PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Members and supporters of Philadelphia's Jewish community gathered in Wynnewood on Sunday for Kaiserman JCC's second annual Fall Community Festival. As Israel seems poised to invade Gaza in retaliation for Hamas' terrorist attack, the event has become a show of solidarity.
"None of us can exist alone. We all offer something different to the community. We all offer ways to bolster up, meet each other, have positive ways to gather," said Barrie Mittica, Kaiserman's director of community engagement. "Right now, finding joy and light in any moment is so important."
Mittica says at least six months of planning went into the center's second Community Fall Festival. More than 40 organizations packed the community center's gym to share their work alongside three bounce houses, a face-painting station and a number of other activities geared toward kids and their parents.
"When you bring this many resources and this many communities together, it allows for so many connections and for so many people to find what they're looking for," said Galia Godel, repping J.Proud, an organization advocating for the Jewish LGBTQ community in Philadelphia.
Attendees were encouraged to sign cards and canvasses with messages of support for people in the warzone.Nigel Thompson/KYW Newsradio
The festival is intended to celebrate the changing of the season, but in the aftermath of Hamas' terrorist attack in Israel, Mittica said, all proceeds from the festival will now be directed toward supporting Israel in its war with Hamas.
Attendees signed cards and canvasses with messages of support for people in the warzone.
"Having those moments for people to come together I think is just so important, because there's not any one of us in our community that is not touched by this — by a friend of a friend, a family friend, a direct friend or cousin," Mittica said.
Kaiserman's executive director, Alan Scher laid out the organization's response to the tragedy. "We are an institution that amplifies Jewish and Israeli stories. And the stories right now, however painful, are more critical to be heard than ever before," he said.
"I think our role as a Jewish community center is to stand in solidarity and support with those families in moments like these."
Godel said she's glad the focus of the event was a humanitarian crisis but she wished it looked at the whole picture.
"I wish that the focus were on the pain and suffering that everybody is experiencing in Israel and Palestine right now. I'll admit, I feel slightly frustrated at how many people say the phrase 'I stand with Israel' without also saying '...and everybody who's being affected by this — all of the innocent people whose lives are being lost," Godel said.
"I find it very important for there to be a place for Jews to be safe, and I wish that Americans were acknowledging that there are a lot of people that are not safe there right now."
Godel said she hopes narratives on both sides of the conflict can be heard.
"The way that innocent people on both sides are being attacked and killed … are being murdered … is not an acceptable way to go forward. I don't know what is, but it's not that."
