Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on April 7, 2015

With Israel's Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut) coming up on Thursday, April 23, now is a good time for Jews in the United States to think what we can do to support the state of Israel as it plans to celebrate its 67th year of existence.

One major thing people in South Florida (and throughout the U.S.) can do to support Israel is to buy Israeli products.

Buying Israeli goods is a simple way to show support for Israel and counter the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement of Israel's enemies.

Anti-Israel activists campaign against Israel year-round, and target establishments that carry Israeli products at certain times of the year such as the Jewish holidays.

The B.I.G. (BUY ISRAELI GOODS) campaign is a partnership between StandWithUs (SWU) the international, pro-Israel educational organization and the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce that aims to mobilize supporters of Israel to bypass BDS and buy Israeli goods.

Stated Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs: "B.I.G. is a wonderful and fun way to organize a community to help defeat BDS. Shoppers head to their local stores in groups and buy out whole shelves of Israeli-made products. Store owners who are often unaware of BDS are thrilled and continue to stock the items and order even more."

Here in South Florida, one local synagogue, Boca Raton Synagogue (BRS) a Modern Orthodox congregation in west Boca Raton had its Social Action committee partner with the Southeast Region of SWU recently to bring awareness to the community about buying Israeli goods.

BRS hosted a "Buy Israeli Goods: Counter the Anti-Israel Boycott" day, sponsored by Winn-Dixie and Kosher Marketplace together with Israeli food and other vendors. The goal of the event was to taste a bit of Israel and launch a month-long campaign to buy Israeli products.

SWU's International Diaspora Education Director Michelle-Rojas Tal alerted the audience about the growing global BDS movement, how imperative it is to combat it, and how even an everyday gesture of choosing to buy an Israeli product helps.

Rojas-Tal stated: "The South Florida community was tremendously welcoming and responsive. We received numerous invitations to bring this issue to more audiences both Jewish and non-Jewish. The viciousness of the BDS campaign must not only be exposed, but community members need to feel able, willing and prepared to be the ambassadors on the ground. The war of words and images is being fought in communities across the globe, and StandWithUs is there to ensure that the pro-Israel crowd is able to stand up against the tsunami of anti-Israel activity and to pro-actively make the case for Israel to others."

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Synagogue hosts 'Buy Israeli Goods' program

Category: Synagogue
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