Tag: Ritchie Torres

UBC grad has a top DC role

Benny Stanislawski is communications director for Congressman Ritchie Torres. (photo from Benny Stanislawski)

While many of the young, progressive Democratic lawmakers in Washington, DC, form a cadre of anti-Israel voices on Capitol Hill, Ritchie Torres, a congressman from the Bronx, in New York City, has been a frequent and welcome voice for Israel since being elected in 2020 – and even more so in recent months, as Israel has been heavily criticized on the international stage.

The 36-year-old, gay, Afro-Latino politician – who was the youngest elected official in the city when he became a New York city councilor at age 25 – has been in the news frequently supporting Israel’s right to defend itself. 

Torres’ pro-Israel positions stem from a visit to that country early in his city council career, when he was taken there by the Jewish Community Relations Council. While Torres is known to Jewish voters as a tireless ally, to hometown voters, he is an energetic young pol with a dramatic backstory. Raised in public housing in the Bronx – his mother still lives in the same place – he dropped out of New York University during a struggle with depression, during which he considered suicide, a crisis he has spoken about openly. He is a strong voice for the working poor and Americans experiencing mental health challenges. It is his unapologetic support for Israel, though, that has Jewish and Israel-allied people sharing memes of the young congressman’s quotes and clips of his videos.

And the congressional staff member who manages Torres’ media schedule has a Vancouver connection.

Benny Stanislawski, a 26-year-old who already has a litany of behind-the-scenes political successes under his belt, is the congressman’s communications director. Stanislawski graduated from the University of British Columbia with a bachelor’s in political science and a minor in Jewish studies, in 2021. While at UBC, he was president of the Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and a familiar face around the campus Hillel House.

A dual Canadian-American citizen, Stanislawski grew up in Chevy Chase, Md, a suburb of Washington. His father is from Montreal and Stanislawski wanted to live in Canada for a time. 

After graduating from high school, he spent a gap year in Israel with Habonim Dror, the labour Zionist youth movement at whose Camp Moshava, in Maryland, he had spent 10 years as a camper and counselor. After returning from Israel, he was off to study at UBC and take advantage of his Canadian citizenship and the beauty of Vancouver’s natural surroundings.

After graduation, which followed a pandemic-enforced period of remote learning, he took a job at the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), which defines itself as “the voice of Jewish Democrats and socially progressive, pro-Israel values.” 

At the same time, he completed a master’s of professional studies in legislative affairs at George Washington University.

After two-and-a-half years with the JDCA, he moved to a Senate primary campaign in his home state and, when that candidate dropped out of the race, he joined the Torres congressional office.

Amid all this, Stanislawski traveled to organize on the ground for some of the most watched political campaigns in the country, including nail-biters in the 2022 Arizona midterm elections and the Georgia runoff for Senator Raphael Warnock.

Less than six months into his role in Torres’ office, Stanislawski is expansive in his admiration for his employer.

“In my short few months working for him so far, he’s been extremely kind and gracious and a very, very great boss to have,” said Stanislawski. “He says what he believes at a time when things are perilous for the world and for our community. I appreciate his advocacy.” 

Security tops JFNA agenda

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, left, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and U.S. Congressman Ritchie Torres all spoke on Sunday at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. (PR photos)

Antisemitism, community security, caring for the most vulnerable and relations between Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora were among the topics highlighted at the 2021 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. Normally a multi-day gathering, this year’s conference was a virtual event condensed into 90 minutes on Oct. 3.

Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) is the umbrella agency representing 146 independent federations and 300 smaller communities across the continent.

Eric Fingerhut, president and chief executive officer of JFNA, credited federations and their supporters for turning a matching grant of $18 million into $62 million to fund frontline Jewish social services organizations during the pandemic.

While the challenges of the pandemic absorbed resources during the past year and a half, Fingerhut addressed a range of issues, noting that it is not easy being an optimist right now.

“We face enormous challenges, which can make it difficult to maintain a positive outlook,” he said. On top of the pandemic and urgent issues of racial justice, Jewish communities across the continent have been confronted by the most sustained and virulent antisemitism in recent memory.

He also addressed the challenges of being an inclusive Jewish community.

