"Every State has its own policy, [but] as vaccinations are moving forward, we do expect that most summer camps would be open," Jewish Federations of North America CEO Eric Fingerhut told The Jerusalem Post, in anticipation of a better summer than last.
Speaking during the paper’s weekly Zoomcast, Fingerhut looked back at the challenges the American Jewish community faced during this past year as COVID-19 swept the country and the world.
Among the issues: Antisemitism rose as the pandemic worsened. The federations made strong efforts to fight against rising hate, including doing advocacy work on Capitol Hill to increase security grants for nonprofits.
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"Our agenda in Washington is threefold: We are strongly advocating to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism and we think it should be the national standard; We supported the No Hate Act, calling the government to track the incidents of hate crime; And [as] the cost of securing our facilities is growing, we are seeking to double the federal security grants to $360 million annually,” Fingerhut said.
Fingerhut also noted that JFNA, together with The Jewish Agency, Hillel, and other Jewish Organizations are hosting an online event to celebrate Israel’s 73rd Independence Day, featuring Israeli Olympic athletes.