online antisemitism

Young Zionist Jews say they’re fighting antisemitism on social media. What are they accomplishing?

NEW YORK (JTA) — Two weeks after the recent flareup of violence in Israel and Gaza, as fights over Israel and Palestine raged on social media, Julia Jassey wondered aloud whether any of her effort was worth it.

Jassey, a student at the University of Chicago, has spent the better part of a year immersed in online skirmishes surrounding Israel and antisemitism. Last summer, as racial justice protests swept the country, she and a few other college students founded Jewish on Campus, an Instagram account chronicling antisemitism and anti-Zionism facing Jewish students. It was modeled after similar accounts documenting racism at universities and high schools.

In recent weeks, Jewish on Campus has collected anonymous anecdotes of antisemitism online and in person in the wake of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Jassey said the account has been inundated with submissions. At the same time, harsh critics of Israel have taken aim at her and her personal posts — including some people she knows from school.

“We can’t even have meaningful discussions, we just fight,” she tweeted on June 3. “It’s toxic, and it brings us nowhere productive. Where do we go from here? I don’t know about you, but I am tired of it.”

Jassey is part of a small group of young, assertively Zionist Jews with an active social media presence who have taken it upon themselves to call out and respond to anti-Zionism, antisemitism and the many instances in which they believe those two concepts overlap.

But after weeks of fighting over Israel and Judaism on Twitter, TikTok and Instagram, those activists, and others who observe them, are asking whether the effort of combating antisemitism online, in real time, is winnable or worthwhile.

Does that fight create space for substantive dialogue or narrow it? Can a crusade to combat antisemitism distort our understanding of it? What does it do to the mental and emotional health of those involved? Is social media, with algorithms that incentivize division and anger, and policies that have long been criticized for tolerating hate speech, the right arena for this debate?

“Do I think that having full-out brawls on social media are effective? No,” said Susan Heller Pinto, the Anti-Defamation League’s senior director for international affairs. “If that’s how somebody seeks to engage, it’s really going to only appeal to the people who are already hardened in their opinions.

“There’s no secret meme, silver meme, that is being developed that someone is going to glance at and is going to say, ‘That explains the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian situation to me.’ Social media does not lend itself to complexity, to nuance and to deep research.”

That’s been Jassey’s experience as she has posted her feelings about Israel and seen vitriolic responses pour in. She said one acquaintance told her it was “tone deaf” to post that her relatives in Tel Aviv were being targeted with rocket fire. Another tweeted that if he had to read another one of her “brain dead takes on my [timeline], I’m gonna explode.”

“Anyone can have a Twitter account and post whatever they’d like,” Jassey told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “That doesn’t mean that their ideas are good or that they’re going to be productive.”

Jassey and the rest of the cohort of young Zionists on social media are in their 20s and 30s, some still in college. They say they’re on the front lines of confronting a problem — anti-Zionism and antisemitism in progressive spaces, especially online — that the rest of the Jewish community is just waking up to. They feel duty-bound to keep posting. The alternative, they say, is abandoning a public square to those who hate them.

The issues surrounding progressive antisemitism “seemed to have their moment in the spotlight this month,” said Blake Flayton, a student at George Washington University who will be graduating this summer. “What we’re seeing right now from the progressive left is a coalition organizing around hatred of Zionism, calling Zionism racism, and then excusing treating pro-Israel Jews as racist by extension.”

There is nothing new about fighting antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric online, an effort that has attracted funding in recent years from wealthy Jewish donors as well as the Israeli government. Israel and its military have a robust social media operation. Any number of groups dedicated to fighting antisemitism — from establishment organizations like the ADL to pro-Israel activist groups such as StandWithUs to an account called @StopAntisemites — call out what they view as hatred of Jews.

Now a few of the young Zionists, like Flayton, are trying to expand their work beyond skirmishes on Twitter and Instagram. Several are co-founders of two nascent groups — the New Zionist Congress and Jewish on Campus, both started in the past year and in the process of registering as nonprofits. Flayton, who is affiliated with the New Zionist

BY BEN SALES

YOUNG ZIONIST JEWS

Congress, and Jassey told JTA that the groups will rely on private donations, and both declined to say where those donations would be coming from.

For now, both groups are most visible on social media — Jewish on Campus primarily through its Instagram account and the New Zionist Congress through the audio app Clubhouse, where it hosts discussions and a book club. Jewish on Campus also offers to personally help students who are facing antisemitism.

