Last night, I returned home from a 40-hour visit to Washington, DC with four other Portland Jewish leaders. In fact, over 400 Jewish community leaders from 100 communities in America came together – United For Security sponsored by Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations -- to push Congress for additional funding for security needs.

This gathering came together three weeks ago immediately following the attacks in Boulder and DC to call on our government leaders to safeguard Jewish communities from hatred and violence. Amazingly, Jews make up 2.4% of the American population and 60% of all religious-based hate crimes.

Photo: Rich Meyer, Campaign Co-Chair, Marc Blattner, Rabbi Eve Posen, Congregation Neveh Shalom, Eric Fingerhut, CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, Michelle Bombet Minch, JCRC, and Randi Rosenfield, JCRC

As you can imagine, I believed our lobbying agenda would expand due to the conflict between Israel and Iran and the United States’ involvement. Fortunately, a ceasefire took hold right before we left for DC. Thus, we could focus on our single issue – security. It is important to note our community spends $1.3 million per year on security needs, beyond any funds from the federal government.

Here is what we asked for:

• Increase the Nonprofit Security Grant program to $1 billion annually.

• Provide federal support for personnel (security guard) costs that Jewish communities are forced to bear.

• Expand FBI resources to fight the domestic and global war on terror.

• Provide federal assistance to local law enforcement to protect Jewish institutions.

• Regulate social media hate speech and incitement of violence.

• Enforce and prosecute existing hate crime legislation.

We lobbied on these critical measures to help protect all places of worship and communal gatherings. 

While in DC, it was 100 degrees and humid. We were fortunate to spend our day in the underground maze underneath Capitol Hill as we raced between the various buildings and offices of our elected officials. We had the honor to meet with Sen. Jeff Merkley, Cong. Suzanne Bonamici, Cong. Maxine Dexter, and Cong. Andrea Salinas. We also saw Sen. Ron Wyden as he was racing between meetings, had a long meeting with his staff, and met with a staff member from Cong. Janelle Bynum's office. We felt heard and supported! It was not just the fact we came from Oregon to meet with them -- but also because they knew 100 other American Jewish communities were in DC at the same time with the same message.

While there, we also heard from Amb. Yechiel Leiter, Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, nominee to serve as the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, and Moshe Lavi, whose brother-in-law, Omri Miran, still remains hostage in Gaza.

I was proud for our group to represent our Jewish community at this leadership gathering. Moreover, if you have never done it, there is something meaningful and very American about visiting Capitol Hill and lobbying our elected officials on issues of importance. We will see if it helped when the security funding is finalized.

On that note, a bill was put forward in Salem to ask the State of Oregon to provide $5 million in security funds for “high-risk” religious and ethnic communities and organizations (i.e. Planned Parenthood). This has been done in multiple states, including Washington and California. Unfortunately, we learned this week the bill will not move forward. We hope that the State of Oregon will see the necessity of such funding in the future.

Speaking about security, you may remember that in 2022, Michael Bivins was charged with 15 state and federal crimes including bias crime, arson, and damaging religious property after he set fire to the Muslim Community Center of Portland with congregants inside of it, shattered windows of Shir Tikvah synagogue and Everybody Eats PDX (a Black owned business), and spray painted “Die Juden” on Congregation Beth Israel. He is also a suspect in an additional horrific arson that is still uncharged. The trial is scheduled for July 7-11 at the Multnomah County Courthouse, 1200 SW 1st Avenue, from 9:00 am-5:00 pm. 

The reason I am sharing this is because we want the jurors and judge to know that our community is watching. People are encouraged to attend the trial July 8-10 (when witnesses will likely be testifying) to support the victims and demonstrate our community’s concerns about bias crimes. If you wish to attend, you can indicate your intentions here (it is not necessary and this list will remain confidential).

If the suspect is convicted, we will share more information about the sentencing hearing and ways you can make your voice heard.

On to other news:

Allow me to wish Rabbi Ariel Stone of Congregation Shir Tikvah (founding rabbi and there for 23 years!), Rabbi David Kosak of Congregation Neveh Shalom (hear him on a recent Jewish Review Podcast), Cantor Ida Rae Cahana of Congregation Beth Israel (hear her on this week’s Jewish Review Podcast) and Howie Bierbaum of the Eastside Jewish Commons (welcome Cary Clarke as the new Executive Director) well on their retirements. Yasher koach and thank you for your partnership and everything you did to strengthen, teach, and increase joy in our Jewish community.

You may have read that Jewish Federations of North America recently made a $10 million emergency allocation for support in Israel during the conflict with Iran. I serve on that national allocations committee and am proud funds were made available so quickly to support those impacted by the missiles across the country. In addition, our Jewish Federation, with support from several donors, provided $31,000 to the northern Israeli Arab village of Tamra. One of the first Iranian missile strikes landed in the village and four members of the Khatib family were killed. Our funds are helping with trauma support and new shelters.

Finally, I am proud to share that the Jewish Federation installed a new ADA pool lift to make Rachel’s Well Community Mikvah more accessible. This lift was generously paid for by the Oregon Board of Rabbis and generous individual donors.

Let me close with this fun fact (perhaps only of interest to me) -- "Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends," the animated television series, ended its 10-year run 56 years ago today (the same day I was born). I loved the show! In fact, my childhood bedroom sheets had Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris Badenov, and Natasha Fatale (they were named after Boris Drubetskoy and Natasha Rostova in Tolstoy’s War and Peace). The show at one point was the highest rated daytime network program (it came on right after American Bandstand), yet was canceled due to bad ratings airing opposite Lassie in 1969.

Shabbat shalom.