September 18, 2020

Vice President Joe Biden
Biden for President
PO Box 58174
Philadelphia, PA 19102

Dear Vice President Biden,

When you accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination, you declared: “Choose hope over fear.”

Those four words embody why we, as American Jewish leaders, strongly support your candidacy for president. Those words sum up why we look forward to the day that you will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States.

In this spirit of partnership, we are pleased to share with you this website: “Israel and Antisemitism: Policy at the Nexus of Two Critical Issues.” The site contains resources on how you and your administration can effectively combat antisemitism and show leadership in achieving a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the coming months, we will offer specific policy recommendations to address the challenges related to the nexus of Israel and antisemitism.

We believe that our current president thrives on fear and on fanning the flames of hatred, extremism, and antisemitism. You often mention how you saw this at Charlottesville, where the malicious forces of hatred were empowered. America was tested that day, and the president failed in his response. You saw his failure as an inflection point for the nation and one that must be directly confronted with clear, moral leadership that takes a stand against antisemitism and all forms of hatred. We agree, and we will be your allies in promoting “the light, not the darkness.”

A spirit of unity has infused everything you have done since securing the nomination. You have turned to other Democrats so that your administration’s policies will reflect and respect the range of perspectives within our party. You have created unity task forces to develop policies that tackle the critical challenges facing our country. We bring this spirit of unity to our endeavor in the hope that we can help solidify the progressive coalition that is needed to face the challenges of combatting antisemitism and resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Whereas you value solidarity and harmony, the current president prefers to foment discord and conflict. Over the course of his administration, we have witnessed the perverse conversion of legitimate concerns about antisemitism into political weapons designed to create rifts within our own community, between us and other Americans, and to serve the narrow political interests of the far right.

Turning antisemitism into a partisan issue has not helped the Jewish community in America nor our ally Israel. In fact, it has done the reverse, eroding the prospect of achieving an equitable peace with the Palestinian people and stoking racism, white nationalism, and antisemitism here at home.

Mr. Vice President, under your leadership our nation can heal. We can confront the monumental issues on our country’s broad agenda, including those related to the nexus of Israel and antisemitism. We commit to both supporting and partnering with you in speaking out against efforts to fuel division in our nation. We know that, under your leadership, these divisive and dangerous efforts will ultimately fail because there is far more that unites us as Americans than divides us. We stand ready to support your administration’s agenda of social uplift and national healing.

We are with you, we believe in you, and we enthusiastically support you.

Signed,

The signatories of this letter added their names as individuals, not as representatives of organizations. Their signatures do not imply agreement with the contents of this website.

Cantor Nancy Abramson
Orly Adelson
Karen Adler
Michael Adler
Stuart Appelbaum
Aaron Back
Rabbi Michael Beals
Steven Beller
Jeremy Ben-Ami
Jack Bendheim
Michael Berenbaum
Jamie Allen Black
David Bocarsly
Charles Bronfman
Rabbi Sharon Brous
Stacy Burdett
David Shmidt Chapman
Jonathan Cohen
Barbara Dobkin
Paul Egerman
Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat (ret.)
Rabbi David Ellenson
Benjy Forester
Ira Forman
Rabbi Josh Frankel
Peter Frey
Rabbi Laura Geller
Michael Gelman
Susie Gelman
Grace Gleason
Stanley Gold
Barbara Goldberg Goldman
Sally Gottesman
Ben Gould
Ginna Green
Stephen M. Greenberg
Eric Greene
Barbara Grossman
Steven Grossman
Ada Horwich
Rabbi Jocee Hudson
Rabbi Jill Jacobs
Jonathan Jacoby
Rabbi David Jaffe
Peter Joseph
Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster
Joe Kanfer
Nancy Kaufman
Israel “Izzy” Klein
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum
James Klutznick
Steve Koppel
Victor Kovner
Rabbi Irwin Kula
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie
Libby Lenkinski
Aaron Leven
Former Senator Carl Levin
Former Representative Mel Levine
Joy Levitt
Abby Leibman
Analucía Lopezrevoredo
Isaac Luria
Ruth Messinger
Aaron David Miller
David N. Myers
Eden Nissani
Matt Nosanchuk
Geri Palast
Rabbi Salem Pearce
Debra Pell
Letty Cotton Pogrebin
Steve Rabinowitz
Kevin Rachlin
Marcia Riklis
Rick Rosen
Norman Rosenberg
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn
Hannah Rosenthal
Rabbi John Rosove
Joel Rubin
John Ruskay
Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay
Rabbi David Saperstein
David Schraub
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller
Joshua Shanes
Chris Silbermann
Abe Silberstein
Rabbi Joel Simonds
Tema Smith
Halie Soifer
Daniel Sokatch
Jeffrey Solomon
Ambassador Alan Solomont (ret.)
Alan Solow
Michael W. Sonnenfeldt
Alex Stabler
Marc Stanley
Alexandra Stanton
Susan Stern
Nomi Stolzenberg
Hadar Susskind
Rabbi Rachel Timoner
Jeanie Ungerleider
Rabbi Burt Visotsky
Rabbi Deborah Waxman
Dov Waxman
Former Congressman Robert Wexler
Carol Winograd
Terry Winograd
Diane H. Winston
Amelia Wolf
Alex Zeldin
Richard Ziman