Those activists have also become targets of the rhetoric they are condemning, especially during the recent Israel-Gaza conflict. Many of them respond to criticism they receive online with more posts of their own, often showing solidarity with each other, sparking a cycle that can alternately look like strength in numbers or a hostile conversation with no end in sight.

“I don’t want to put myself through abuse or harassment,” said Isaac de Castro, a Cornell student who is a co-founder of both Jewish on Campus and the New Zionist Congress. De Castro limits who can message him directly and comment on his posts.

But, he added, “We need people out front who are putting out our perspective, putting out our story as Jewish people. There need to be people out front. I don’t think logging off completely is the answer because antisemitism isn’t going to go away if we just close our eyes.”

Hen Mazzig, a prominent pro-Israel activist, said being pugnacious isn’t the right approach. Mazzig has gained attention on the left for his aggressiveness online in the past, but said he has tried to soften that tone recently, emphasizing coexistence and the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians. Now he sees other Zionists going down the same path he once did and worries that punching back hard against anti-Zionism threatens to only make things worse.

“I think there’s a serious issue with antisemitism online and hate speech against Jews online, and we have to combat it,” said Mazzig, a senior fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute. “What I feel like many on the proIsrael side are doing right now is to try and combat hate speech, I don’t want to say with more hate speech, but with rhetoric that is not helping defuse the situation.”

Data on recent online antisemitism is hard to come by, but a few numbers give some sense of its scope.

The phrase “Hitler was right” was tweeted 17,000 times from May 7 to 14, according to the Anti-Defamation League. According to the Network Contagion Research Institute, which tracks hate online, the hashtag #COVID1948, connecting the pandemic and the year of Israel’s founding, trended on Twitter in the United States. The institute also found that tweets containing both “Israel” and “genocide” were shared as often as 2,000 times per hour during the fighting.

Instagram accounts with enormous followings, such as the model Bella Hadid’s with 43 million followers, shared content that accused Israel of colonization and ethnic cleansing and got millions of likes. There were explicitly antisemitic posts as well, such as a tweet quoting Hitler (now deleted) from a Pakistani movie star with more than 1 million followers. On TikTok, a Holocaust survivor wished users a “Shabbat Shalom” and got spammed with antisemitic messages.

The online hate came alongside a wave of antisemitic incidents on the ground that, according to the ADL and other groups, spiked during the fighting in Israel and Gaza. The ADL found that the number of antisemitic incidents in the nearly two weeks of fighting was more than double the figure in the previous two weeks. The incidents included a string of physical assaults, as well as antisemitic and some anti-Zionist harassment and vandalism.

“There’s the emotional impact of seeing these attacks in real time,” said Ben Freeman, a Scottish Jew and New Zionist Congress member who wrote the recently published book “Jewish Pride.” “There’s the impact of seeing my friends be attacked online. And then, my family live in Israel, and I love Israel, and I care about Israel, so it was kind of like a triple whammy: It was online, it was in Israel and it was happening in the Diaspora. And I really don’t see those three things as separate from one another.”

Since a cease-fire in the Gaza-Israel rocket exchange, one of the fiercest fights online has been not about Israel itself but how to talk about antisemitic and antiZionist posts. Eve Barlow, a Scottish-Jewish music journalist living in Los Angeles, wrote an essay in Tablet calling the negative posts directed at her and other Zionist activists a “social media pogrom.” She also wrote that they were “permission for an online lynching” and “digital waterboarding.”

More than 20,000 tweets contained the name “Eve Fartlow,” which she called her “hate name” in an interview with JTA.

Barlow’s piece generated backlash of its own, from those who found it inappropriate to compare harassment on social media, however rampant, to violent, often statesponsored mob attacks on Eastern European Jewish villages. In a recent essay in The Nation, the progressive Jewish writer Talia Lavin (who once worked for JTA) called Barlow’s piece “misguided and narcissistic” in light of the loss of life in Gaza and Israel, and wrote that Barlow and her allies “turn the word ‘pogrom’ into a punchline.”

Even some other Zionist activists on social media balked at the term, such as Mazzig, who said that “unless it’s a situation where people were being killed, let’s not compare it to a pogrom.”

