Confronting Anti-Semitism in Progressive Spaces

Project Shema helps local Jews on the left find the language to effectively talk about anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias.

“How do we talk about our story of self?”

Kristin Winkel recalls a moment when she realized anti-Semitism had crept into a progressive space. When her daughters were teens at a Seattle-area private school, they watched a play at school about an ethical issue. But in an apparent theatrical oversight, the villain, a banker named Golden, was a clear Jewish stereotype. “There were so many ways it was apparent this character was Jewish,” Winkel says. “There were all of these Jewish stereotypes and tropes that were being reinforced in this play that was supposed to be about diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

The school’s Jewish students and families brought the issue to the administration. “You’ve got to be holding a lens here when you’re looking for anti-Semitism in materials that you’re bringing forward in the spirit of equity and inclusion,” Winkel says. “Those are the types of experiences that are just kind of out there in the world that people don’t necessarily absorb. We are very tuned into racism and sexism but less so, as a society, to anti-Semitism sometimes.”

Winkel, who is the COO of Jewish Family Service, was part of a small group selected by the JCRC this fall to participate in a workshop with Project Shema, a young progressive organization that trains Jewish communities, campus leaders and Jewish and non-Jewish professionals to counter anti-Semitism, nurture empathy, and build relationships in left-wing spaces. Project Shema also led a community-wide virtual event as well as a one-time workshop specifically for DEI professionals in Seattle. (Shema, pronounced sheh-MAH, means “listen.”)

“Our goal is to help Jews on the left feel more confident and able and willing to have conversations about anti-Semitism, about anti-Jewish ideas that are spreading throughout American discourse, and to be better advocates for the lived experience, trauma, and concerns of the Jewish people,” says Zachary Shaffer, VP of community engagement for Project Shema.

At the community-wide presentation on September 12, Shaffer outlined current progressive ideology, including opposition to the key pillars of white supremacy, colonialism, and patriarchy that inform the progressive worldview. Much of the work Project Shema does helps progressive Jews find the language to confront the bias against Israel that is growing in these spaces.

“There are only 22 countries that have never been invaded by Britain,” Shaffer points out. “Almost the entire world has been under European control at some time….If you see the world through a systemic lens, it is difficult not to see that touching almost every issue.”

That lens extends to the Jewish community and to the Israel-Palestine issue, he explains. Understanding and working within the progressive framework will help Jews on the left navigate these challenging conversations more securely.

Winkel appreciated learning about the progressive framework. “Structural inequities, white supremacy, patriarchy, privilege, colonialism: Understanding that and how that framework is being used to look at Israel and the Jewish experience in Israel is a really fascinating, eye-opening way about why there is this strong negative feeling among some progressives.”

Richard Greene, the museum and technology director at the Holocaust Center for Humanity, went into the cohort “with an open mind” and came out “pleasantly surprised” with talking points and formulas for engaging with progressives, including how to define when exactly anti-Zionism crosses over into anti-Semitism. He presented what he learned to the Holocaust Center’s board.

“It’s basically ‘anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism when,’” he says. It’s important to define that “when,” because critics of Israel can cover their anti-Semitism with the claim that they’re just criticizing the political state. “That’s the dodge of the anti-Zionist critics. They duck and cover behind that defense. But it often is anti-Semitic.”

JCRC director Max Patashnik brought Project Shema to Seattle in response to calls for more help fighting anti-Semitism, especially since the 2021 Hamas-Israel conflict, which ushered in a new era of anti-Jewish sentiment online and in public spaces. Cassie Garvin, the intergroup relations and Israel affairs manager at the Federation, had been impressed with Project Shema’s work as it was starting out. After the May 2021 conflict, Garvin and Patashnik recognized the urgency of bringing their services here.

“After the uptick in incidents and violence, there really just didn’t seem to be a way to effectively communicate with people,” Patashnik says. “This is something we've been feeling and seeing for years in the Puget Sound region, especially in progressive communities: How and why anti-Semitism is a problem, how and why Jewish identity is connected to the land of Israel, what the connection is between the two and how to articulate in an effective way what the landscape looks and feels like, what incidents feel like.”

The November 7 DEI workshop addressed this issue for individuals outside of the Jewish community. Joaquin Rodriquez, the Seattle Education Association’s Center for Racial and Social Justice Coordinator, was excited for the chance to attend. A key takeaway was how anti-Semitism can “spread unchecked and unnoticed…it’s pervasive, it’s unseen, you don’t know you’re consuming it,” he says.

But in June 2021, during the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism following the Israel-Hamas conflict, activists within SEA endorsed BDS and came out in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. What if that comes up again?

“I would encourage my colleagues and fellow union members to think about the impact of what a group statement would have on various communities and the fallout of that,” Rodriguez says. “It’s incumbent upon me to do that work, to work across communities, to learn and understand and better educate our community as a whole.”

Shaffer points out that a central challenge to fighting anti-Semitism is the fact that most people don’t know who Jews are. “People tend to see Jews exclusively or narrowly as a white religious community,” he says. “They think about anti-Semitism as a religiously motivated hatred. They look for an attack on Judaism as a signpost for anti-Semitism. It can be hard for someone who doesn’t understand the peoplehood or national characteristic—it can be difficult for them to identify anti-Semitism.”

“How do we talk about our story of self?” Patashnik asks. “How do we talk about the story of us as a Jewish people, and how do we enter the conversation in the most effective way possible?”

For Winkel, the learning and role playing helped her talk to one of her daughters, who is entrenched in the progressive framework. “She debates me on everything,” she says. “She took it in. We had a good conversation.”

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