Jerusalem, July 27, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned passage in the Knesset of the “mikvah law,” which bars the ritual immersion of converts by non-Orthodox rabbis in public mikvahs (ritual baths), saying that it is using a state-funded facilities to discriminate. Immersion in the mikvah is the final step in the process of converting to Judaism. The law, initiated by MK Moshe Gafni, strives to override the Israeli Supreme Court…
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July 14, 2016
It has been a rough summer as the topic of guns, violence, police and bias scream across the news headlines and our smart phones.
Still reeling from the June 12 massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, a few short weeks later we watched on video the back-to-back shooting deaths by police of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, MN. Just a day later, as cities across the country engaged in protests over these…
New York, NY, July 14, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned the decision by Israel’s Supreme Rabbinical court to reject the authority of prominent New York Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein by invalidating his conversion of an American woman to Judaism. ADL called the court’s decision a “slap in the face” to American Jewry, including those who have chosen to join the Jewish people, and said it highlights just how extreme the Israeli…
New York, NY, July 5, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today joined a friend-of-the court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court defending a Missouri constitutional provision that provides broader separation of church and state than the U.S. Constitution.
In the case titled, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Parker, the State denied direct grants to houses of worship under this provision.
“The petitioner is seeking an unprecedented ruling from the Court that…
New York, NY, June 27, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today hailed the Supreme Court’s historic 5-3 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which struck down a Texas anti-abortion law. The law, HB2, would have effectively barred many women, particularly women in poverty and women of color, from exercising their constitutional right to an abortion. “The court’s decision appropriately recognizes the real-life impact of HB2 on access to…
June 20, 2016
This is not the first presidential election where candidates have engaged in name-calling and put-downs. Throughout history, name-calling has been used on the campaign trail to label, define and control the public’s perception of rivals.
However, this year’s campaign is widely regarded as unparalleled in the degree and regularity of the put-downs. From “Low Energy Jeb” to “Crooked Hillary,” “Crazy Bernie,” “Insecure…
by: Jinnie Array June 14, 2016
The unspeakable tragedy that took place at the Pulse Club in Orlando, FL in the early morning of June 12 brings with it a wide range of emotions for people across the country and world. Those feelings include anger, sorrow, loss, hopelessness, horror, fear, rage and also—a sense of powerlessness. It is easy to feel powerless when you think there is nothing you can do: nothing you can do about the hate, the gun violence, the terrorism and the extremist…
by: Jinnie Array June 01, 2016
Beginning on Memorial Day and for four consecutive evenings this week, the History Channel will air its 2016 version of ‘Roots,’ a remake of the 1977 television miniseries based on Alex Haley’s classic novel Roots: The Saga of An American Family. The book is an historical portrait of American slavery based on Haley’s heritage dating back to 1750 in the West African village of Juffure and how his family’s saga unfolded over…
Urges Quick Resolution by Lower Courts Washington, D.C., May 16, 2015 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s sidestepping on the legality of the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate opt-out provision for religiously affiliated groups.
This provision both accommodates religiously affiliated employers and ensures their female employees have access to no-cost prescription contraception insurance coverage…
by: Jinnie Spiegler | May 13, 2016 Education Week How is social and emotional learning (SEL)--which is now an established and critical part of the school experience--connected with anti-bias education? If we want to help young people understand bias and work on social justice, what does SEL bring to the table?
According to Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), social and emotional learning is "the process through which children and adults acquire…
Says Town’s Rejection of Mosque Construction “Troubling” and “Simply Unacceptable” New York, NY, May 11, 2016 … The Interfaith Coalition on Mosques (ICOM) today joined a friend-of-the court brief filed on behalf of a coalition of civil rights and interfaith organizations in support of The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge (ISBR). Filed with a federal court in New Jersey, the brief asserts that the Township of Bernards discriminatorily denied the congregation…
by: David Robbins May 11, 2016
Ed Blumenthal is fighting anti-Semitism and hate with everything he’s got—including his legs.
His late father, Ernie Blumenthal, escaped from Nazi Vienna in 1938, but luckily found a home in Philadelphia. His grandfather barely escaped some time later.
To honor the memory of his father, who died recently from pancreatic cancer, and to raise awareness of that illness and of anti-Semitism and hate, Ed rode his bike from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, a…
May 03, 2016 With 22% of students ages 12 – 18 years old currently reporting having been a target of bullying, concerns about bullying in schools have motivated hundreds of books to be written and a wide variety of programs to be designed and implemented with the goal of turning the tide of bullying. Many of these books and programs aim to change the behavior of “bullies.” And herein lies one of the problems that makes it so challenging to change the dynamic of bullying.
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A Guide for Counselors and Camp Administrators For Educators | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Summer camp is a wonderful time in children’s lives when they get to spend time outdoors, meet new people, have novel experiences and gain insight into themselves. There are about 12,000 day and resident camps in the U.S. and each year more than 11 million children and adults attend camp. According to an American Camp Association (ACA) report, parents cite the following reasons as the…
by: Jewel Nesmith April 26, 2016
Fears of extremism, radicalization and mass violence in our schools have unfortunately become all too common for educators and school administrators across the United States. At the same time, information that allows educators to understand the threat and leaves them equipped to address it without perpetuating biases and stereotypes is scarce. In order to fill this gap, the Anti-Defamation League and START (the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism…
For Educators | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers | For Students Here are some simple things you can do to be an ally to targets of name-calling and bullying. And remember—always think about your safety first when deciding the best way to respond. 1. Support targets, whether you know them or not.Show compassion and encouragement to those who are the targets of bullying behavior by asking if they’re okay, going with them to get help and letting them know you are there for them…
Young people are exposed to discussions of extremism every day through social media, news and overheard conversations between adults. As an educators, the topic can be challenging to teach because the situation is always changing and evolving and worse--classroom conversations can themselves lead to stereotyping, bias and bigotry when discussing perpetrators, targets and victims. The following resources will help you teach about extremism while ensuring that the…
April 15, 2016 APRIL 17, 2016, Washington, D.C.
Thank you for that kind introduction, and thank you all for welcoming me here today.
In many ways, I am an unlikely person to be head of ADL…or to be head of a Jewish organization. See, I’ve spent most of my career in business or in government – creating companies, building brands, innovating business models, driving economic value and achieving social benefit, … all this took place far away from the organized…
by: Oren Segal April 11, 2016 It’s April 12, 2016 — Equal Pay Day, the symbolic date that women need to work until to catch up with what men had earned by last Dec. 31. The fact is that women who work full time, are paid an average of 79 cents for every dollar paid to men — and on average, African American and Latina women are paid even less. It’s not a day to celebrate, but it is a teachable moment to focus on the needless, costly, and discriminatory gender wage…
June 10, 2016 What’s it like to be a Jew in Norway? Frankly, it’s complicated.
With a population of less than 2,000 Jews, Norway is a place where “Jew” is a curse used frequently against Jewish schoolchildren. Yet it’s also a society where Jewish life proceeds freely, and the Norwegian government works to end anti-Semitism.
“We’re not finished with anti-Semitism in Norway,” says Rabbi Joav Melchior, rabbi of the Jewish Community of Oslo. …