And while Flayton said he wouldn’t use “pogrom” to describe something happening on social media, he has used the hashtag “#BeinartPogroms” to implicate Peter Beinart, the left-wing Jewish opinion columnist, in the recent wave of antisemitic physical attacks in the U.S. Last year, Beinart came out in favor of a lone democratic state for Jewish Israelis and Palestinians.

To explain his accusation, Flayton pointed to a thread by an Israeli professor, Shany Mor, that accuses Beinart of aiming “to assign a collective guilt on American Jews for their complicity in some cosmic evil.” Beinart told JTA that he had no comment on the accusation.

Barlow said she stands by her word choice, as do some of her allies online, including Freeman, who called the essay a “must read.”

“I didn’t have reservations because I believe in the power of language,” she said. “If people would rather get personally offended by the use of a word than to take seriously how Jews are being attacked in the street and how Jews are being attacked on the internet, then that’s a problem.”

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the director of T’ruah, a liberal rabbinic human rights group, did not address any activists specifically but said that some pro-Israel advocates can be too quick to label criticism of Israel as antisemitism. She said that some anti-Zionist language on the left is “very harsh, and it’s very hard to hear for people who are committed to the safety of the State of Israel, but it doesn’t necessarily cross the line into antisemitism.” (For example, Jacobs said, “Free Palestine” in and of itself is not antisemitic, but it would be antisemitic to post the term in response to a Jewish video that has nothing to do with Israel.)

Harry Reis, a former ADL employee who now works for the New Israel Fund, a charity that supports an array of progressive groups in Israel, said, “I don’t think hate online is overblown.” But he also said that some Jews may conflate anti-Israel rhetoric with antisemitism, which “doesn’t leave a lot of space for conversation about Palestinian rights.”

Reis also worries that some of the more aggressive social media fights against antisemitism may string together individual events to misconstrue the nature of antiJewish hate. Reis stressed that he did not want to call out individuals but said that some online activism creates an alarmist picture of antisemitism — a problem that is all too real but, in his view, not structural.

“I do have a sense of a general feeling of grievance and of a kind of narrative of Jewish victimization that’s often, I feel, misplaced, [and] that doesn’t describe my experience as a Jewish person in American institutions and our access to power,” he said. “I think too often this places individual acts of antisemitic speech or violence as evidence of institutional or structural discrimination, which doesn’t, I think, describe the American Jewish experience and access to power.”

Zionist activists dispute the idea that they are making too much of Jew-hatred or conflating criticism of policy with antisemitism, and say they draw the line at opposing Israel’s right to exist.

“I don’t care how evil you think the settlement project is because I would happily lend my voice to those concerns, or how corrupt you think Benjamin Netanyahu is,” Flayton said, but added, “Denying the Jews a homeland, denying the Jews protection is hateful and bigoted in and of itself.”

Flayton and others do say they feel politically homeless as progressive Jews who are unapologetically Zionist. Flayton articulated those feelings in a 2019 New York Times op-ed .

“I am a young, gay, left-wing Jew. Yet I am called an ‘apartheid-enabler,’ a ‘baby killer’ and a ‘colonial apologist,’” he wrote.

Flayton told JTA that from his perspective, left-wing antisemitism is more of a problem than antisemitism on the right.

“What we’ve been seeing for the past month [is that] antisemitism on the left disguises itself as justice, it disguises itself as advocating for human rights, and it tries to convince the Jews that they brought this hatred upon themselves,” he said. “I’m still going to vote for things like a $15 minimum wage, universal health care and environmental reforms, etc., but there’s a lot of Jews who are being pushed out of these spaces rather aggressively.”

Jassey thinks the social media battle is important — but it’s begun to feel less appealing. She said she wants to keep working in the Jewish world and pursue a career in politics or international relations. She still believes in having the conversations and debates that have occupied the past several months of her life. Jassey hopes, however, that more will happen face to face.

“I do think that the internet has become a forum of discussion and a public sphere of sorts, and so I think that it is important to combat antisemitism online and spread ideas on the internet,” she said. “It’s an important space, but it’s not the most important space.

“We have to take that work also offline, and I think that’s when things start to seem a lot more possible.” n

MAK’HELA CELEBRATES JEWISH MUSIC FROM THE PIONEER VALLEY A new concert, “Jewish Music from the Pioneer Valley,” is now available on YouTube. The concert, presented by Mak’hekla, The Jewish Chorus of Western Massachusetts.