“I’m not naïve,” said Fingerhut. “I know that our communities are not now, nor have they ever been, perfect. We have let too many people slip through the cracks unnoticed or unserved. We have not always been there when people needed us the most. We have sometimes struggled to keep up with the ever-changing character of the Jewish community.”

Fingerhut was not the only president to address the truncated assembly. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog emphasized the need to continue building bridges between Israel and the Diaspora, working together to reignite a passion for Zionism among North American youth and instil in Israeli young people awareness of and connections to Diaspora Jews.

“Too many American Jewish youth are disinterested in what being Jewish means and in a complex understanding of the realities and challenges facing Israel,” Herzog said. “Some of them, a very small minority, are too willing to accept distorted labels and libels against the Jewish state. At the same time, on the other side of the ocean, far too many Israelis show too little interest in Jewish life outside of Israel and lack a nuanced understanding of their sisters and brothers in the Diaspora.”

He stressed that, as president of the state of Israel, he makes it his personal mission to strengthen the lines of communication and reinforce the underlying bond and mutual responsibility.

The theme of mutual responsibility was echoed by Mark Wilf, chair of JFNA’s board of directors. When thousands of rockets rained down on Israel last May, he said, federations in North America mobilized to repair and rebuild damaged infrastructure in Israel.

Confronting security issues closer to home was another theme running through the event. Wilf noted that 45 federations have adopted and enhanced community security initiatives and the goal is for every federation and Jewish community on the continent to meet best practices in community safety protocols.

The annual General Assembly events generally attract a raft of Israeli, American and Canadian politicians and elected officials. Due to the unique circumstances, American politicians were limited to one Republican and one Democrat.

Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and President Donald Trump’s appointee as United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2019, said the “ancient evil of antisemitism is on the rise.”

“I encountered the sad reality at the United Nations,” she said. “Hateful governments, like Iran, didn’t even bother to hide their hostility toward Jews. I heard it in their words, I saw it in their deeds. Other countries were more subtle. They didn’t go after the Jewish people. Instead, they went after the Jewish state. No other country faces so many insults, no other country is singled out for such attack. Of course, they say, it’s just about opposing Zionism. Well, you and I know the truth. Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”

She took a swipe at the BDS movement, which seeks to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel.

“While BDS claims to be about justice, it’s a blatant attempt to starve Israel of funding, friends and a future,” she said, noting that she was the first U.S. governor to prohibit public entities in her state from doing business with companies engaged in “discriminatory” boycotts.

She lauded the Abraham Accords, which have led to normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Morocco, Oman and Bahrain.

“There were those who said it couldn’t be done,” said the former ambassador and potential Republican presidential candidate. “Now it’s happening before our eyes. Israel is bravely leading the Middle East into a brighter future.”

Also addressing the virtual assembly was Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres. While a first-term representative elected less than a year ago, the 33-year-old from the south Bronx in New York City has gained attention as a gay, Afro-Caribbean American. Representing the economically poorest district in the country, Torres, a former New York city councilor, is a strong progressive voice on social issues including public housing, predatory loans and gang violence. He has gained notice in the Jewish community and among pro-Israel voters for distancing himself from other progressive Democrats by being an articulate and unapologetic supporter of Israel.

“I feel like all of us in public life have an obligation to speak out forcefully against extremism, no matter what form it takes,” he said. “The rise of a demagogue like [former British Labour Party leader] Jeremy Corbyn is cautionary tale of what could happen when antisemitism infects the bloodstream of a nation’s politics. All of us have an obligation to ensure that extremism is fought at every turn and in every form.”

The idea that it is incompatible to be progressive and pro-Israel is, he said, “a vicious lie.”

He condemned anti-Israel organizations in the United States for co-opting important issues like police violence and immigration and turning them into battering rams against Israel.

Like Haley, he slammed the BDS movement. The contributions of Jewish activists working in partnership with other social justice movements are threatened by litmus tests that seek to prevent pro-Israel Jews from participating in those movements, said Torres.

The antisemitic violence and vandalism that spiked in the spring of this year is “a wake-up call that the Jewish community cannot afford to be complacent about,” he said.