Never Again a New Pledge for the Jewish Community Article
Thouuch has inverse, in the Jewish globe and in the U.s. in full general, since 2 New York Times reporters bankrupt the story in October 2017 of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's declared sexual abuse of actresses hoping for roles in his films.
So much has non.
The inundation of #MeToo allegations that emerged afterward the Weinstein revelations has also led to some unanticipated consequences amid the ambiguities of resulting shifts in organizational policy and behavioral expectations. There has been a major cultural transformation, with women at present more comfortable naming men who have abused their ability in the workplace and companies now working to put more than effective anti-sexual harassment and assault policies in place.
But the change is far from complete, and while there is a consensus that sexual assail must be stamped out and addressed, questions of what defines and how to investigate and prevent workplace harassment remain: Is every fibroid annotate made in a workplace sexual harassment? Is a man putting his hands on the shoulders or waist of a adult female or hugging her without asking consent considered sexual misconduct? Where should the line exist fatigued between innocuous, if insensitive, and truly unacceptable beliefs?
Another new element is the anger women are now voicing afterwards years of beingness harassed and physically assaulted in their work environments, and sometimes punished if they dared to mutter about information technology.
It was that kind of anger that Lisa Goldman felt when she read the New York Jewish Calendar week'due south July 2018 exposé of sexual harassment allegations against the prominent Jewish sociologist Steven M. Cohen. Seeing the claims—first made by American studies historian Keren McGinity—against Cohen "ready something loose" in her, said Goldman.
Her own experience with Cohen came rushing dorsum into her consciousness.
Goldman, now a 52-year-sometime freelance announcer and editor in Montreal, had asked Cohen, an acquaintance, to assist her with a fellowship application in 2016. Cohen suggested they run across at a restaurant in Manhattan'south West Hamlet, Goldman recalled, not far from Hebrew Union Higher-Jewish Constitute of Religion, the Reform movement seminary where he worked as a professor.
Cohen, now 69, had directed dozens of national and local Jewish population studies, and authored innumerable articles and books. Over a 45-year career, he had become a pre-eminent adept on American Jewish behavior and beliefs.
When Goldman arrived at the restaurant, she recounted, Cohen was last a coming together with a male person student, who sat across from him. Cohen indicated that Goldman should sit on the banquette side by side to him. Once the male student left, Cohen put his hand on her thigh, Goldman said in an interview with Hadassah Magazine, speaking publicly near the incident for the first time.
When she concluded the meeting as apace equally possible, he asked where she was headed and walked with her toward the subway, according to Goldman. When they reached his subway station, he pivoted and kissed her hard on the mouth before rushing down the stairs, she said.
"I heard ringing in my ears and was really, really pissed off," Goldman recalled. At the same time, she wondered: "At what indicate practise I get to talk to a man in a professional context and non be made to feel uncomfortable?" She said that "equally a result of a lifetime of workout, I said zilch" to him in the moment merely "decided on the spot not to pursue that fellowship because I didn't want to ever accept to bargain with him once more."
This incident was far from the worst sexual misconduct Goldman has experienced, she said. "I've been mauled past a colleague at an office party of a major Israeli newspaper" and verbally and physically harassed on Israeli buses and New York subways. While on assignment in Cairo's Tahrir Square and in India, she was grabbed, touched and spat at, she said. She also contends that she lost ii jobs as a direct effect of complaining near sexual harassment.
Terminal year, after The Jewish Week published the allegations confronting Cohen—fabricated by vii women afterwards the initial accusation by McGinity, who currently teaches at Hebrew College in Newton, Mass., and serves on the Sexual Misconduct Task Force of the Association for Jewish Studies—HUC-JIR began investigating. Cohen resigned from his position as professor of social policy research there and as managing director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive, an electronic database of studies about American Jewish behavior and attitudes housed at Stanford Academy.
In an interview with Hadassah Magazine, Cohen expressed remorse for his deportment. While he declined to comment on any private incident, he said, "I accept very seriously what women have said almost the blueprint of my inappropriate behavior. I am securely committed to changing that behavior, to be someone who acts totally in accord with the groovy respect I have for women.
"Over the past year," he continued, "with the help of my therapist, conversations with several rabbis and my wife, I've engaged in introspection and reflection, seeking to understand the roots of my behavior and how I hurt people, with the goal of ensuring that I never echo such deportment again."
He added, "That is the essence of genuine teshuvah, a procedure that takes fourth dimension."
While the long-term work of transforming cultural norms has simply recently begun, some physical changes accept already taken identify in the Jewish world.