The concert, celebrating Jewish music and the talent of performers in the Pioneer Valley features not only Mak’hela, but also The Three Cantors (Cantor Diana Brewer, Cantor Elise Barber and Cantor Vera Broekhuysen), The Sinai Temple Adult Chor, Ne’imah: The JCA Shabbat Band, and the The JCA Klezmer Workshop, can be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/U9_7P7WzCCs.

For more information about Mak’hela, visit its website at https://makhela.org/ support/

JFS PARTNERS WITH SOCCER WITHOUT BORDERS AND SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE TO PRESENT SOCCER CLINIC SPRINGFIELD – Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts has partnered with Soccer without Borders and Springfield College to host a first-of-its-kind soccer clinic in Springfield.

The week-long clinic will be held June 28 - July 2 from at Springfield College for 50 refugee and immigrant Springfield high school students. The soccer clinic will provide a positive summer experience for refugee and immigrant students who attend Springfield Public Schools.

For some students, this will be the first in-person activity of the school year, and for others new to the city or the U.S., it is an opportunity to meet peers in person and find common ground.

“As one of the few global languages, soccer has the power to shape the world for the better,” explained Soccer without Borders Boston Program Director Bruno Contreras. “Soccer Without Borders (SWB) uses soccer as a vehicle for positive change, providing under-served youth in the U.S. and abroad with a toolkit to overcome obstacles to growth, inclusion, and personal success. SWB Boston has been serving the refugee and immigrant community in and around East Boston since 2012 with a culture of welcoming and belonging that supports newcomers to build a new home.”

The clinic will bring together youth and coaches from diverse cultural backgrounds to create community, exercise, build leadership, and practice their English language skills. Over the course of the week, teens will have the opportunity to foster teamwork, and connect and build friendships with other teens.

CONGREGATION AHAVAS ACHIM TAKES A SUMMER BREAK WESTFIELD – On Friday, June 25, Congregation Ahavas Achim is hosting our last service prior to our summer break.

The service will begin promptly at 7:15 p.m. It will be held at the Interfaith Center located on the campus of Westfield State University.

It will be the first in-person service after hosting virtual services this past year. Immediately following the service, there will be a potluck Oneg Shabbat at the Interfaith Center. This will provide all members and friends of Congregation Ahavas Achim the opportunity to wish Cantor Colman Reaboi well in his future endeavors and also thank him for his service to Congregation Ahavas Achim.

Attendees are asked to bring a dessert or beverage to share.

For more information, contact Congregation

Ahavas Achim at ahavasachiminquiry@ gmail.com.

TECH GOES HOME AND JEWISH VOCATIONAL SERVICE PARTNER TO PROVIDE DIGITAL TOOLS AND TRAINING BOSTON – Tech Goes Home (TGH) and Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) have formed a new partnership to connect hundreds of workers across Massachusetts with the digital tools and skills they need to find employment and complete key job responsibilities online, including remote work, and access other critical resources online.

TGH works with a diverse network of community and nonprofit organizations to provide individuals and families with digital devices, internet connectivity, and skills training to overcome barriers to digital access and expand economic opportunity. Advancing digital equity is a key element of building a more inclusive and resilient workforce; today, across the country, one third of workers lack basic digital literacy skills for navigating technology and the internet, and many more lack computers or access to the internet.

Through the partnership announced today, JVS will fund TGH programming for up to 500 learners over the next year, and will work actively with TGH staff to identify learners who will benefit from expanded digital access and literacy. Each participant in the TGH programming will receive a new computer or tablet, access to high-speed internet, and 15 hours of skills training focused on key competencies to help workers find and participate fully in employment opportunities, and practice other critical skills. “We know that a strong, inclusive workforce is essential for a strong economy,” said JVS Chief Operating Officer Kira Khazatsky. “For many workers and families, lack of digital skills has been a barrier to economic opportunities for too long. As we recover and rebuild from COVID-19, it is critical that we equip workers and families with the tools and the skills they need to participate in today’s workforce. We are excited about the opportunity to work with Tech Goes Home to help address the digital divide, for the sake of workers, families, and our economy.

Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonsectarian organization founded in 1938. JVS serves more than 16,000 individuals annually and is one of the largest community-based providers of adult education and workforce development services in Greater Boston. JVS’s mission is to empower individuals from diverse communities to find employment and build careers, while partnering with employers to hire, develop, and retain productive workforces. In support of this mission, JVS provides a wide range of adult education, vocational training, job readiness, career counseling, and job placement services, as well as related supportive services. Learn more about JVS at jvs-boston.org.

