Blue Square ?

Have you seen the #blue square commercial on TV?
 
The ad displays a small blue square and asks, “Did you notice this blue square on your screen? Maybe you did. Maybe you didn’t. But that’s the point. The size of this square is 2.4% of your screen. The same size as the Jewish population in the U.S. Yet Jews are on the receiving end of 55% of all religious hate crimes.”
 
The Blue Square emoji ? was designed to be a symbol of support for American Jewry and is an initiative of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism founded by philanthropist (and owner of the New England Patriots) Robert Kraft.
 
We’ve invited the Foundation’s Senior Advisor, Matthew Berger, to speak with us on September 13 about the work of the foundation and advise on what we can do to help stand up to Jewish hate. We intend to use this event to springboard our own Blue Square effort.
 
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this presentation. Antisemitism is coming at us from the left; it’s coming from the right. It’s coming in the form of antizionism; it’s on our college campuses, and this past May, it was publicly in one of our high schools. While I’m not generally an alarmist, it’s clear to me that we need to do more to actively curb antisemitism.
 
For more information and to register for the program, please click here. There is no charge for the program, although we will have the opportunity to make a gift to support this initiative and Federation’s other important work.
As a final note, I apologize to pulpit rabbis, holiday cooks, and all of us who are deeply involved in Rosh Hashanah preparation (which starts two nights later.) Matthew’s speaking schedule is quite packed, and our community is lucky to have secured him for when we did.