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Jewish Cross-Cultural Competency: Beyond Bagels and Lox

Posted by Sue - Admin on Dec. 18, 2025  /  Subscribe 0

In the spirit of cross-cultural competency, and in memory of the Jews who died or were wounded on the Bondi beach in Australia while celebrating Chanukah, the following is a brief context of the Chanukah holiday.

WHAT IS CHANUKAH?
This past Monday night Jews around the world lit the first light of Chanukah to celebrate the miracle of defeating, in 165 BCE, King Antiochus of the Assyrian Greek Dynasty, who had conquered Jerusalem and sacrificed pigs to Zeus, defiling the Holy Temple. 

The high priest and his 12 sons, the Maccabees, led the three-year revolt, clearing out the Temple and lighting the Menorah, a very tall, eight-arm candelabra. They found one flask of pure olive oil, enough to light for one night, miraculously lasted for eight days until more pure olive oil could be pressed into use.

Two thousand years later, after countless attempts to annihilate the Jewish people—by the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Persians, and the Romans; through expulsion from England; the Spanish Inquisition's hundred years of torture; Italy's Jewish Ghetto; the Ottoman Empire's forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Middle East; the Holocaust; and the oppression of Russian Jewry—the violence continues today in the form of the terrifying increase of anti-Jewish name-calling; punching and stabbings on the street; denial of service; firebombing a Jewish Governor's home; attacks in restaurants; the targeting of synagogues; and now the horrific Bondi attack and today's choking of a visibly Jewish man on a crowded subway. With the exception of World War II, no allies intervened. Anti-Jewish behavior is, once again, being normalized.

Yet here we are joyfully lighting the second and third lights of the Chanukah Menorah 2,000 plus years later. No time for woe is me.

We find the light and the joy in the world and remain true to our faith.

Mighty empires have come and gone. We don't primarily commemorate winning the war against the Assyrians. It is the spiritual aspect of reclaiming the Holy Temple and the miracle of the oil lasting eight days, rekindling, too, the light of faith many had lost in pursuit of Greek ideals.

Watching the flames flicker in the window last night, I silently pray for a miracle. Can the hateful narratives and violence, escalating around the world and America reverse course? As one coach colleague reflected, "When will the world stop scapegoating Jews?"

RELATIONSHIP TO COACHES AND COACHING:
What our coaches are saying

What does this have to do with our coaches and coaching you ask?

I cannot as a Jew and daughter of Holocaust survivors remain silent any longer. I have heard our coaches share their fears and worries that never existed before. They tell me examples of their own children who do not feel safe and have been bullied in elementary school. Children are being shunned from their social circle at ten years old for the crime of being Jewish.
 
Other coaches speak with sadness how their children have left good universities, shaken by the violence and unwelcome treatment. A different coach worries for their child who cries alone in their apartment every night after work, because of the daily microaggressions they experience as a Jew in the workplace. They dare not report it for fear of losing their job. Coaches have discussed their own fears and anxieties as the protests organized by experienced proxies often turn violent.

As coaches who coach Jewish clients:
1. Do they bring this up? 
2. Do they even feel safe enough to bring it up? 
3. How do we as coaches cope with our own bias and different narratives we may have?
4. How do we cope knowing our former allies are silent at best, or even think Jews deserve this?

Taking Action
1. Kelli Kombat, our fearless President, and Board have approved a 90-minute cross cultural competency training for the Board this Winter. This training will be coach and coaching centric. 
2. In the Spring, we will host a moderated panel with the Regional Director of ADL, Jewish Anti- Defamation League, and trained therapists who are doing innovative initiatives.
3. We are considering having a community support group around this issue.

We will be asking other chapters to join us in this initiative, as we are the first to break the silence and undertake this bold initiative.

Dr. Mindy Gewirtz, MCC
VP of DEIB/IDEAS Advisory Council

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