A few months ago, an Orthodox Jew was shot on a Shabbat morning as he made his way to shul in a premeditated and targeted hate crime. Officials in Chicago refused to acknowledge this as an antisemitic attack for days.
Just this month, the FBI arrested a Florida man for plotting an attack on a South Florida AIPAC building and a menorah belonging to a Chabad in Oakland, Calif., was vandalized with the words “Israelis are the new Nazis.”
American Jewish communities nationwide are experiencing an ever-increasing number of antisemitic incidents. To meet the demands of the moment, the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, the public policy arm of the Orthodox Union, is hosting an inaugural Attorneys Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., from Feb. 2 to Feb. 4. The goal of the conference is to brainstorm and discuss concrete avenues for combating and ultimately defeating antisemitism.
According to Nathan Diament, the advocacy center’s executive director, the Attorneys Conference “brings together the top legal minds in the Jewish community to identify and develop innovative legal strategies to fight antisemitism.”
The conference will feature experts on a variety of topics, including esteemed judges and lawyers, and members of Congress to provide their unique perspectives and expertise. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) will participate in a discussion on how Congress can fight antisemitism.
“Fighting antisemitism requires a multipronged approach, and this is one way we can contribute,” Diament added. “Orthodox Union Advocacy Center has 25 years of experience working the legislative and judicial systems to change and impact policy. The goal of this conference is action and results.”
As news traveled about the conference, participants and panelists emphasized the urgency of the moment.
“Jewish legal advocacy has, by all accounts, taken on a greater urgency,” said professor Michael A. Helfand, the Brenden Mann Foundation Chair in Law and Religion at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. The law school’s Nootbaar Institute for Law, Religion and Ethics is a co-sponsor of the conference, and Helfand will be a speaker at the opening panel.
“The stakes are high, the legal issues complex,” Helfand said. “This is why the OUA Conference is the perfect convening right now—and Pepperdine’s Nootbaar Institute is proud to be a co-sponsor of this first-of-its-kind event.”
“Since October 2023, many of us have found ourselves searching for ways to help combat the alarming rise in antisemitism,” said Julie Rapoport Schenker, a D.C.-based lawyer who will be attending the conference. “As lawyers, we spend our professional lives thinking strategically about how to help our clients with their legal challenges. OU Advocacy and this upcoming conference offer us the opportunity to use our wide-ranging expertise and experience to undertake similar strategic advocacy on behalf of our community.”
Orthodox Union Advocacy Center is no stranger to combating antisemitism in the public arena. Since its inception in 1999, Diament has been helping Congress draft legislation and working with like-minded religious and nonprofit groups to fight discrimination and antisemitism in the courts.
Diament said the current crisis is bigger and more urgent than anything he has faced in his career. “Antisemitism is seeping into every fabric of American life. Yes, it’s in our education system, but also in the corporate world, in medicine, and, of course, on the streets of our largest cities.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, there have been more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents across the United States since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. A new report by the Campaign Against Antisemitism shows that Jews are 12 times more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group. In New York City, home to the largest population of Jews in the United States, antisemitic hate crimes have risen for the fourth year in a row.
For those who think this is a uniquely Jewish problem, Diament and his allies caution against such a narrow view. “America was founded on the principles of religious liberty and individual freedom. A country devoured by hate cannot stand. Antisemitism is an American problem. Everyone has a stake in defeating violent radicalism.”
Prospective conference attendees can register online by visiting: advocacy.ou.org/lawyersconfregistration.