Studies & Reports

Coalition Spotlight: Hanukkah Festivities and New Year Opportunities

December 15, 2022

This weekend, the 8-day celebration of Hanukkah will begin and bring together Jewish communities around the world with menorah (hanukkiah) lightings, jelly-filled donuts (sufganiyot), potato pancakes (latkes), and much much more.

Here is a sampling of how the coalition has made a difference this week:

Spotlight

UN Watch: Opportunity for college graduates in Geneva! The one-year-long Morris B. Abram Fellowship at UN Watch invites recent college graduates to gain real world advocacy experience by working directly with the Executive Director in writing relevant materials such as speeches and op-eds, monitoring and reporting on meetings at the UN, performing research and more. The deadline to apply is this Saturday December 18.

To learn more and apply, click here.

Upcoming Events

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC): With Hanukkah quickly approaching and the war in Ukraine persisting into the winter, kick off the holiday with a look at Ukraine’s inspiring and resilient Jewish community, watch Food Network star Duff Goldman prepare a delicious Chanukah treat, listen to Broadway’s “Funny Girl” Julie Benko sing the Yiddish classic “Tumbalalaika,” and more in the “A Great Miracle Happened Here” 8-day long celebration. The program begins this Sunday December 18 at 7 pm ET.

To learn more and sign up, click here.

Galicia Jewish Museum: “I don’t have to be Jewish to care about Jewish cemeteries” – Dariusz Popiela in the latest film on Polish memory with the Shoah, titled: “Edge of Light.” This Sunday December 18 at 4 pm CET, the Museum will host a film screening and director Wojciech Szumowski will be in attendance for an open conversation with the public. The film screening and subsequent discussion with Director Szumowski will take place in Polish.

For more information, click here.

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA): With antisemitism continuing to rage across college campuses, Professor of English and Jewish Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington Alvin Rosenfeld will present his work in a unique conversation titled, “‘The Jews Are Guilty’”: Antisemitism in Today’s America” and how Anti-Zionism threats to destroy campus harmony by spreading antisemitism and blaming Jews for the ills of the world on Thursday December 22 at 10 am IST.

Watch the livestream on Thursday December 22 here.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI): Activists hostile to Israel are increasingly pressing institutional investors to divest from Israeli companies or companies that maintain links with Israel. On Sunday December 18 at 12 pm ET, in a webinar titled “Institutional Investors, Israel Boycotts, and American Law”, Professor David H. Webber from Boston University School of Law will examine whether it is legal for an institutional investor to boycott Israel under the laws governing the world’s largest investment market.

Partner Achievements

Artists 4 Israel: Including many projects and initiatives to promote positivity and combat hatred, CEO Craig Dershowitz invites us to read and review the incredible accomplishments Artists 4 Israel has had in the year 2022, including the Righteous Among the Nations mural campaign in partnership with CAM.

Review the report here.

Recommended Readings, Viewings, and Listenings

Moment Magazine: The Hebrew Bible does not include the Book of Maccabees, which documents the full historical story of Hanukkah, but the Catholic Bible has maintained it in its scripture for centuries. In a holiday special article, Moment’s Bob Davis poses the question, “Who Edited Hanukkah Out of the Bible?” and explores the compilation of the Hebrew Bible from a scholarly perspective.