Organizational affiliation listed in the biographies are for identification purposes only.

Cantor Nancy Abramson
Orly Adelson
Karen Adler
Michael Adler
Stuart Appelbaum
Aaron Back
Rabbi Michael Beals
Steven Beller
Jeremy Ben-Ami
Jack Bendheim
Michael Berenbaum
Jamie Allen Black
David Bocarsly
Charles Bronfman
Rabbi Sharon Brous
Stacy Burdett
David Shmidt Chapman
Jonathan Cohen
Barbara Dobkin
Paul Egerman
Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat (ret.)
Rabbi David Ellenson
Benjy Forester
Ira Forman
Rabbi Josh Frankel
Peter Frey
Rabbi Laura Geller
Michael Gelman
Susie Gelman
Grace Gleason
Stanley Gold
Barbara Goldberg Goldman
Sally Gottesman
Ben Gould
Ginna Green
Stephen M. Greenberg
Eric Greene
Barbara Grossman
Steven Grossman
Ada Horwich
Rabbi Jocee Hudson
Rabbi Jill Jacobs
Jonathan Jacoby
Rabbi David Jaffe
Peter Joseph
Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster
Joe Kanfer
Nancy Kaufman
Israel “Izzy” Klein
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum
James Klutznick
Steve Koppel
Victor Kovner
Rabbi Irwin Kula
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie
Libby Lenkinski
Aaron Leven
Former Senator Carl Levin
Former Representative Mel Levine
Joy Levitt
Abby Leibman
Analucía Lopezrevoredo
Isaac Luria
Ruth Messinger
Aaron David Miller
David N. Myers
Eden Nissani
Matt Nosanchuk
Geri Palast
Rabbi Salem Pearce
Debra Pell
Letty Cotton Pogrebin
Steve Rabinowitz
Kevin Rachlin
Marcia Riklis
Rick Rosen
Norman Rosenberg
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn
Hannah Rosenthal
Rabbi John Rosove
Joel Rubin
John Ruskay
Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay
Rabbi David Saperstein
David Schraub
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller
Joshua Shanes
Chris Silbermann
Abe Silberstein
Rabbi Joel Simonds
Tema Smith
Halie Soifer
Daniel Sokatch
Jeffrey Solomon
Ambassador Alan Solomont (ret.)
Alan Solow
Michael W. Sonnenfeldt
Alex Stabler
Marc Stanley
Alexandra Stanton
Susan Stern
Nomi Stolzenberg
Hadar Susskind
Rabbi Rachel Timoner
Jeanie Ungerleider
Rabbi Burt Visotsky
Rabbi Deborah Waxman
Dov Waxman
Former Congressman Robert Wexler
Carol Winograd
Terry Winograd
Diane H. Winston
Amelia Wolf
Alex Zeldin
Richard Ziman

Organizational affiliation listed in the biographies are for identification purposes only.