Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) builds relationships and advocates for Jewish interests throughout and beyond the Jewish community by working directly with Jewish, interfaith, and civic leadership on the local, state, and national levels -- raising awareness and seeking practical solutions in matters that are important to the whole Jewish Community as well as the broader community. 

 

UNDERSTANDING ANTISEMITISM 

With Antisemitism Rising 

With today's alarming surge in antisemitism, Jewish Federation's JCRC is redoubling work with leaders and influencers from across the private, public, religious, non-profit, and education sectors to bring issues of concern into clear focus and lay out further actions pushing back on this hate. Thank you for your interest in and support of our work empowering and uniting the Jewish community, building bridges with interfaith and multi-ethnic partners, and advocating with civic and elected leaders for the needs and interests of the Jewish community, such as championing education about the Holocaust, Israel, and more.  

1.
Empowering the Jewish Community

Working across all facets of the Jewish community to connect and empower partners, organizations, synagogues, and individuals to advocate for the needs of the whole Jewish community. 

2.
Interfaith Partnerships

Strengthening interfaith relationships, building on open communication and shared values and goals to stem hate, enhance security within and across faith communities, and foster unity. 

3.
Government and Civic Relations

Interacting with state, local, and national civic and elected leaders, law enforcement, and public safety professionals to enable them to better recognize and respond to the needs of the Jewish community. 

Get Involved

You can make a difference now, e.g.: setting up antisemitism briefings with community leaders and neighbors, coordinating with your local school boards about education on bias and hate, spearheading a letter-writing campaign to elected officials, becoming part of social media corps to share important news and insights in a timely way, go with us on a mission to Washington or Trenton -- and much more.

News and Issues

Stay up-to-date on Jewish Federation JCRC's involvement with and impact on local community, interfaith, and civic affairs.   

JCRC Events & Advocacy Training

 

Advocacy Training Videos

Upcoming Events

Recent Initiatives

Throughout the community, JCRC provides an update on the national and local picture on the rise in antisemitism, including statistics and examples of hatred against Jews in our community as well as an overview on what Federation is bringing to the community both in legislation, education and security preparedness as pre-emptive measures as a response

"Seeing Human" is a interfatih and multi-ethnic conversation series aimed at stemming hate, bias, and bigotry, opening the door for bridge-building opportunities with non-Jewish groups to enter into conversations about working together to end hate in our community. Participants explore ways to build alliances and strengthen interfaith collaboration between communities that share the same values is necessary to overcome hate. Included in our ongoing series, we recently conducted the first "Seeing Human" session with teens of different faiths. 

In April 2023 A Federation-initiated Holocaust education bill became law when Governor Murphy signed Bill A4720, aimed at improving Holocaust and genocide education in New Jersey’s public schools. The law requires the Commissioner of Education to distribute a survey to measure how each school district is meeting the State’s current requirement that every board of education include instruction on the Holocaust and genocide in an appropriate place in the curriculum of all elementary and secondary school students - an important step to ensure transparency, accountability, and consistency when evaluating Holocaust and genocide education across the state.