TEENS INVITED ON A VIRTUAL COLLEGE ROAD TRIP TO EXPLORE ALL ASPECTS OF CAMPUS LIFE High school students and their families can explore college and Jewish life on campus on a Virtual College Road Trip, a month-long series. Each day until June 30, the Virtual College Road Trip will offer student-led college tours, virtual information sessions with university admissions and Hillel professionals who will share insights on Jewish and general campus life, new engaging webinars, and other resources. For a comprehensive list of the 40 plus participating campuses across the country, visit roadtriptocollege.org.

Teens are invited to #JumpOnTheBus where they can follow college student “bus drivers” for insider guides sharing the highlights of their campus and college towns—what they love, what makes the place special, and what Jewish life is like there. New this year are webinars for teens and parents on: • supporting wellness and mental health during the college years • the myth of college rankings and finding your right fit • gap year opportunities and realistic alternatives to a traditional campus experience • “launch logistics” for parents seeking to set up their teens up for success • exploring how LGBTQ+ identifying students have found diverse Jewish places to call home on campus

The Virtual College Road Trip also provides formal information sessions featuring over 40 diverse US colleges and universities. Participants can connect directly to admissions and Hillel professionals, interact with current students, ask questions and get a sense of each school’s unique flavor.

“This past year, teens have missed out on so many milestones – including college visits which are very much a rite of passage and often something they do with their parents,” said Rabbi Dena Shaffer, director of Learning and Engagement at the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative. “Selecting colleges and transitioning to campus life can be challenging for any teen; the Virtual College Road Trip is a support system and a new way to navigate the challenges presented by COVID-19 and the changes we face. This month of interactive learning elevates key elements of the college search and helps make campus exploration more accessible and affordable for all.”

The Virtual College Road Trip is offered to the community for free by the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative, a network of national and local funders working together to develop, nurture and scale new approaches to teen engagement.

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with 52 witnesses, including current and former coaches and players, along with parents, teachers and administrators.

“Duxbury let their players and the community down by allowing winning games to take precedence over fostering an environment that is inclusive and free of bias, slander and stereotyping,” said Robert Trestan, the Anti-Defamation League’s New England regional director. “Pregame religious services violate Constitutional protections and ignore the power imbalance between students and their coaches. The systemic problem documented in the report confirms the need for institutional change.”

Trestan said the ADL was working with district officials as changes are implemented.

The report was part of an investigation commissioned by the town after school officials learned that a Duxbury player had called out a play termed “Auschwitz” in a March 12 game. Later that month, the school district fired the football coach, Dave Maimaron, who told the Boston Herald that some of the chants had been started years ago by Jewish football players as a “tongue-in-cheek” gesture.

According to the report, “antisemitic words and other references to the Holocaust by members of the football program,” including “rabbi,” “dreidel,” “yarmulke” and “Hanukkah,” were “a systemic issue and had happened at practices potentially as far back as 2010. Sufficient credible evidence was found to support the conclusion that coaching staff were aware of the use of such terms during practices.”

The report identified several “corrective actions” for the district to implement. They include reviewing the athletic program and its handbook, coaching evaluations and business functions. In addition, an Athletic Advisory Committee has been established to review and make recommendations about the athletic program. Some coaches have participated in diversity, equity and inclusion training program. Also, a group of coaches and players will take part in a training by Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

“I am glad the school released a report about the Duxbury High School football team’s use of antisemitic terms,” said Karen Wong, a Duxbury resident who is one of an estimated 60 Jews in the small coastal town. “Emotions in the community are running high.

“I was surprised and disappointed to learn that religious prayers and attending Mass were blended into the culture of a public-school sports program. While participation was optional, it is very difficult for student-athletes to opt out of events that are meant to be team building.”

A version of this story originally appeared in the Jewish Journal-Massachusetts.

Shir Joy Chorus presents “Together in Song”

CENTRAL MASS. – Shir Joy Chorus presents “Together in Song”—a summer concert of community, connection, and celebration, its last fully virtual concert with a combination of virtual choirs, courtyard chorus, and live commentary, on Sunday, June 27 from 7-8:30 p.m. on Zoom.

The concert combines the best technological adaptations to distanced singing; it’s the next best thing to being there. With the reduction of restrictions for in-person gatherings, Shir Joy Chorus has been able to rehearse live together in preparation for this concert. Some of the selections for this concert will be live performances recorded in our outdoor rehearsal space.

