As you may be aware, the Denver Post, along with many national and international publications, reported on the FBI arrest of a man accused of plotting an attack on Temple Emanuel in Pueblo, Colorado on Friday, November 1. We thank our dedicated law enforcement officials, in partnership with the ADL and other agencies, for their investigation and work to stop this attack. This latest news comes after several other anti-Semitic incidents in the greater Boulder and Denver area, including on Pearl St.

In response, Boulder’s Rabbinic Council (Haver), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and the Boulder JCC are convening a community conversation to discuss recent incidents of anti-Semitism in our area and to provide support to one another.

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Anti-Semitism in Our Community: A Conversation
Sunday, November 17
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Boulder JCC, 6007 Oreg Avenue

All community members are welcome to join us at this convening. Registration is required to attend; please register here. You will need an account with JConnect, the Boulder JCC’s new registration portal, to register. View our quick-step guide here for creating your account and common troubleshooting tips. We do not wish for online registration to be a barrier of attending. If you have any trouble registering, please call us at 303-998-1900 and we will add you to the list.

The Boulder JCC, our synagogues, and other Jewish agencies actively create and maintain a culture of safety and security and remain committed to being a safe space for community building and meaningful discourse, as well as vibrant centers for Jewish life in Boulder County.

With the rise of anti-Semitism, racism, and other forms of hate in our community, it is important that we share resources with each other about how to respond and how to best communicate about these incidents with children. The ADL has produced a great resource, 5 Tips for Talking with Children About Hate Incidents. One of our partners in child learning, PJ Library, has put together a list of resources and related content about how to talk to children about anti-Semitism.

In addition, we are proud to be one of over 50 organizations in our community to have signed on to Clean Speech Colorado, a month-long initiative during November 2019 to educate, inform, and raise awareness around the Jewish ideal that our words have power to foster community growth. Incidents like the ones occurring in Colorado, the United States, and around the world, make us acutely aware of the power of our words to cause harm. We all have a role in building a community that we want to live in, and this initiative helps us identify ways that we can all make a difference.

We invite you to join the kick-off event for this initiative tomorrow evening, November 6, at HW Home Boulder (1941 Pearl St), for a presentation by Nina & Sal Litvak of the “Accidental Talmudist.” You can register for the event here. Additionally, you are invited to join Clean Speech Colorado and receive clean speech resources.

In times like these, we remind everyone in our community, “If You See Something, Say Something.”

If you have any questions please contact me at Jonathan@boulderjcc.org or 303-998-1900 x1001.

In peace,