Hannah Rosenthal, a self-described “activist Jew,” is both president/CEO of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and commissioner on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Her accomplishments are far reaching. They include a stint in the U.S. State Department, where she served as special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. We sat down with Rosenthal to discuss her work with MJF and the International Religious Freedom Commission, as well as the current state of affairs regarding global anti-Semitism and the crisis between Israel and Hamas-led Gaza Strip.
What is MJF and what do you do as president?
The mission of the MJF is to build a vibrant Jewish community, here, now and into the future. So how do I do that? There are two ways: one is making sure that the pieces and options available to Jews in the community are meaningful and important to them, and making sure they ensure a Jewish future. The other is to make sure Milwaukee is a vibrant Jewish community, because we can’t ensure a vibrant Jewish community if Milwaukee doesn’t have one.
How and why did you become involved in the Milwaukee Jewish Federation?
I have been involved in the organized Jewish community a lot. I studied to be a rabbi, I headed a national Jewish organization called the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and I most recently served in the State Department as the Special Envoy on global anti-Semitism.
I was raised in a family where my father was a Holocaust survivor, and my mother was on this side of the pond helping Holocaust survivors, so it was ever-present in our lives. It isn’t like it depressed us and made us sad people, but it did make us social activists. So I try to pick a platform for myself that allows my activism and my fundamental Jewish values to play out.
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What’s one of the most rewarding things about working with MJF?
What’s captured me the most is when we are successful at doing outreach for young people. All of the national polls show that millennials are very different people in their identity and their philanthropy than I am in my generation. I’ve been reading those polls and seeing what matters to young people. I want to make sure that the MJF is trying to meet those needs, and when we’re successful in bringing in young people with fresh ideas and energy I get very excited and moved by it.
You’ve recently been appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. How did that occur and what do you hope to accomplish?
I think I was appointed because—and Nancy Pelosi had to approve it and John Boehner—I’m a pretty known commodity, people know where I’m at and I believe hate is hate, no matter who the victim. So I think people trusted that I would bring that experience and that sense of universality of hate, so it wouldn’t be partisan.
Denying people religious freedom comes from thinking they’re less than. As an activist Jew, I want to make sure that the issue of discrimination against any religion is entertained at the commission.
So what are your thoughts about the ongoing crisis between Israel and the Hamas-led government in the Gaza strip?
You have to begin by saying it’s a tragedy. Of course a country has a right to defend itself. It’s hard, because in urban warfare there are tragic losses of civilian lives, particularly—and this is really important—if using the civilian population as a shield is part of the strategy.
Now when I see the pictures of children full of shrapnel, I want to cry. When I hear about a United Nations school that’s been attacked, I want to cry. Then when I find out the U.N. school is complicit in storing missiles and helping the tunnel building, I want to cry. This is the United Nations!
And when you hear about loss of life, and I don’t care whose life is lost, it should cause us all to feel tragedy, and we should mourn the loss of human life, because that’s what happens in war. The only way this crisis is going to be resolved is diplomatically, is through a negotiated settlement. I used to think it was possible to do in my lifetime. I don’t think it is anymore. I hope it is in my children’s lifetime.