While Director Nan AK Gibbons has become quite accustomed to presenting virtual concerts, she is excited about our gradual return to live performance. “We’ve been able to rehearse live together because all of our chorus members have gotten the Covid-19 vaccine. It is a relief and a joy to be able to sing together live and in-person.”

The concert will be presented live on Zoom. Preregistration is required to get the Zoom link. Attendees must sign up on the Shir Joy website to get a Zoom link to the concert: https://www.shirjoychorus.com/reservations/shir-joy-togetherin-song

Suggested donation $18, with a free option.

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Coming. Prominent among the millions of American Evangelicals praying for Israel is Pastor Boyd Bingham IV, one in a line of a dynasty of Kentucky pastors, and the congregants he leads in a small coal-mining town. Firm in his conviction that his calling in life is to raise money for Israel and his congregants’ donations are fueled by the belief that Jews are crucial to Jesus’s return. (Documentary, 76 minutes, 2020, English)

AUG. 2, 4 P.M.

The Invisible Line — America’s Nazi Experiment

Seeking to explain how Hitler brainwashed the Germans, history teacher Ron Jones subjected his high school students to a Nazilike code of conduct. The experiment spiraled out of control, attracting hundreds of students to the rising fascist movement. Some 50 years later, Jones, his wife, and original pupils reunite to share their troubling memories and reflect on the trauma and regret that haunt them still. (Courtesy Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Documentary, 53 minutes, 2020, English)

AUG. 2, 8 P.M. Tango Shalom

Moshe Yehuda, a Hasidic Rabbi, enters a televised Tango competition to save his Hebrew school from bankruptcy. But due to his orthodox religious beliefs, he is not allowed to touch a woman! At odds with his family and Hasidic community, Moshe asks a Catholic priest, a Muslim imam, and Sikh holy man for advice. Together, they hash out a plan to help Moshe dance in the Tango contest without sacrificing his sacred beliefs, setting in motion a fun, passionate dance movie. (Narrative, 115 minutes, 2020, English)

AUG. 9, 4 P.M.

Cinema Rex

At a famed 1930s Jerusalem cinematheque, a Jewish boy and an Arab girl bond over their love of movies. (Animation, 8 minutes, 2020, Hebrew (English subtitles)

Mum’s Hairpins

Yasha, a young Jewish boy, seizes a last chance to escape a Ukrainian shtetl under siege from Nazi invaders in this somber, poetic, and haunting tale of survival and loss. (Narrative, 20 minutes, 2019, Russian with English subtitles.)

Eddy’s World

The entertaining story of Eddy Goldfarb, a 98-year-old working toy inventor, best known for the iconic Yakity Yak Teeth and nearly 800 classic toys. (Documentary, 28 minutes, English)

AUG. 9, 8 P.M.

Empty Spaces

Nati, an officer in the IDF is heading south with three soldiers in order to perform a very complicated mission. (Narrative, 27 minutes, 2021, Hebrew subtitles)

A Father’s Kaddish

Sitting at his potter’s wheel to heal emotionally and honor his son’s memory, a grieving New England father shares his contemplative, meditative ritual of creating exquisite works of art born of love, tragedy and time. (Courtesy Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Short documentary, 31 minutes, English)

AKERMAN Shirley Whitehouse Akerman, 101, of Springfield, died at home May 11. She was the wife of Paul C. Akerman. Born in Syracuse, N.Y., she was the daughter of the late Anna and Herbert Kopp. She moved to Los Angeles, Calif. as a young girl and graduated from Fairfax High School in 1936 and attended Los Angeles City College. Upon graduation, she worked for Lockheed Corporation in Burbank. California. After the United States declared war with Germany and Japan, Shirley joined the United States Navy. She went through officer training at Smith College in Northampton. She began her naval career as an ensign and was later promoted to lieutenant JG. She was stationed in San Diego and Washington. After the war, she moved to Springfield, assisting her husband in building his real estate company and managing his office. She was a member of Temple Beth El. She is survived by a daughter, Ellen Akerman Hammond of Toronto; a son, Nick Akerman and his wife, Lisa Helmrich, of New York City; seven grandchildren, Amanda Blakley, Adam Moffat, Danielle Blakley, Daniel Hedges, Benjamin Blakley, Kira Akerman, Lily Akerman; and four great-grandchildren, Rosalie, Harrison, Atticus and Archer. She was predeceased by a sister, Lois Margolis; and a brother, Paul Whitehouse. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Civil Liberties Union: https://action.aclu. org/give/now?redirect=donate. ASCHER-ZIMMERMAN FUNERAL HOME

