Sen. Stella Pekarsky and Sen. Jennifer Boysko among elected officials present
School field trips to Holocaust museums, improved Holocaust education, opposing book bans and listening to one another were among community suggestions at a Nov. 19 town hall forum addressing antisemitism in Fairfax County.
Community members gathered at Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation to hear from Sen. Stella Pekarsky, Sen. Jennifer Boysko and Virginia state delegates Dan Helmer and Karrie Delaney, who emphasized the importance of listening to the Jewish community during challenging times. The town hall was organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
For Helmer, the son of an Israeli immigrant and descendant of Holocaust survivors, the issue of antisemitism hits closer to home. In his opening statement, Helmer said his grandmother and her sister found a photo of the factory attic they hid in during the “Jew hunt” in Nazi Germany.
“I think about that right now, at a time where all of us face a great deal of fear and uncertainty,” Helmer said of his relatives’ experience. “I was stunned at the stories my own son told me coming home from high school last year of antisemitic statements and acts that he witnessed as a senior in high school. And I think about that attic at the same time.”
He said the attic was a safe space in a violent, antisemitic era, and hopes that such a safe space is no longer necessary in the future: “How do we eliminate the need for that attic?”
Pekarsky said she has learned a lot from listening to her husband, a Jewish immigrant from the Soviet Union, share his experiences.
“When we met, through many conversations about his upbringing, I was able to look at some issues from a perspective that I have never encountered before,” Pekarsky said at the event. “And I think that’s the power of being able to talk with each other and share stories.”
She added that elected officials may not have all the answers to eliminating antisemitism, but that people can understand and help one another by gathering and conversing: “It’s more important than ever right now that we share what you are all going through.”
Pekarsky had the idea to host the local forum after multiple Jewish constituents approached her with their concerns about antisemitic and anti-Israel acts in the neighborhood, such as a Herndon resident who had the Israeli flag on her property ripped up three times by the same individual. The other three elected officials joined Pekarsky to listen to these concerns and brainstorm ways forward.
One attendee, the mom of a Lake Braddock secondary school graduate, expressed frustration that a student was permitted to walk across the stage at graduation with a Palestinian flag and keffiyeh without interference from school administrators.
An attendee who identified himself as Palestinian later spoke up to say he doesn’t believe the Palestinian flag is intended to be antisemitic; it is solely a protest against the actions of the Israeli government.
Another attendee, a member of NVHC, asked the officials in attendance if they would commit to implementing school field trips to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., so students gain a better understanding of Jewish history.
Boysko agreed, adding that there is a closer Holocaust museum located in Richmond, Virginia, which she said is “very, very moving and impactful.”
Delaney and Pekarsky also agreed, the latter citing her enthusiasm for any educational effort.
“As we are seeing more and more of our Holocaust survivors passing away, [the Holocaust] is becoming less and less, I think, real,” Pekarsky said.
Helmer said he loved the idea of a field trip, but that Holocaust education must shift to recenter Jewish identity.
“We need to revise Holocaust education to remind people that the Holocaust was a uniquely antisemitic [incident] and not simply a universal phenomenon,” Helmer said. “The centrality of Jewishness has been removed.”
A high school sophomore in the audience shared that for members of her generation, Holocaust education often feels like “ancient history” because teens today lack connection with the subject matter and don’t see how it’s relevant to their lives.
This lack of education can breed antisemitism, something Boysko brought up in her opening statement referencing a local vandalism incident.
“When the students [drew] swastikas on the wall, they claimed they didn’t know what the Holocaust was or what the swastika symbolized,” Boysko said.
Pekarsky and members of the audience spoke to the importance of books in Holocaust education; Pekarsky first learned about the Holocaust as an elementary school student through reading “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Editing out historical information from textbooks and banning books due to “uncomfortable” content is counterproductive to education, the officials agreed.
“It is terrifying to see this erasure of literature and important lessons,” Delaney said.
“Books are so powerful: the stories they tell, the ways in which they are able to teach kids,” Pekarsky said.
The overarching theme of the night was hearing each other out and engaging in civil discourse. Moving forward, Pekarsky told Washington Jewish Week that she anticipates a policy or bill related to combating antisemitism in the near future, but she will continue learning what’s going on in the community.
“Education and listening to one another is the best way for us to eradicate a lot of the bigotry and the hate that we see,” Pekarsky said.
