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Can a Tree of Life memorial ‘end antisemitism in our lifetime’? Its new CEO hopes so.
(JTA) – The foundation overseeing the planned memorial for the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh has selected its first director, and her aims are nothing less than the total end of antisemitism.
Carole Zawatsky, a longtime veteran in Jewish nonprofit leadership, was announced as the first new Tree of Life CEO Tuesday. Her appointment came as the nonprofit overseeing the planned memorial revealed its grand plans for what its leadership hopes the space will become in the aftermath of the 2018 shooting that left 11 people dead.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, in our lifetime, we could eradicate antisemitism?” Zawatsky told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I think if we don’t work toward ending antisemitism in our lifetime, and we turn away from the rise of antisemitism, we stand no chance of achieving that goal.”
There are dozens of Holocaust museums and other American institutions that already work toward eradicating antisemitism; Zawatsky herself worked at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., when it first opened, creating public education programs that toured the country. But, she says, “for the most part, we were talking about things that were in the past and, most significantly, that didn’t happen on American soil.”
To that end, Zawatsky said, the reinvisioned Tree of Life can play a central role: as a place-based museum and memorial of the shooting, that situates the horrific events of that day in a larger continuum of American antisemitism, gun violence, extremism and hate speech. The emotional pull of the location itself, she hopes, will go a long way toward educating visitors: “There is no other institution in American Jewish life built on the site where history actually happened. In and of itself, that’s incredibly powerful.”
Zawatsky’s other roles with Jewish institutions have included nine years as CEO of the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center in Washington, D.C., as well as stints with the JCC of San Francisco; the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland; the Jewish Museum in New York; and, for much of the past year, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.
She is new to Pittsburgh, but notes that antisemitic attacks have a way of bringing geographically disparate Jewish communities together: “When I was the CEO of the Edlavitch DC JCC and JCCs were getting bomb threats, I never thought, ‘That’s not me, that was Delaware, that was New Jersey.’ That’s all of us. I think as a Jew in America, this is our history because it’s everyone’s history.”
Ending antisemitism is a central aim of the pitch behind Remember Rebuild Renew, the fundraising campaign for the synagogue redesign and antisemitism museum. Tree of Life has secured more than $6 million from the state of Pennsylvania for the project, and recently hired a team of lobbyists to seek out federal funding opportunities as well. Zawatsky declined to share further budget details but said many private funders had expressed interest; she said she would soon be hiring staff.
The synagogue hired world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind to design the new complex, which will function as a combined memorial, museum and house of worship. In previous statements the organization had pushed to begin construction in 2023, with the facility opening the following year, but Zawatsky said solid dates for the project are “premature.”
The new organization will also continue to serve as an active congregation for Tree of Life synagogue members, including survivors of the attack, meaning that the congregation’s spiritual and lay leaders are also part of the conversation as it reinvents itself as a memorial. This excites Zawatsky, who believes the combined space “does truly what the notion of a space of learning, a beit midrash, does.” The building has not reopened since the shooting.
Asked whether she was concerned the new project would attract unwanted attention from “dark tourists” or extremists, Zawatsky said the Tree of Life team is “working with security experts.”
Even beyond its lofty educational goals, there are other challenges ahead for Tree of Life. The shooter is scheduled to go on trial in April, a period that Zawatsky acknowledges will be “very painful, very difficult, and the role of the Tree of Life and all of us involved in it is to help to, in any way we can, ease the pain of that experience.”
Whether ending antisemitism is an achievable goal, the potency of Tree of Life as a symbol of its dangers will continue, and its new leadership hopes to make the landmark an educational opportunity.
“One of the most powerful ways to deliver a message to tell a story is through an object,” Zawatsky said. “There is no more powerful object in the United States of America than the Tree of Life.”
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The post Can a Tree of Life memorial ‘end antisemitism in our lifetime’? Its new CEO hopes so. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Are Jews Fools to Consider Forgiving Kanye West?
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. Photo: BANG Showbiz via Reuters Connect
Kanye West’s advertisement apologizing to Jews in The Wall Street Journal, which was not a good choice of publication, as it plays into stereotypes of Jews controlling money, has raised an important question at a time when many Jews feel desperate in the wake of rising antisemitism:
Should Jews forgive Kanye?
The conventional wisdom would be not to. In October 2022, he tweeted that he was going to go “death con 3 on Jewish people” and sadly opened a Pandora’s box, where it was cool to be antisemitic. This, of course, was before the attacks of October 7, 2023, and set up a prelude to podcasters blaming Israel for all the world’s ills, and saying that “it shouldn’t be forbidden to criticize Israel” (which, of course, it isn’t).
