Houston Jewish communal leaders held an important dialogue with elected officials Aug. 20 to share a mutual understanding and strengthen relationships amid the continuing rise of antisemitism.

The Houston Jewish Community Leadership Forum and Elected Official Meet and Greet was put together by the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, in partnership with local leaders of the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Holocaust Museum Houston and the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC.

The two-hour morning event at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center was attended by elected officials on the local, county, state and federal level, including U.S. representatives Lizzie Fletcher, Randy Weber and Christian Menefee.

Also in attendance were Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones; County Attorney Abbie Kamin; Sheriff Ed Gonzalez; State Sen. Paul Bettencourt; State Reps. Jon Rosenthal, Gene Wu and Jolanda Jones; and several Houston City Council members, judges and HISD board trustees.

“We want to position our community to be safe, have effective communication and advance the needs of our community,” said Erica Winsor, the Jewish Federation’s Public Affairs director.

“This idea was born almost like a reverse town hall. In a normal town hall, elected officials are talking to us about their platform and their issues. Instead, we were the ones speaking and delivering information to them about what is important to our community, what we need and most importantly how they can help us.”

Beginning with 30 minutes of networking, everyone entered the Kaplan Theatre where the J’s CEO Larry Skolnick facilitated a panel with CEOs Renée Wizig-Barrios (JFGH), Randi Sonenshein (ADL), Rachel Schneider (AJC) and Gary Weisserman (HMH).

Each panelist provided important information, statistics and anecdotes to give officials a state of the union on antisemitism and what the Jewish community is facing.

“Sadly, our community has faced unprecedented levels of antisemitism in recent years and that affects all of us in many ways,” Skolnick said in his opening remarks.

“You might have noticed our campus fencing, security patrols in the parking lot, guards and entrance procedures. That is just the part you see. There is quite a lot that goes into securing a campus like ours because we face a particular threat.

“While we all certainly hope for the day where a security program this robust isn’t needed, we are grateful for the support that the Jewish Federation is able to provide to the 80-plus Jewish organizations and over 65,000 Jewish community members in the Houston area.”

Wizig-Barrios emphasized the relationships and partnerships the Jewish Federation has made over the years, both uniting and strengthening the Houston Jewish community.

“The safety and security of the Jewish people is of utmost importance to us,” Wizig-Barrios said. “After [Oct. 7, 2023] and after Colleyville, it became very clear why we need to be focused on the safety and security of the Jewish people.

“Every single one of our Jewish institutions has to think about what to do in a crisis. While other institutions have to prepare for a power outage or a flood, we think about how to prepare for a terrorist attack, a shooting, a car ramming and all of the things we have seen over the last few years.”

Nationally, the Jewish community is spending about a billion dollars a year on security, Wizig-Barrios said. Law enforcement cooperation at all levels is a fundamental part of that process.

“We are constantly building bridges with local police, fire, sheriffs, constables, FBI, Texas Rangers and DPS at every single level,” she said. “That has gone incredibly well in Houston, especially during the recent threat to [Congregation] Beth Israel – our local law enforcement did a great job of responding and preventing that attack.”

Sonenshein and Schneider shared a number of alarming statistics that Jewish Americans are facing.

There were 6,274 antisemitic incidents recorded in the U.S. in 2025, according to the ADL Antisemitic Incidents report. Jewish Americans are harassed, assaulted and targeted for who they are on an average of 17 times per day.

In Texas, 188 incidents were recorded – 131 harassment, 53 vandalism and four assaults. Of course, many incidents are never reported.

“Antisemitic incidents and acts of violence against people who are Jewish are at record levels and we are concerned to see the escalation,” Sonenshein said. “These are real people experiencing real challenges, real hurt and real harm that happens.

“Jewish institutions are also under attack or under pressure or assault. Jewish institutions are seeing safety challenges we have not seen before. It is surely a concern we all share when institutions are weakened.

“One of the biggest surprises for me is, I thought fighting hate and extremism would be dealing with people foaming at the mouth with ideological stances – and that is out there – but what I didn’t expect was how much of the harm from extremism, hate and antisemitism comes from people operating from a place of expediency on things or even personal interest.”

AJC’s State of Antisemitism in America report concluded that more than half of American Jews say they changed their behavior over the past year out of fear of antisemitism.

Seven out of 10 U.S. adults believe antisemitism is a problem in the U.S. today and 91% of American Jews say they feel less safe as a Jewish person in the U.S.

“This information should scare and astound all of us,” Schneider said. “More than half of Jewish people have changed their Jewish behavior out of fear. That can include not wearing their Star of David necklace, taking their mezuzah off their door or anything that would publicly display them as a Jewish person.”

Schneider said elected officials can help combat antisemitism by how they respond.

“We all know that antisemitism does not belong to just one political ideology and we need leaders who are willing to call it out no matter what side of the aisle it is coming from, even if it makes you uncomfortable,” Schneider said.

“There are three things we are asking policymakers to do: protect, respond and lead.

“Protect our communities by supporting the bipartisan Jewish American Security Act and increasing the nonprofit security grant funding so Jewish communities and institutions have the resources they need to stay safe.”

Weisserman offered a unique perspective as the CEO of Holocaust Museum Houston.

“At the museum, we talk about there being five universal lessons of the Holocaust, and one of them is ‘antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem’ and another one is ‘democracy is fragile,’ and both of those feel real right now,” Weisserman said.

“Those of us who spend our lives teaching about the Holocaust find it very disheartening and very distressing to see so many things in common that we might have only looked at through a historical lens before.

“Every single time that antisemitism has been allowed to fester in democratic societies, it has led to more broader forms of civic breakdown and much larger forms of hate and bigotry.”

Weisserman said HMH uses education to combat antisemitism.

“Everyone on this stage is trying to accomplish the same thing, but we just use different verbs,” he said. “Our verb at the museum is ‘educate.’

“We are a museum, but we are every bit as much an educational institution that happens to be housed in a world-class museum, and we take that very seriously.”

Wizig-Barrios also emphasized how antisemitism has affected students.

“All public school officials and leaders should know that Jewish parents and Jewish students are very afraid right now,” she said.

“I think it is very important to recognize that antisemitism has had a mental health effect on the Jewish community.”

Elected officials in attendance were actively listening to the dialogue and spent time after the program to discuss ways they can help.

“A meeting like this is hugely important for our community at this moment when we are facing a lot of challenges from the rise of antisemitism to the rise in hate speech, intolerance and lack of understanding,” U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher told the JHV after the panel.

“This was a great opportunity to hear what is on people’s minds, continue to develop relationships and walk away with actionable steps.”

U.S. Rep. Randy Weber agreed.

“Antisemitism is growing and we need to call out antisemitism for what it is and get the word out that it won’t be tolerated,” Weber told the JHV.

Despite the troubled times, many left the Kaplan Theatre with a sense of unity and hope for a better future.

“This is the first time that we know of that a forum like this has happened in the Houston community,” Winsor said. “We are excited to see how we can build on it in the future.” 

View this article in Jewish Herald-Voice.