PLEASE NOTE: Within the Humanistic Judaism movement, we have the full diversity of political positions as it relates to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. SHJ refrains from official statements on issues where we cannot speak for a significant majority of our movement. Therefore, the following should not be taken as an official position.
Additional writing on this topic from leaders in SHJ-affiliated communities can be found here.
Beth Ann Margolis Rupp is currently the Executive Director of Folkshul, an SHJ affiliate community in Philadelphia, PA. She is both a secular and Jewish global educator, and has worked in educational K- 16 settings for the past 45 years, as well as with non-profit organizations. In addition to her teaching and leadership work in the United States, she has contributed to educational projects in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and led leadership and environmental programs in Israel. Her focus is on democracy, leadership development and community building through education and social justice initiatives.
A glimpse into life in our community after the October 7th massacre in Israel
Written by: Beth Ann Margolis Rupp 
As the Executive Director of the Jewish Children’s Folkshul in Philadelphia, I want to share how our community and school has navigated with our board and our members’ pain, grief, anger, frustration, and intergenerational collective learning during this horrific time in Jewish history. It has been deeply challenging to navigate these contentious times. I am writing in my personal capacity, expressing my personal observations as the director of a secular Jewish community.
Our Folkshul, an affiliate of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, is an intentionally inclusive organization that welcomes all people who feel a connection to their Jewish identity and appreciate a secular humanist approach to Judaism. Our non-theistic, co-op model is driven by the Jewish values of shared responsibility and Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). It is our mission to effect, inspire and cultivate critical thinking and to create a social justice mindset with a Jewish lens. https://www.folkshul.org/
Some of our principles and practices place us outside the mainstream Philadelphia-area congregational ecosystem. For example, our Brit Mitzvah, the coming-of-age ritual at 13, is not a time to read from the Torah but a time for our youth to choose a year-long course of study about Judaism and themselves. We are considered outliers within the Jewish community, not even included as a category of Jewish denominations in the Jewish Federation’s community census and profile. We have become a home and a refuge for many Jewish people who feel alienated from mainstream Jewish life for myriad reasons. Our identity as outliers has equipped us to approach these difficult times with our unique principles and practices, not always seeking agreement but understanding.
Although Folkshul members make a conscious choice to be affiliated as Jewish Secular Humanists, the diversity of background, practice, political philosophies and belief has presented a real challenge in navigating the wide perspectives on Israel, Gaza and the war. We teach and empower students to think critically, and analyze all aspects of the information presented, and find their own voices. Practicing these skills as a community in a divisive time has taken patience, honesty, and courage. Our activities, both before and after the October 7th attack on Israel have given us perspective and a basis for exploration.
A year before the October 7th attack, I determined it was a crucial time for Folkshul to develop an inquiry into modern Israel. In December 2022, I joined the first cohort of the Venture Israel Fellowship funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and co-sponsored by the Jewish Learning Venture. In joining a community of practice with a group of rabbis, Jewish leaders and educators, I gained insight into Israel’s democracy and diversity challenges, even with but a mere glimpse into the intractable situation we see before us today. At Folkshul’s 2023 Sukkot program, less than a week before October 7, we hosted a program with Sigal Kanotopsky, who spoke about immigration and her journey from Ethiopia to Israel. We also heard a presentation from a few of our Israeli members to learn about Israel’s struggles with democratic backsliding and the marginalization of non-Ashkenazi voices. We also discussed the Netanyahu government policies and were invited to join an Israeli demonstration in Philadelphia for democracy in Israel. We started the Jewish new year by talking about Israel in meaningful ways.
On October 7th, Hamas attacked southern Israel, murdering more Jews in a day than at any point since the Shoah, and kidnapping over a hundred, including the stepmother of our members. Jewish world. We gathered to mourn and grieve and to grapple with immediate feelings.We held a space with our members, many of whom were feeling overwhelmed, isolated, and alone. The conversations brought home how diverse our points of view are about Israel and its relationship to the Palestinian people.
