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Nearly 200 lawmakers, congressional staff, Jewish community leaders, and special guests, including Auburn University Men’s Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl, gathered at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday morning for a breakfast honoring Jewish American Heritage Month.
The event — hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) and Jewish Federations of North America, in partnership with the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, AEPi, and Operation Benjamin — featured a keynote presentation by Pearl, as well as remarks from a bipartisan group of Senate and House of Representative members.
“I tell my players there are going to be obstacles, and you’re going to have to navigate them to achieve some success,” Pearl said. “Yes, antisemitism is rising, but the Jewish people are strong. The Jewish people work hard. We’re tough. We speak the truth. We’re taught to hold the right values. We’re taught to stand up for justice. We’re taught to teach it to our children.”
“I’m a Jewish American basketball coach, who coaches basketball in Auburn, Alabama,” he said. “Don’t tell me this isn’t the greatest country in the world!”
The lineup of Congress members who addressed the breakfast included Rep. Randy Weber (R TX-14), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D FL-25), Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Rep. Dan Goldman (D NY-10), Rep. David Kustoff (R TN-8), Rep. Randy Fine (R FL-6), Rep. Wesley Bell (D MO-1), Rep. Mike Lawler (R NY-17), Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN), and Rep. Rick Allen (R GA-12).
“Jewish Americans are woven into the very foundation of this country,” said Representative Weber. “Jewish American Heritage Month is not just a celebration, it’s a call to action – to defend our freedoms and protect our communities. We are morally obligated to confront hate wherever it rears its head.”
“The United States unequivocally stands with the Jewish people here and around the world, and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel,” he added.
Representative Wasserman Schultz said, “It is so important for us to celebrate the contributions Jews have made to the success of America. I have always viewed JAHM as a tool to combat antisemitism, and we need Jews and non-Jews alike to learn about all the remarkable Jewish Americans who have served in government, the military, and won Nobel prizes. ”
“The significant contributions Jewish Americans have made and continue to make toward America’s success are not always widely known,” she added. “So we have an opportunity all throughout May, and it shouldn’t only happen in May, but at least we have May, to make sure that we can inform and educate our fellow Americans.”
Other speakers included CAM Founder Adam Beren and JFNA President and CEO Eric Fingerhut, and the event was emceed by JFNA Government Relations Subcommittee Chair Dennis Bernard.
“Congress is supportive of Israel and the Jewish community, and we are very appreciative of that,” Beren said.
Fingerhut stated, “Today’s JAHM event is an important reminder that despite the monumental challenges the Jewish community faces, we have strong, bipartisan friendships on Capitol Hill that support us in our fight to push antisemitism back to the fringes of society, defend Israel, keep our communities safe, and protect our most vulnerable.”
In 2006, Congress passed a bipartisan resolution urging “the President to issue each year a proclamation calling on state and local governments and the people of the United States to observe an American Jewish History Month.”
Shortly thereafter, then-President George W. Bush declared May as Jewish American Heritage Month.
In addition to organizing annual JAHM events in Congress in recent years, CAM has also made a concerted nationwide push to get local governments — at the state, county, and municipal levels — to recognize JAHM and implement relevant programs, ceremonies, and activities.
“Jewish American Heritage Month is an opportunity to help educate the non-Jewish American public about who Jews are,” said CAM Director of Interfaith Outreach and Engagement EJ Kimball at the start of Wednesday’s breakfast. “We are observant and non-observant, conservative and liberal, and Democrats and Republicans. We’re not a community that agrees on everything, but we can and should express our gratitude to the opportunities we have been given by the United States of America.”
Wednesday’s breakfast concluded with a presentation by Operation Benjamin, an organization that works to preserve the memories of Jewish American service members who died in World War II.
A photo gallery from the breakfast is accessible HERE (credit: Shmulik Almany).
