The BCRC Blog

BCRC now has a team devoted to fighting Anti-Semitism, headed by Marc and Dale Nodell. As we have seen anti-Semitic events increase over the past year, this  team has already been meeting with elected officials and organizations to seek their support. A meeting will be held soon, open to anyone who is interested in helping out, to compare ideas and put a game plan together. Here's a few updates from Marc Nodell on recent developments:

1. On February 7th, 2020, Senate Bill SB853 passed in the VA Senate by a vote of 27 to 12.  This bill, shown below was sponsored by Jennifer Boysko, State Senator.  Dale and I had met with her in October regarding this proposed legislation that is intended to attack hate through education in the VA school system.  This is a good step forward in that the topic will be made age appropriate for all levels (K-12).  Senator Boysko and team were very responsive when approached. Click here to read the bill.

2. On February 3rd, Rabbi Amy, Dale and I met with two staff members of Senator Warner's teamf to raise our concerns about the growth of anti-Semitism.  We expressed our growing apprehension about the attacks on Jewish students and their organizations on campuses, the villainization of American Jewish citizens and Israel by certain segments in the media, in politics and in academic settings.  We provided links to different sites about anti-Semitism in academia (AMCHA.org), reading material that may be useful to the Senator's team and also a list of concrete steps that could be taken to help address this situation.   The Senator's aides listened to our personal stories and concerns.  While no specific follow on actions were discussed we do have contact information for the Senator's office and will follow up periodically with them.