In early January 2024, following the massacre, ensuing war, the beginning of college campus protests, a significant increase in national and global anti-semitism, and our campus security concerns, I found it essential to develop increased messaging of support and invitations to participate in evolving programming concerning the ongoing conflict. With the support of our board and Program Director Leah Wright, along with our lay leaders, we have facilitated and engaged the majority of our community in a wide range of member-led, reflective learning programs. Together we read and discussed articles, we shared on WhatsApp, and we heard multiple perspectives from academics, journalists and media sources. A 20-year-old Folkshul board member and alum facilitated a panel discussion, introducing his experiences with antisemitism as a peace activist on his college campus. An alum who lives in the Netherlands convened a discussion about why he is more comfortable in pro-Palestinian spaces and how he supports the Palestinian people. We virtually engaged with former members and educators who now live in Israel and are involved in the coexistence work of Givat Haviva, a center for shared society in Northern Israel, we hosted a survivor of Kibbutz Saad, and we held a program with Ron Skolnik from Jewish Currents and Jews for a Progressive Israel. On April 28, Dr. Harris Sokoloff and member Dr. Sukey Blanc facilitated a moderated dialogue to engage in communal listening for understanding. Hopefully, through these and other programs, our members learned a little bit more about themselves and their fellow members, and developed a deeper connection to one another through sharing our grief, our uncertainty, and the challenges we faced as secular Jews in other settings.
We find ourselves amidst a political storm of polarization, social media manipulation, rising nationalist sentiments, rising antisemitism and islamophobia, and the conflation of intersectionality with ignoring voices that are the wrong kind of marginalized. Many of our members hold conflicted feelings about how the war is being handled, the tremendous turmoil and unrest on college campuses, and what role, if any, we should play as a community and as individuals. The discomfort is palpable, especially with our younger alumni, many of whom are grandchildren of Labor Zionists, Bundists, union organizers, and progressive activists; some also are the great-grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Our community discussions were attended by several generations of members, who sought us out to re-engage with our community.
Through our engagement together, we are continuing to uncover the complexities and nuances of this time and our community. This moment has been a catalyst for Folkshul, clarifying our mission of who we are as outliers.This motivates us to continue examining how we teach about Israel and about how we see our place within the American Jewish community. The rise of antisemitism is adding another painful dimension to how we must understand and advocate for ourselves and all.
Seven months after the massacre, mass kidnapping, and ensuing invasion of Gaza, we ask, “How have we changed?” We have evolved one holiday at a time, one program at a time, by weaving together past and present stories to understand these oscillating narratives of the Jewish and Palestinian peoples. Our 2024 Passover seder was not the same as it was last year. We adapted the Folkshul Haggadah, the seder plate and our table; we added bittersweet chocolate to the seder plate for children. And we added a fifth question:
- What can we do to support the liberation of the people of Gaza, the Israeli hostages and all those in bondage?
As of today, after many conversations between membership and leadership, the Folkshul board has not felt that it would be productive to take an official position regarding the war in Gaza. Perhaps this is in recognition of the diverse and multilayered viewpoints of our membership, and our commitment to listening and sharing openly.
As a result of not taking a position, over the past almost 7 months, we have lost members and relationships with left-leaning partner organizations and allies. Concurrently, we have attracted new families and individuals seeking a Jewish community that is more aligned to asking questions about how Israelis and Palestinians can find peaceful pathways to mutual solutions.
On May 19th, our last day for the Folkshul school year, we will celebrate the graduation of our seniors to college and our 9th graders becoming school assistants. We will acknowledge Shavuot while we continue to wrestle with seeking and creating pathways to understanding our personal and global humanity. Our engagement with Israel and all of the complications that come along with it is far from over and will not end with this Folkshul school year. We seek to construct a plan with our members, including civil and shared society partners, academics and journalists, to continue to engage with the changing challenging narratives, to co-construct an Israel/Palestine Study for the summer 2024 and beyond.
Come to Folkshul to engage in these difficult discussions, and dare to be an outlier with us. If you are seeking a place to be bold enough to talk with an outlier and listen. We are broken together with our eyes open, in a world where many have closed their eyes to the pain and suffering of our next generation. My eyes are open and weeping.
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