Kol Chadash

Celebrating Jewish Healing, Visibility & Community Connection during the Days of Awe and All Year Long!

More Jewish Visibility Please! 

Have you seen our Hillel Quote Yard Signs around Seattle?  Want to join in?  You can print out the poster to hang in your window at home or work!  And If Not Now, WHEN

Want to hear more Jewish Journeys or tell your story?  Start here: Jewish Journey

Kol Chadash provides practical help to individuals, families and neighbors in the wake of antisemitism, bias or other harms.  We fill a needed gap with support and peer advocacy for individuals and their families who have experienced overt antisemitism or are navigating less obvious microaggressions or bias at school, at work or in the community.

the Kol Chadash hypothesis:
Support to heal from the accrued toll of antisemitism will increase our individual & collective wellbeing and strengthen our capacity to act in solidarity with other people targeted by oppression.

Kol Chadash builds Jewish visibility, resilience and collective wellbeing and is KHN’s direct, local response to antisemitism around the world and in Puget Sound. We meet folks where they are with grassroots action, direct peer support, ritual, hands-on help, discussion, and responsive programming. We can help in situations big and small. We work in solidarity with our Puget Sound neighbors to resist Islamophobic, anti-Black, anti-Asian, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and other bias violence as well.

If you have or are experiencing bias at school, work or in the community, please reach out.  We can help safety plan, navigate systems and provide other simple peer advocacy supports that can make a big difference. If you or someone you know have experienced a hate crime, we can help with crime victim advocacy resources as well as referrals to supports in the broader community.

Having a hard time imagining what ‘help’ could look like? We get it! Examples of practical help include: Assisting your family to approach a teacher about worrying talk or incidents in the classroom. Assistance with short-term security in the wake of an incident at your home. Help talking with an employer about concerns with a client or co-worker. Assistance navigating systems like medical, courts or other crime victim services. Help filing an application for crime victim assistance funds. Someone to be by your side as you make a police report. Response to reclaim space where antisemitic graffiti or incidents (even ‘minor’ incidents) have occurred with Jewish affirming posters or pop-up gatherings. Opportunities to be ‘out and Jewish’ in the larger community with activities like Puget Sound the Shofar and Run to Do A Mitzvah 5K. Referrals to community resources like Jewish Family Service or the Anti-Defamation League.

And, if you have an idea to build visibility, resilience and collective wellbeing, let us know!
Have questions, want to share an idea or need support? Contact us!

Orin Reynolds, our trained Crime Victim Advocate, at ProgramCoordinator@khnseattle.org , (206) 468-1096 or Connie Burk at Execdir@khnseattle.org.

STOP THE BLEED KIT project  For some Jewish people, concern over the possibility of lethal antisemitic violence can makes it harder to participate in Jewish community activities and events. Demonstrating that our community organizations are prepared to respond effectively in the event of harm is one way we can ease anxiety, make community connection more possible and faciliate healing. If you are a Jewish community organization in King County, WA and you haven’t received one already, you can contact Orin at programcoordinator@khnseattle.org and ask for a Stop the Bleed kit. Being prepared to take action to stop bleeding is the best thing we can do to minimize injury and prevent loss of life if the worst happens in our community spaces. You can learn more about Stop the Bleed training here.

CHECK OUT THESE RESOURCES & ARTICLES:
Jewish Family Services of Seattle Jewish informed clinical therapeutic, social work and other services. You can reach out to JFS directly, or Orin can help connect you with a referral. jfsseattle.org

ADL Online Incident Report to make reports of bias and hate incidents. You can make a report directly from this link, or Orin can walk you through it, you don’t have to do it alone.  adl.org/reportincident

Western State’s Center Director, Eric Ward, on ANTISEMITISM & WHITE NATIONALISM “Somebody Must Be Blamed” Antisemitism: The Equal Opportunity Ideology

Transcending Jewish Trauma  a toolkit for healing from the toll of antisemitism  transcendingjewishtrauma.com

WHY KHN? KHN has always been a place with an ‘open tent’, welcoming unaffiliated Jews and Jews who have otherwise been on the margins or absent from organization Jewish institutions. From our ‘no ticket’ High Holy Days to our inclusion of non-Jewish family as full participants in our community governance and life, we have worked to remove barriers to engagement and embrace the ‘mixed multitude.’

In the wake of the Tree of Life shooting, KHN held a community vigil lifting up the dignity of immigrants and refugees as well grieving the losses and decrying the violence of that terrible act. In the months that followed, KHN engaged the broader community of Jews and non-Jewish allies to respond to antisemitic bias incidents in West Seattle, stand in solidarity with MAPS-AMEN against Islamophobia, and demand the closure of ICE camps and other detention centers that target immigrants and refugees. In addition, KHN members met and wrestled with questions of security, equity, safety and meaningful justice from a congregational perspective.

When the request for ‘by and for’ community-based responses to hate crimes and bias came out from Washington State Commerce Department, these actions, conversations and commitments guided the decision to put forward KHN’s community building and response work for consideration.

DO I HAVE TO BE A MEMBER OF KHN TO WORK WITH KOL CHADASH? No! KHN has an open tent to folks across the community and Kol Chadash is no exception. Please let your friends & family know that Kol Chadash is here to help our community respond to antisemitic bias and harm, small or big. And we can be a help connect anyone who has experienced any type of of crime get connected to the right crime victim resource center in our region.