In Congressional Testimony, T’ruah’s Rabbi Jill Jacobs Warns Against Government’s Dangerously Counterproductive Approach to Antisemitism
Washington, D.C.—In testimony before the House Committee on Education and Work Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education on Wednesday, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, urgently called on Congress and the Trump Administration to change their approach to antisemitism. She warned that the government’s current attacks on public education, teachers’ unions, and democratic institutions and norms will only further endanger Jewish children, while sharing deep concern about rising antisemitism in schools and offering recommendations for a better approach.
Rabbi Jacobs told the Committee: “Antisemitism in schools is serious and dangerous. Unfortunately Congress and the administration are taking a dangerous, wrongheaded approach that subordinates the needs of Jewish students to a political agenda. Half a year into this administration, the evidence is clear that our government is more focused on justifying defunding public education, weakening labor unions and philanthropies, and cracking down on immigrants than on keeping Jewish children or adults safe.”
Rabbi Jacobs’s full written testimony can be found here. Her oral remarks can be found here, and a video recording is here (her testimony begins at 29:05).
Rabbi Jacobs emphasized the important role of democratic institutions and processes in keeping Jews safe, saying that attacks on democracy are akin to attacks on Jewish safety—and the safety of all marginalized groups.
“Jews are terrified about the erosion of our constitutional rights, including freedom of speech, worship, and association, and due process. These are the rights that have allowed us to flourish and to be safe in the United States,” Rabbi Jacobs said.
Rabbi Jacobs admonished Members of Congress for not leading by example: “An administration truly dedicated to Jewish protection would not be inhabited by Cabinet members and staff who openly espouse antisemitic and other bigoted beliefs, some of whom have direct ties to neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations, and who have promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories.”
Finally, Rabbi Jacobs offered recommendations for a better approach to antisemitism in schools, including: speaking out against antisemitism being embraced or promoted in our own government; working with teachers, administrators, and teachers’ unions instead of undermining them; restoring federal funding to the Office of Civil Rights and for hate crimes and violence prevention; fighting antisemitism alongside other forms of bigotry and discrimination; and upholding democratic institutions and norms.
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About T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
T’ruah brings the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering our 2,300 rabbi and cantor members to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Canada, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.