Catalyzed by the #MeToo motion, women—and a few men—working in and with Jewish groups have initiated efforts to counter sexual misconduct on multiple levels: providing places for victims to voice their experiences; conducting workplace trainings; compiling all-time practices; and advocating for stronger policies ranging from gender equity in hiring to developing meliorate means to handle allegations when they arise.
Besides READ: "When Rabbis Say #MeToo" and "#GamAni: The #MeToo'south Touch in Israel"
The resulting projects are like a Venn diagram of overlapping people and initiatives, with shared goals at the eye.
Over the last year, the Jewish Women'due south Archive, for case, has nerveless testimonies from some 100 women, said Judith Rosenbaum, the group's executive manager. The closed Facebook group #GamAni (Hebrew for #MeToo), with over 1,100 members from Israel and around the earth, is a place where people share experiences and allegations.
The Jewish Women's Annal was ane of the early recipients of a grant from a coalition founded in early on 2018 to formulate a long-term strategy on how to change policies and practices on a broad array of related issues. The Condom Respect Equity coalition—with an initial investment of $500,000 from heavyweight Jewish funders, including the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Russell Berrie Foundation—recently announced a new round of grants totaling $1.3 1000000, with funding of $25,000 to $150,000 to 15 new and existing organizations focused on these bug.
The coalition also developed a set of principles for Jewish groups that would "adhere to loftier upstanding and legal standards for prevention and response to sexual harassment and gender bigotry." The coalition'due south steering committee, which brings together 60 men and women who occupy mid-level to CEO positions in the Jewish communal world, has already gotten 100 organizations, from minor family foundations to behemoths like Hillel International, to commit to the standards.
Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, is among the newest groups to sign the coalition'due south pledge. Hadassah has also brought in an skilful on workplace sexual harassment policies to train managers, lay leaders and employees twice annually for the past several years.
"Even before the #MeToo movement, Hadassah has always washed anti-harassment training and been at the forefront of advocating for change" in how harassment is handled, said Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu, Hadassah's manager of the division of member and unit of measurement services, who is a founding member of the coalition's steering committee.
Employment attorney Laura Sack has run Hadassah'due south sexual harassment trainings for the past several years. "We'll talk about what to do if an employee encounters inappropriate bear, how to report it, supervisors' responsibility for addressing harassment, the distinctions between what constitutes harassment as a matter of constabulary and beliefs inconsistent with Hadassah's own policy," she said. In the #MeToo era, "attention to these bug of preventing and addressing harassment in the workplace has been significantly heightened," she added, noting that both New York State and New York City recently passed legislation mandating relevant employee training.
I due north addition to the Jewish Women's Archive, some other early coalition grantee was the Jewish Women's Foundation of New York, which has partnered with the Practiced People Fund to create an initiative called Ta'amod: Stand Up. Ta'amod provides an array of resources, from articles and webinars to admission to law firms and workplace sexual harassment and abuse preparation specifically for Jewish organizations and their culture—oft more "huggy," warm and family unit-like than corporate environments. Ta'amod spokesman Glenn Rosenkrantz said the group has provided respectful workplace training to about 75 organi zations within the last yr and a one-half.
Fran Sepler, an practiced on workplace harassment who is president of her own Minneapolis-based firm focused on this issue, is Ta'amod's lead trainer. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission hired her years ago to create preparation that the federal agency now uses throughout the country.
Sexual assail and harassment begin with a workplace culture in which people are not treated with respect, Sepler said. "Sexual harassment is role of a continuum of behaviors, and incivility is a predictor of gender harassment. Bullying, likewise."
Some other coalition grantee that provides grooming is Sacred Spaces. The grouping was originally conceived in 2016, almost a year before #MeToo flare-up onto the public stage, to work toward ending kid sexual abuse in the Jewish customs. Since 2017, information technology has broadened its mission to provide crisis consultation and training to Jewish organizations around the issue of sexual harassment and assault between adults, said Shira Berkovits, the group's founder.
The coalition also provided funds for Gender Equity in Hiring in the Jewish Community, a new initiative conceived by organizational consultant Sara Shapiro-Plevan and Sirbu. That program recently began offering daylong trainings on recognizing and rectifying gender bias in hiring. Their first three grooming sessions filled quickly with staff and leadership from Jewish day schools, federations and social justice organizations. They programme to run more than in the fall, said Sirbu.
Southome wonder if at that place is enough nuance in the #MeToo give-and-take. Are men who sometimes cantankerous into women'southward personal space and are besides touchy—like Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden, for instance—beingness lumped together with men who sexually assault women and threaten them with professional repercussions?
Keren McGinity, who alleged that Steven Grand. Cohen had forced her against a wall and kissed her neck at a professional briefing, agrees with those who think "nosotros shouldn't lump anybody together. It'due south different for someone to do something once or twice, different for someone to say something or touch someone. Gradations matter."
