state or the country, that we need to adjust what we do or how we do it,” he said. “It never, ever even entered into the conversation.”

Rosen further insisted that Beanland hadn’t been entirely disinvited from the center, only asked to headline a smaller event instead. But Beanland told JTA she had no interest in doing so. “I was obviously pretty offended” at seeing the event downgraded, she said.

Rosen said he was hoping to have discussions with the Jewish Book Council to determine “her willingness to come to our community still.” He added, “We certainly know we need to apologize, and we’re never trying to not have the conversation.”

In its own statement, the Jewish Book Council criticized the JCC’s initial decision but said it was “heartened by this apology.” It added that it hoped the invitation would be returned. (Jewish Book Council president Elisa Spun­gen Bildner, who co-signed the statement with Firestone-Teeter and co-president Joy Greenberg, is a board member of JTA parent company 70 Faces Media.)

The prospect of Beanland accepting such an invitation seems unlikely. She told JTA she’s “not interested in ever talking to them again.”


The post A Florida JCC canceled a slavery-focused talk with a Jewish author, citing ‘the current political climate’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Continue Reading

RSS

After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

Continue Reading

RSS

Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

Continue Reading

RSS

Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News