RJCF - Russian Jewish Community Foundation

Russian Jewish Community Foundation (RJCF) is a grassroots all-volunteer charitable organization.
The RJCF mission is to preserve and enhance Jewish identity among Russian speaking Jews and to support Israel.

Jewish Advocacy: fighting for the anti-discrimination bill (against BDS)
Posted on September 18, 2017

During the summer the RJCF was actively involved in advocating at the MASS State House to pass the anti-discrimination bill prohibiting state contractors to discriminate people based on their country of origin. We met with a number of state representatives and discussed with them their support for the bill. Sadly, many enemies of Israel and supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel (BDS) joined forces to block even this watered-down anti-BDS bill.

Alex Koifman, President of the RJCF addresses the State House committee discussing the bill:

Dear committee and guests,

I am honored to express my opinion here today.

I’m president of the Russian Jewish Community Foundation. The RJCF is the largest community organization of tens of thousands of Russian Jews residing in the Boston area. I’m not an Israeli and I never lived in Israel. I grew up in the USSR. All my ancestors were born in Russia. My dad was a decorated WWII veteran. Most of our family perished in the Holocaust: including my aunts and an uncle who were 8, 14, and 18 years old.

I never saw a synagogue in my life in Russia and I never learned about Judaism either because it was illegal in the USSR. When I told my dad who was a top dermatologist in Minsk that I want to be a doctor he told me that now in the USSR Jews cannot get in medical school. Some Engineering schools were accepting Jews. So I carefully selected one that accepted a small number of Jews.

In the USSR when the newspapers or communists were attacking Israel every Jew understood that they meant us. When my neighbors were telling me: go back to your country they meant Israel. So, I know about discrimination first hand and I recognize it right away.

I support this bill. I feel that this bill will give me more protection and feel safer in Massachusetts. Every member of the Russian Jewish community feels the same - I spoke to really a lot of people and I have never heard anyone opposing this bill. But I feel that this bill does not go far enough. I urge you to strengthen this bill and oppose Boycott Divestment & Sanctions against Israel.

This is not about Israel. BDS is just “coarse anti-Semitism”. These are not just my words by words of Angele Merkel the German chancellor and she knows about anti-Semitism. BDS is not allowed in the former Soviet Union but sadly flourishing on American campuses making them unsafe for Jewish students. This is not free speech - this is hate speech. There are a lot of studies that prove that BDS is making colleges unsafe for Jewish students. Personally, my high school daughter is afraid to show her support for Israel in her school. My son was afraid to show support for Israel in UMASS - a state college. This has to stop. We need a strong legislature to protect free speech to support for Israel. During the Holocaust, you had to be a hero to defend Jews now we have to be decent people. I urge you to stand against BDS and state it clearly in your bill.