Tackling Antisemitism and Xenophobia through Education and Interfaith Coalition Building

ended

Neighbours responds to growing antisemitism in Europe by opening doors, instead of what too often happens today: constructing walls around synagogues and Jewish communities. The European Union of Progressive Judaism and HIAS Europe, will mobilize 8 liberal Jewish congregations from 6 MS to proactively engage neighbouring, Muslim, and migrant communities. Addressing antisemitism and islamophobia at once, they aim to reduce prejudice and promote mutual understanding and local integration. Specifically, Neighbours will: -bring 3500 students’ in Paris, Lyon, Unna, Munich, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Vienna into synagogues to confront antisemitic ideas, conspiracy myths, and other forms of offline and online hatred, intersectional discrimination, and prejudice. Classes from local schools in diverse neighborhoods will come into the synagogue for a morning of dialogue based on a time-tested, award-winning program from the Netherlands. -create 8 local inter-faith coalitions in Paris, Lyon, Unna, Munich, Amsterdam, Rome, Brussels, and Vienna that connect Jews and migrant communities and promote social integration at the grassroots level. Together, the coalitions will work against discrimination, build bridges, serve refugee and asylum-seeking neighbors in need, and send a powerful message that different faith communities, especially Muslims and Jews, can effectively work together. - educate the public about the diversity of Jewish life, by giving voice to the values of Progressive Judaism: social justice, gender equality, and commitment to peace. The ultimate goal is to open up the minds of neighbors to the diverse reality of Judaism and open up the minds of our fellow Jewish congregants to our neighbours’ reality, and beyond.