And questions are arising about how allegations play out fifty-fifty before they are investigated. For example, then-Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, resigned from office in December 2017 subsequently eight women—some anonymous, some not—accused him of groping them. All of the alleged incidents happened before he was in public office, when he was a working comedian. Afterwards 32 senators, led by at present-presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, chosen for his resignation, Franken stepped down before any investigation.
Some worry that women are abdicating their voices in these interactions. To be sure, when women are professionally dependent on the men who are demanding sex—as were the actresses allegedly threatened and/or raped by Harvey Weinstein—they are at a articulate disadvantage in the ability dynamic. Just in other cases, where the dynamic is less lopsided, should women exist expected to voice their rejection of come up-ons or worse in the moment, or only complain well-nigh them later?
Bat Sheva Marcus, a clinical good on women's sexual wellness, one-time president of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance and a longtime advocate for women's rights in Orthodox Judaism, said she fears the pendulum has swung as well far.
"When women complain of harassment it's important to take them seriously," said Marcus, dubbed "the Orthodox sex guru" by The New York Times. Information technology'due south also important "to articulate different levels of harassment and expect women to stick up for themselves and speak to the harasser or the regime."
At the same time, she worries that when it comes to claims of sexual harassment or set on, "there's no jury anymore," Marcus said. The supposition has go "if yous complain, then yous must be right."
She cited a case of a male friend working for a major engineering company who was accused by a immature female person subordinate of making comments that made her uncomfortable. Without an investigation near whether her allegations were legitimate, Marcus said, he was given a pick between losing his chore or moving to an overseas part. He chose the latter. He declined to exist interviewed, saying he was afraid he would lose his new position.
There has definitely been a shift in sensitivity to unwanted bear on and comments that can be interpreted as sexual in the era of #MeToo. Most oftentimes, say the experts, that sensitivity is demonstrated by the younger generation.
"Younger people may be holding themselves and anybody around them to a higher standard of behavior than perchance had been understood previously," said Sack, the employment attorney.
As a outcome, those who are non so immature are learning to arrange to those standards. Jamie Allen Blackness, CEO and a founder of the Jewish Women'south Foundation of New York, recently experienced that firsthand when a male colleague "taught me to ask consent" before hugging a colleague. "I'd never been asked that before and think that it's great," Black said.
Simply it is a learning process, she acknowledged, noting that at a contempo issue, she approached someone she had never met but had worked with over videoconference. "I went to hug her and she put her hand out. Then she hugged me," Black recalled. "It's the Jewish community and anybody hugs and kisses. Now people are thinking, 'Am I making someone uncomfortable?' "
Sepler, the trainer, noted this distinction: "In my experience, younger people don't say nosotros shouldn't be touching, only say, 'Before you bear upon me, please ask me permission.' That's something a lot of us should learn."
On the other paw, she understands that it isn't easy for everyone to integrate the new expectations. "Information technology'due south pretty hard, especially in subcultures where a hug is considered a normative sign of warmth."
Even with all the new investment and initiatives to accost #MeToo-related issues in the Jewish globe, the work is only but beginning.
"As a whole customs, nosotros're probably 30 pct of the way in that location to irresolute civilisation, and 70 per centum of the organizations are trying to go their people trained and better policies established," said Black. "They are doing it with practiced hearts, in ethical and considered ways."
What has not inverse enough is that "on the funding side, the five or vi or 8 organizations that originally put coin into this are withal the same. No one else seems to be getting on board," said Black. "That tin can and should modify. Everyone in our community should be concerned about this, and the silence is deafening."
Said Hadassah'due south Sirbu, "This is major civilisation change we're looking for, and it won't happen in a couple of months. It volition take years."
For people like Lisa Goldman,who is still reeling from her own experiences of sexual assault and harassment, the modify will come both in how the abusers are treated and in how gild transforms.
Goldman isn't interested in Cohen's remorse, she said, but wants to make certain that he doesn't rehabilitate his paradigm and start working once again in the field in which he enjoyed dandy stature.
"Since the beginning of the #MeToo motility and the Harvey Weinstein story, in that location'southward been a lot of rage nearly stuff nosotros've been sucking upwardly for years," she said. Goldman as well echoed what many women who accept experienced harassment and abuse say is most of import at present: "Modify the organisation. Only make information technology non and so difficult for women."
Debra Nussbaum Cohen is an honour-winning announcer based in New York City. She is a columnist for the Jewish Journal in Los Angeles and the Jewish-giving maven at Inside Philanthropy.
Likewise READ: "When Rabbis Say #MeToo" and "#GamAni: The #MeToo'due south Impact in Israel"
Source: https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2019/07/01/whats-changed-jewish-world-metoo/
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