West is addicted to attention, and his outspoken hatred of Jews clearly gave him that. There are also people who claimed that West hated Jews because he blamed them for his break-up with Kim Kardashian.
But Jews cannot react out of fear or appeasement, and I am embarrassed for some Jewish influencers online who posted that Kanye should be forgiven. Mental illness or not, Kanye West has done incredible damage to the Jewish community.
His song “Heil Hitler” was one of the worst things I’ve seen. He also offended the Black community by psychotically saying that “slavery was a choice.”
Would his followers who say that Hitler was right suddenly flip if Kanye did? It’s hard to say. They might claim that Jews or Israel paid West to change his position.
I’ve also seen some people say that they believe West is sincere. But in life, one shows sincerity by actions, not by words. The question of forgiveness should not even be addressed until West takes some actions that show he means business.
Here are a few things he could do to show contrition:
1. Tell Candace Owens to Chill
Owens has fallen off the deep end, obsessing over Israel, possibly due to her anger of being fired by The Daily Wire. West should call for her to apologize, and stop blaming Israel for everything from the Charlie Kirk murder to the assassination of JFK. West would be helping to stop antisemitism, and also helping Owens, who he says is a friend.
2. Tell Tucker Carlson to Start Acting Like an American
Carlson is head over heels in love with Qatar and Russia, and hates Israel. Perhaps West could also remind Carlson that Winston Churchill was a good guy, not a villain, and that Carlson should stop demonizing Israel.
3. Rebuke Nick Fuentes
Fuentes, a young antisemite growing in popularity, wants to be West’s friend. West should tell Fuentes that he should be a man and stop blaming all the world’s problems on Israel, as if the Jewish State controls the universe — which it does not.
4. Go to Israel and Have Discussions with Jews of Color
Due to the myth of Israel being the “white colonizer,” many are unaware there are Jews of color. When you count Arabic Jews in the fold, more than half of Israel would be considered “diverse” by US standards. Unfortunately, these Jews are not given enough screen time on news shows and debates, and it would be educational for the world to see the truth.
5. Create a Music Video Where He Mocks Antisemitism
In a video with Jewish artists, West can show that antisemitism is neither cool nor strong, and the sign of a weak person who seeks to scapegoat a small minority in order to feel powerful.
6. West Should Study Judaism with a Group of Rabbis for a Set Period of Time
This would show the beginnings of contrition.
All in all, it is foolish to immediately say that West should be forgiven, and it is a sign of people who live in fear or simply want attention or hope that West actually is sincere. But as the automated New York City subway message reminds us, we need to see something before we say something.
The author is a writer based in New York.
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Prominent British LGBTQ activist arrested for carrying ‘globalize the intifada’ sign in London
(JTA) — British LGBTQ activist Peter Tatchell was arrested for holding a sign with the phrase “globalize the intifada” at a pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday.
Tatchell’s arrest comes weeks after the police in London announced that they would arrest pro-Palestinian protesters who chant “globalize the intifada.” While the common pro-Palestinian phrase is defended by its supporters as a rallying call to expand international pressure on Israel, critics say it amounts to a call for violence against Jews.
The policy change came in the wake of the attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney that killed 15. It followed other efforts by the British government to tighten limits on what pro-Palestinian protesters can say and do, including a ban on the activist group Palestine Action that has made any show of support illegal.
Tatchell, 74, who is known as one of England’s most prominent gay rights activists, wrote in a post on X that he had “opposed Hamas since it was formed & opposed ALL Islamists (Iran, Hezbollah etc).” But he said the Metropolitan Police’s new policy was an overreach.
“Police are fabricating new laws. There is no legal statute that criminalises ‘intifada,’” wrote Tatchell in a post on X decrying his arrest. “By arresting me, police seem to be reacting to pressure from a foreign regime – Israel – & Netanyahu apologists, to silence public support for Palestinians’ right to resist Israeli occupation.”
The full text of Tatchell’s sign at the rally read “Globalise the intifada: Non-violent resistance. End Israel’s occupation of Gaza & West Bank.” Tatchell said he was detained for 12 hours.
Last May, Tatchell was arrested at another pro-Palestinian protest in London for carrying a sign that read “STOP Israel GENOCIDE! STOP Hamas executions!” He said police had accused him of breaching the peace and that pro-Palestinian protesters had accused him of being a pro-Israel plant because he called out Hamas in addition to Israel.
Thirteen people were arrested on Saturday during the Palestine Coalition protest and one person was arrested from the Stop The Hate UK counter protest, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.
The London protest was not the only pro-Palestinian demonstration this weekend to feature calls for an “intifada.”
