As reports of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and threats continue to rise across the United States — and as Jewish leaders in Oregon say their community is feeling the impact locally — one of the nation’s most prominent voices on confronting hate will be in Portland this month to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, will speak at Congregation Beth Israel on Tuesday, Jan. 27, in a public lecture titled “Eighty-One Years After Liberation.”
“There’s really no scholar at her level who can really bring these issues of Holocaust and current antisemitism together,” said Rabbi Michael Cahana, senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel. “She’s been speaking about this for decades.”
Congregation Beth Israel and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education have collaborated to bring Lipstadt to Portland as part of Beth Israel’s Oseran Family Lecture series. The series invites local and national figures, including scholars, journalists and politicians, to speak on topics of significant interest to the community.
Encouraging unity in the face of hatred, Lipstadt’s lecture will address the past, why remembering the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, 81 years later is important, and the rise in antisemitism across the country.
“We’re seeing an unprecedented rise in antisemitism in the United States, and the Jewish community is really feeling that, both around the world and in our community as well,” Cahana said. “Many people that I’ve spoken to in the community are seeing an increase in antisemitic experiences, from bullying on the playground at school to actual antisemitic language from leaders from institutions. … It’s very much on the increase locally as well as nationally.”
For Cahana, the event is as much about validation as education. He said many people minimize antisemitic encounters, telling themselves a comment or incident was small or not worth addressing.
“It’s not your imagination,” he said. “It’s happening nationally. It’s happening internationally. We have to stand up for it.”
Gail Mandel, incoming interim executive director of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, said Lipstadt’s visit comes at a moment when the need for Holocaust education and public dialogue feels especially urgent.
“These can feel like really dark times,” Mandel said. “We are hopeful that people will leave with a better understanding of what the state of antisemitism is today, but with hope that there are ways to stand up against antisemitism, there are ways to combat it.”
Mandel said Portland rarely hosts experts of Lipstadt’s stature in the field of antisemitism and that the event is intended for the broader community, not only Jewish audiences.
“We really felt that this was a time to bring a voice of her magnitude to town,” she said. “So that not just the Jewish community in Portland, but the broader Portland metro community could have the opportunity to hear from her and learn from her, with regards to standing up against antisemitism in these current times.”
The lecture is free to attend in person or via live stream with prior registration at bethisraelpdx.shulcloud.com/form/Lipstadt. For the live stream audience, an access code to the discussion will be shared with registered attendees.
The evening will also include an introduction and moderated Q&A with Eric Ward, executive vice president of Race Forward and a nationally recognized expert on hate movements and authoritarianism.
“Eighty-one Years After Liberation,” 6 p.m. doors open, 6:30-8 p.m. discussion; Tuesday, Jan. 27; Main Sanctuary, Congregation Beth Israel, 1972 N.W. Flanders St.; RSVP at bethisraelpdx.shulcloud.com/form/Lipstadt.
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