As tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians began arriving in Israel after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Israel women’s organization Project Kesher Israel, which works primarily with Russian speakers, began to prepare for the influx through various avenues of humanitarian aid and emotional support, said Rabbi Olya Weinstein, CEO of Project Kesher Israel. The organization quickly realized that there was a vulnerable subgroup among the refugees from Russia and Ukraine: same-sex couples, reports Judith Sudilovsky for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Getting recognized: Israel’s Law of Return offers citizenship to nearly anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent, as well as their immediate family. Though Israel does not have same-sex civil marriage, it does recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad, so the legal spouse of a person eligible for Israeli citizenship can immigrate with them and receive Israeli citizenship as well. But Russia and Ukraine also do not recognize same-sex marriages, meaning that for the Israeli government, an LGBTQ couple was not, legally speaking, a couple at all. “They didn’t have this right stamp on their documents [indicating] that they were legally married…[so] they were treated as if they each came individually to Israel,” Weinstein told eJP.

Utah to the rescue: The solution for many same-sex couples in Russia and Ukraine was so-called Utah marriages. In January 2020, as part of an initiative by a relatively low-level official, the state of Utah began accepting virtual wedding ceremonies, provided at least one person involved was physically based in the state (this was generally the officiant, while the couple could be located anywhere in the world). Israel’s Interior Ministry tried to reject these Utah weddings, but that decision was successfully challenged in court several times, on behalf of both heterosexual and LGBTQ couples, and the government was forced by the Supreme Court to recognize them.

Not over yet: Nicole Maor, director of the Legal Aid Center for Olim (LACO) of the Israeli Reform Movement, spearheaded one of these legal challenges on behalf of a same-sex Russian couple through Project Kesher Israel. “Since we won that judgment, other cases have succeeded,” Maor told eJP. “But there is a feeling that [the Interior Ministry] is still hesitant and are looking for any possible loopholes they can find. They are demanding more proof of the seriousness of the relationship, proof they want to live in Israel.”

Read the full report here.

Kesher Israel Congregation, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Washington, D.C., has a storied, even mythic, history among Jews of the nation’s capital. What it doesn’t have is anything approaching a modern building. That’s about to change, reports Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch.

Stuck in the ’30s: Kesher Rabbi Hyim Shafner is now overseeing a major renovation of the synagogue’s building, which has remained largely untouched since it was built in 1931. The synagogue has no lobby, leading guests to sometimes wonder if they are at the right entrance. It is inaccessible to people with disabilities; all spaces are reachable only by climbing up or down stairs. Its social hall can fit no more than 50 people for a Shabbat dinner, despite the synagogue’s membership of more than 300 people. Critically, the building lacks the security protections that are common in many other synagogues.

Who’s left out: Aaron Tessler, a board member at Kesher, rattled off examples of people who aren’t well-served by the building’s current layout: Families with young children who would have to walk outside through the elements to take their kids to the children’s programming; people who can’t attend Shabbat meals because there isn’t space; a boy on his bar mitzvah who wants to call his grandfather to the Torah for an aliyah, but his grandfather can’t do it because he can’t walk up the stairs.

Not just bigger but better: Once construction starts, likely next year, it is slated to take 12 to 14 months, during which time the synagogue will relocate to a temporary space. The proposed new facility will increase the synagogue’s size by more than 50%, from 8,100 square feet to 12,700 square feet. The project is less about expansion than modernization — meeting modern fire codes, serving congregants with children and those with disabilities and improving security. In December, a man appeared outside yelling “Gas the Jews” and spraying people who left the building with an unidentified substance. “It’s very top of mind, especially with Oct. 7, that we are immediately facing the street,” said Tessler. “People are hyper aware of our vulnerabilities.”

Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.

A survey of the U.S. Jewish community by the American Jewish Committee found that a significant majority of American Jews harbor deep concerns about antisemitism in the United States and remain strongly supportive of Israel. It also finds that President Joe Biden is maintaining most of his support within the Jewish community in anticipation of a 2024 presidential rematch against former President Donald Trump, reports Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod.

Growing problems: The survey of 1,001 Jewish adults was conducted online by research company SSRS from March 12 to April 6, with a 3.9% margin of error. The poll found that 87% of U.S. Jews said antisemitism has increased since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, with 55% saying it has increased “a lot” since the attack. On Israel, 85% of Jews said it’s important for the U.S. to continue to support Israel, with 60% rating it “very important.” Seventy-eight percent of Jews said they are paying more attention to news about Israel since Oct. 7.

Looking for the exit: The survey found that the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack and the ensuing war have had an influence on many Jews’ behavior. Fifty-three percent of respondents said that the war has impacted personal or work relationships or that they have avoided talking about the war, 42% percent said they feel unsafe wearing Jewish symbols in public since Oct. 7; and 45% feel unsafe sharing their views about Israel on social media. Seven percent of American Jews reported thinking about leaving the U.S. since Oct. 7 due to antisemitism, with a total of 9% saying they had considered leaving the country due to antisemitism since Oct. 7 or in the five years prior.

No change: Looking to American politics, the survey suggested that some predictions that Trump would do significantly better among Jewish voters in 2024, driven by concerns over Democrats’ views on Israel, are overstated. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they plan to vote for President Joe Biden, roughly in line with the 64% who reported, in the same poll, having voted for Biden in 2020. (The Associated Press VoteCast voter analysis found that 68% of Jewish voters backed Biden in the 2020 election.)

Read the full report here.

“‘May the dignity of your fellow be as dear to you as your own.’ For me, this verse from Pirkei Avot has always been the essence of the work of many funders committed to serving the Jewish community,” writes Rachel Garbow Monroe, president and CEO of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, in the latest installment of eJewishPhilanthropy’s opinion column “The 501(c) Suite.”

Mind the gap: “While many funders support expanding access to Jewish life and fostering a sense of belonging within our community, they do not always consider the unique needs of low-income Jews who share the same desire to engage and connect. For example, 46% of financially vulnerable Jews say they feel connected with the Jewish community, compared to 58% of the overall Jewish population, according to a survey by JFNA and The Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation. And since Oct. 7, over one-fifth (21%) of Jews who are financially vulnerable have experienced increased feelings of loneliness or distance from their community, compared to 13% of the overall Jewish population. This kind of data helps us pay attention to the challenges facing all of the Jewish community.”

Data-to-change pipeline: “In partnership with the Jewish Funders Network, the Weinberg Foundation launched what is now called Together Ending Need (TEN) — formerly the National Affinity Group on Jewish Poverty. This collaborative effort aims to standardize data collected through community studies about low-income Jews; change the narrative on Jewish poverty in the United States; and convene funders, institutions and direct service agencies to address this challenge. To further strengthen our knowledge base, Weinberg and others have also made intentional, ongoing investments in data and research… We have come a long way in five years, but we all can and should do more.”

Read the full piece here.