BAILIN Bernard “Bennie” Bailin, died June 1 at the Jewish Healthcare Center. Born in Worcester, he was the son of Samuel and Rose (Sworin) Bailin. For more than 30 years he, along with his brothers, was a builder and developer, of single family homes and commercial rental properties including Salisbury Hill, Hidden Farms, Rosewood Estates in Worcester and Rosewood Gardens in North Grafton. He was one of the largest apartment rental owners in Worcester. With his brothers, he also owned and operated Bailin Brothers Trucking Co. He was a member of Yeshiva Achei Tmimim and the Jewish Healthcare Center. With his brothers, he was philanthropically involved in the Jewish Healthcare Center, Yeshiva Achei Tmimim, Eisenberg Assisted Living Center and Holy Society Cemetery, where he had the roads and parking lot paved. He financed the construction of Duffy Field Playground at Newton Square, home to the Jesse Burkett Little League, and was responsible for the renovation of Banis Square Park. He is survived by a cousin, Carol Adlestein and her husband, Steven, of Worcester. He was predeceased by his brothers, Maurice “Moe” Bailin and Harold “Mickey” Bailin. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jewish Healthcare Center, 629 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA 01609; the Cardiology Department of UMass Memorial Hospital, 55 Lake Ave., N. Worcester, MA 01655; or to Post # 32 of the Jewish War Veterans, 633 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA 01609. RICHARD PERLMAN OF MILES FUNERAL HOME OF HOLDEN

EPSHTEYN Mikhail Epshteyn, 95, of Longmeadow, died May 20. He was predeceased by his wife, Galina in 2003. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, he was a proud veteran who fought in World War II against the Nazis for the Soviet Army. In April of 1990, Mikhail immigrated to Springfield, later settling in Longmeadow. He is survived by a son, Roman Epshteyn and his wife, Juliya of Agawam; two granddaughters, Yana Powers of Longmeadow and Inna Epshteyn of West Springfield; and two great-grandchildren Ari and Vicki. He also leaves behind a large extended family and his network of friends. ASCHER-ZIMMERMAN FUNERAL HOME

FINERMAN Dorine (Hallett) Finerman, 91, of Springfield died May 8 at home. Born in Springfield, she was the daughter of the late Samuel and Sarah (Smith) Hallett. She was predeceased by her husband, Jack Finerman. She graduated from Westfield State Teachers College, working after graduation as an elementary school teacher. She was a member of Sinai Temple. She is survived by two daughters, Jan Krasnor and her husband, Richard, of Madison, Conn., and Susan Finerman-Bierly and her husband, Jeffrey Bierly, of Portland, Conn.; four grandchildren, Leah DelGobbo and her husband, Chris, of Wolcott, Conn., Alison Krasnor of Brighton, Evan Bierly of Middletown, Conn., and Sarah Bierly of Brighton; a brother, Wayne Hallett and his wife, Janice, of East Longmeadow; a niece, Cathy Parker of West Springfield; and many other nieces, nephews and cousins. She was predeceased by two sisters, Rosalie Parker and Frances Gordon. Memorial contributions can be made to Sinai Temple, 1100 Dickinson St., Springfield, MA 01108; to Beacon Hospice and Amedisys Foundation, Springfield, MA; or to the donor’s choice. ASCHER-ZIMMERMAN FUNERAL HOME

FREEDMAN Sidney G. Freedman, 71, of West Boylston, died June 1 after a brief battle with glioblastoma. He was the husband of Lisa Freedman. Born in Worcester, he was the son of Aaron and Dorothy (Shack) Freedman. After graduating from Doherty Memorial High School in 1968, he took business courses at Suffolk University and went on to earn an associate degree in business at Worcester Junior College. After graduation, he started working at the family business, Olympic Sporting Goods and Trophy, and a few years, he took over the company and pioneered new graphics innovations. In addition to his wife, he is survived by four children, Dov Freedman of Worcester, Dalilah Gilmartin and her husband Brad of Worcester, Dahci Croci and her husband Jason of Holden, and Desi Freedman of Worcester; eight grandchildren, Cara, Michael, Dylan, Annabelle, Nera, Tova, Kieran, and Quinnlyn; a brother, David and his wife, Susan Peirce of Clemson, S.C.; a niece, niece Hannah; and a nephew, Micah. Memorial contributions may be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Worcester, 65 Boys & Girls Club Way, Worcester, MA 01610. MILES FUNERAL HOME OF HOLDEN

