In the closely divided race to become Philadelphia’s next mayor, three Jewish Democrats with divergent backgrounds are among the top candidates vying for the nomination — marking what some observers view as a local record for Jewish representation on the ballot. “This is the first time that I can remember where we’ve had three Jewish candidates,” Robin Schatz, the director of government affairs at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, said in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel this week. “That’s just amazing to me.”

Nonissue: The candidates themselves, however, have largely refrained from emphasizing their Jewish identities or highlighting communal issues in heavily Jewish Philadelphia, where antisemitic incidents have been on the rise. “I don’t see anyone going around talking about being Jewish,” said Larry Ceisler, a public affairs executive in Philadelphia. “I don’t think it would have any effect.”

Crime and safety: Polling has shown that crime and public safety are the leading issues in Tuesday’s crowded primary, where five Democrats are seen as viable. Allan Domb, a self-funding real estate mogul and moderate Jewish Democrat, claims that he is the only candidate whose public safety plan includes an explicit pledge to increase funding to combat hate crimes and to provide police protections for synagogues and mosques. Jeff Brown, a 59-year-old Jewish grocery store owner, has won endorsements from police unions, while Cherelle Parker, 50, has vowed to hire more police officers and expressed support for stop-and-frisk tactics, which she had previously opposed as a city councilwoman. Meanwhile, Rebecca Rhynhart, a 48-year-old Jewish Democrat and former city controller, has voiced criticism of law enforcement while advocating for intervention strategies such as therapy and job training, even as she has also argued in favor of “more police.”

Frontrunner: The leading progressive candidate, Helen Gym, a former city councilwoman, has shied away from past comments in which she aligned with the movement to abolish the police. The 50-year-old Democrat now issues calls “to stabilize police funding” and says it is “not the time to cut.” In recent weeks, Gym’s profile has risen as she has drawn support from a growing number of national leaders on the activist left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). The two New York Democrats, who are among the most outspoken Israel critics in the House, have had strained relationships with members of the organized Jewish community in their districts. 

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Ahead of the White House’s expected release of its national strategy on combating antisemitism later this month, officials from the White House task force on antisemitism and Islamophobia met on Wednesday with top Senate and House leaders to provide input on the administration’s strategy, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Attendance list: Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), James Lankford (R-OK) and Reps. Kathy Manning (D-NC), Grace Meng (D-NY), Randy Weber (R-TX) and Marc Veasey (D-TX) met with Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff on Capitol Hill. The lawmakers are co-chairs of the Senate and House’s antisemitism task forces, which helped push for a task force and strategy to combat rising antisemitism.

State of play: Rosen said in a statement that she convened the meeting “to assess the progress on developing and implementing a national strategy to counter antisemitism, which I called for last year. This meeting highlighted the main pillars of the Administration’s forthcoming strategy and provided an opportunity for Members of Congress to shape the final document before it is released.”

From the White House: In a separate readout, the White House said that Emhoff “spoke about the urgent need for such a strategy” and that Rice and Sherwood-Randall “described the ongoing process of developing the strategy, informed by robust consultation with a diverse array of stakeholders, and future plans to implement the strategy. They also discussed the need for a whole-of-society response to antisemitism.” The White House statement said that the lawmakers “provided feedback and insights for the strategy based on their own efforts to counter antisemitism.”

Read the full story here.

On the Hill: The House Democratic Caucus hosted a private reception yesterday for members and guests in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, organized by House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), according to an invitation viewed by JI. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) also attended.

At the end of January 2020, leading political strategist Emily Tisch Sussman sat down with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a conversation on her then-podcast “Your Political Playlist.” Ten days after the viral interview, Tisch Sussman gave birth to her third child, heading into maternity leave confident she would not soon be forgotten. But a few weeks later, at what was a high point in her career, she left politics after nearly 15 years in the field, Jewish Insider’s Tori Bergel reports.

Scuppered plans: With three children under 4 years old, Tisch Sussman had a plan for balancing motherhood with business, but then COVID-19 arrived, sending the world into lockdown and ending her Washington career when the childcare she desperately stopped being available. In search of other women who, like her, had experienced professional upheaval not indicative of their own capabilities, Tisch Sussman created “She Pivots,” a podcast highlighting women who have “redefined success” for themselves.

Not your mama’s podcast: “She Pivots” is not a “mommy podcast” — a characterization Tisch Sussman vehemently rejects — but rather a business show where women share how the roller-coasters in their professional journeys turned into their greatest successes.

Famous faces: Currently in its second season, “She Pivots” has already featured a number of A-list guests including Vice President Kamala Harris, actress and activist Sophia Bush, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and actress Brooke Shields. Conversations have ranged from how two long-lost half-sisters went on to create the nation’s largest Black-owned wine company to the life of the oldest Park Ranger in U.S. history.

Read the full interview here.

The Jewish federations network launched a public campaign this week to raise awareness about and support for Jewish Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia for the past two months. While this public effort is only now getting underway, both the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey have been working behind the scenes on Gershkovich’s behalf since his arrest in March, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports.

Goals: Elana Broitman, JFNA’s senior vice president for public affairs, said the federations are focused on two things: One is to keep the issue in the public eye to ensure that Gershkovich’s case remains a priority for the U.S. government so it maintains pressure on Russia and works to secure his release as quickly as possible. And the other is to send a message to Gershkovich himself.

National and local effort: Broitman has taken the lead role in coordinating the organization’s efforts with the U.S. government, while the southern New Jersey federation has maintained regular contact with Greshkovich’s parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich. The Greshkoviches fled the Soviet Union in the late 1970s, first moving to New York and then settling in Princeton, N.J.

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In Washington: Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) and Bill Keating (D-MA) are co-sponsoring a resolution calling on Russia to free Gershkovich.