A coalition of Jewish groups denounced a rally in Philadelphia on Sunday in which marchers chanted calls for an intifada. According to the groups, one speaker said, “Martyrdom is a commitment, a principle. It gives life to the movement and carries it forward…our task is to identify tangible, precise ways to attack the genocidal Zionist enemy and actually f—ing attack.”
The rally was organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition, which has previously targeted Jewish-owned restaurants in the city.
“This was not a metaphor or abstract political speech,” said the statement from the groups, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Anti-Defamation League Philadelphia and American Jewish Committee Philadelphia/Southern NJ. “It was explicit incitement for violence. Such language and imagery are dangerous, antisemitic and unacceptable.”
The post Prominent British LGBTQ activist arrested for carrying ‘globalize the intifada’ sign in London appeared first on The Forward.
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Tu B’Shvat, Conscious Eating, and the Jewish Call to Return
Orange trees in Israel’s northern Galilee region. Photo: פואד מועדי / Wikimedia Commons
Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year for the Trees, is often celebrated simply: fruit on the table, blessings over figs and dates, and a nod to nature in the middle of winter. For those who do things a bit more lavishly, a ceremony or seder is conducted.
But at its core, the holiday of Tu B’Shvat is far more than a seasonal celebration. It is a day that offers a profound Jewish teaching about food, responsibility, and the possibility of return.
To understand that teaching, we have to go back to the very first act of eating in the Torah.
In the Garden of Eden, God gives Adam and Eve permission to eat freely from nearly everything around them. Only one boundary is set: there is one tree that is off limits. When Adam and Eve cross that boundary, the result is a rupture of faith between humans and God, which results in a series of other ruptures between humans and the earth — and humans and themselves.
One of the great Chassidic masters, Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen (1823-1900), suggested that the problem was not simply what they ate, but how they ate: without awareness, without restraint, and without consciousness. They consumed, rather than received.
Five hundred years ago, the kabbalists of Tzfat transformed Tu B’Shvat from a technical agricultural date into a spiritual opportunity. They taught that the world is filled with sparks of holiness, and that our everyday actions, especially eating, can either elevate those sparks or bury them further. This lesson has recently been discussed by the Jerusalem-based educator Sarah Yehuit Schneider.
Eating, in Jewish thought, is never neutral.
When we eat with intention and gratitude, we participate in tikkun olam, repairing the world. When we eat mindlessly, we reenact the mistake of Eve and Adam from the Garden of Eden.
The holiday of Tu B’Shvat invites us to try again.
There is another detail worth noting. The Torah’s first description of the human diet is explicitly plant-based: “I have given you every seed-bearing plant and every fruit-bearing tree; it shall be yours for food.” That diet, which was given in Eden, does not end with humanity’s exile from paradise. For generations to come, until after the great flood in the time of Noah, that diet continued in a world already marked by moral compromise.
On Tu B’Shvat, when Jews sit down to a table of fruit, we are quietly returning to that original vision of eating plant-based food that sustains life without taking it, nourishment that reflects restraint rather than domination.
That idea feels especially urgent today.
Our food choices now affect far more than our own bodies. They shape the treatment of animals, the health of the planet, and the sustainability of our food systems. Eating “without knowing” is something that carries grave consequences, which are all too visible in our society.
To observe conscious eating today means asking hard questions: Who is harmed by this choice? What systems does it support? What kind of world does it help create?
In my work as a rabbi and educator with Jewish Vegan Life, I encounter many Jews grappling with these questions, most of whom possess a desire to align their daily choices with enduring Jewish values of compassion, responsibility, and reverence for life.
Tu B’Shvat reminds us that Judaism does not demand perfection, but it does demand awareness. It teaches that repair is possible, not only through grand gestures, but through daily choices repeated with intention.
Redemption begins when a person makes a choice to eat their meal consciously. This is what the seder on Passover is for and what it reminds us of, and the same holds true for the seder on Tu B’Shvat.
The custom to eat fruits on Tu B’Shvat, the choice to have a seder or ceremony, reminds us of the consciousness that we must approach all of our meals with. On Tu B’Shvat, we are being asked to reconsider how we eat, how we live, and how we might take one small step closer to the world as it was meant to be. It is, after all, according to the Mishna in tractate Rosh Hashanah, one of the four New Years of the Jewish calendar.
Rabbi Akiva Gersh, originally from New York, has been working in the field of Jewish and Israel education for more than 20 years. He lives with his wife, Tamar, and their four kids in Pardes Hanna. He is the Senior Rabbinic Educator at Jewish Vegan Life. https://jewishveganlife.