GASS Doris Fogelman Gass of Worcester, formerly of Bangor, Maine and Boca Raton, Fla., died May 12. She was predeceased by her husband of 56 years, Julius Gass. Born June 23, 1918, in Passaic, N.J., she was the daughter of Sarah and Isadore Fogelman. She worked for many years as a designer for the family office supply business. She loved being involved with local theater, and taught ceramics at the JCC. She is survived by three children, Denise Sosnoff and her husband, Steven, of Paxton, Sharon Temple and her significant other, Jim Fish, of Seattle, Wash., and Jeffrey Gass and his wife, Susan of McMinnville, Ore; a daughter-in-law, Lynne Gass of Sanford, Maine; three grandchildren, Michael Gass and his wife, Kimberly, of Portsmouth, N.H., Jodi Sosnoff of Arlington; and Richard Sosnoff and his wife, Marcela, of Panama; seven great-grandchildren, Zoe, Dorian and Latham Gass of Portsmouth, N.H., and Isabella, Angelina, Olivia and Nicolas Virzi Sosnoff of Panama; and numerous nieces. Memorial contributions may be made to Jewish Healthcare Center, 629 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA 01609; or the charity of the donor’s choice. MILES FUNERAL HOME OF HOLDEN

GROSSMAN Morton P. “Morty” Grossman, 88, died May 9 at the Jewish Healthcare Center after a period of declining health. He was the husband of Sheila (Fellman) Grossman. Born in Worcester, he was the son of Joseph and Clara (Stigman) Grossman. After attending Commerce High School, he proudly served his country in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, stationed in Korea for 17 months in the Infantry. Following his military service, he joined his parents in the family jewelry business, eventually transitioning to a career in furniture sales. He was an active participant of The Torah Center of Worcester, and an active member of the Irving Yarock Post #32 of Jewish War Veterans. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two stepsons, Alan Gordon of Worcester, and David Gordon of Natick. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jewish Healthcare Center, 629 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA 01609. MILES FUNERAL HOME OF HOLDEN

MEYERS Jodi A. Meyers, 59, of New Haven, Conn., died April 8 after a battle with cancer. Born in Stamford, Conn., she was the daughter of Lois “Kris” Meyers and the late Robert Meyers. Raised in Longmeadow, she was a graduate of Longmeadow High School. She was active with both the Parents’ Foundation and Fellowship Place in New Haven. In addition to her mother, she is survived by a sister, Ellen Meyers; a sisterin-law, Kim Anno; a nephew, Jack AnnoMeyers; her stepmother, Sarah Meyers; and two half-brothers David and Alex Meyers. Memorial contributions may be made to Fellowship Place, 441 Elm St, New Haven, CT, 06511. ASCHER-ZIMMERMAN FUNERAL HOME

NESTELBAUM Menucha (Wagman) Nestelbaum of Worcester died May 18 at home. She was predeceased by her husband of 51 years, Elimelech Nestelbaum in 2002. Born in Luxembourg on August 21, 1927, she was the daughter of Mordechai and Sonia (Lubich) Wagman. She survived World War II, but lost many family members in the Holocaust, including her father and her brother Henry. After the war she settled in Israel before moving to the United States. She lived in Worcester for 63 years and was a member of Shaarei Torah West. She was also active in Amit Women and a member of Hadassah and various Holocaust related organizations. She was an avid reader and was active in the family real estate business. She is survived by a daughter, Liora Weinberg (Lee) of Pittsburgh, Pa.; two sons, Zamir Nestelbaum (Leah) of New York City, and David Nestelbaum of Worcester; seven grandchildren, Ariella Reinherz (Adam), Sam Weinberg (Becky), Sonia Schwartz (Oren), Miriam Weinberg, Max Nestelbaum, Nick Nestelbaum and Ethan Nestelbaum; and 11 great-grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to Shaarai Torah West, 835 Pleasant St., Worcester, MA 01602. RICHARD PERLMAN OF MILES FUNERAL HOME OF HOLDEN