anti-semitism Archives - SAVVY MAINLINE

Hearts were heavy but heads were held high across the Main Line this week.

Hate would have no home here.

From Beth Chaim in Malvern to Beth David in Gladwyne, from the Chabad Center in Devon to Chabad Main Line in Merion, from Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy to the Perelman Jewish Day School, thousands gathered – somber and shattered, yes, but resolute in their response to the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.

There would be no cowering in corners.

With growing unease, Jewish friends had watched the rising tide of hate on their home turf: the toppled tombstones, the scribbled swastikas, the bomb threats. But a massacre? In their own state? In a neighborhood not so different from Narberth? If hate could kill in Squirrel Hill, it could kill anywhere, right?

With recent school shootings very much on their minds, some Tredyffrin-Easttown Middle School parents are taking aim at T/E’s response to an alleged threat of gun violence and bullying.

They sent e-mails, made phone calls, met with school officials.

Then, scores of them showed up at a school board meeting Monday night.

The district was ready. Message received, loud and clear.

The Superintendent announced the creation of parent focus groups to evaluate T/E’s threat-response policy and suggest changes as needed. He said the district will also explore “best practices” of other districts across the country and review relevant research.

And the day after the meeting, the principal of T/E Middle School sent an extraordinarily detailed e-mail to parents explaining how, as a parent himself, he takes students’ safety personally.

The hubbub started in early February. It simmered, then boiled over last week after a TEMS family, the Nissenbaums, told their story to the AP.

And it ran in newspapers across the country.

Standing up to hate; Great Valley shocker; Paoli contractor busted; New café & empty nester homes to Tredyffrin & LOTS of retail comings & goings

T/E probes policy after alleged gun threat & hate speech rattle middle school parents; Gotta go to Main & Vine & Devon Horse Show; #SaveStoneleigh, shore dunes and much more