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After White House Falsely Tweeted Antifa ‘Instigated Violence’ at His Chabad, Rabbi Launches Kindness Campaign

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June 9, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 21: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press on the South Lawn of the White House prior to departing on Marine One May 21, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump is scheduled to visit a Ford manufacturing plant that is currently producing ventilators in Michigan. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Chabad of Sherman Oaks launched its Share4Justice campaign on June 8, encouraging community members to engage in acts of kindness in response to a June 3 White House tweet claiming that Chabad’s security barriers were bricks being supplied to antifa.

The White House tweet, which has since been deleted, stated, “Antifa and professional anarchists are invading our communities, staging bricks and weapons to instigate violence. These are acts of domestic terror.” The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes antifa (short for “anti-fascist”) as “a loose collection of groups, networks and individuals who believe in active, sometimes aggressive opposition to far right-wing movements.”

Before the White House tweet, Chabad of Sherman Oaks wrote in a June 1 Facebook post that the bricks had been in front of the Chabad for nearly a year as a security barrier in response to the April 2019 Chabad of Poway shooting.

“To alleviate people’s concerns that they may be vandalized and used by rioters, they were temporarily removed,” the post read.

Chabad of Sherman Oaks is a client of Shmuli Rosenberg, CEO of the fwd/NYC marketing agency. Rosenberg told the Journal in a phone interview, “We launched the initiative Share4Justice focusing on what we believe to be true justice, which is kindness. Caring for one another. Doing charitable deeds. Doing good deeds. This initiative will allow people to spread that positivity and that connection with one another that hopefully will accomplish the goals of justice that we’re all looking for.”

He added that within hours of the campaign being launched, there already had been an overwhelming response. “People are calling, texting, wanting to know what they can do, how they can be involved in spreading this.”

“We are looking [for] people to push themselves to do something good and at the same time, encouraging another person [to do something good].” — Rabbi Mendel Lipskier

Chabad of Sherman Oaks Director Rabbi Mendel Lipskier told the Journal that as part of the campaign, it is urging the Jewish community to do something Jewish, such as lighting Shabbat candles, donning tefillin or studying Torah.

Community members also are encouraged to donate to the Chabad Relief program, which provides funds to families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chabad of Sherman Oaks also has a program in which it matches volunteers with families who are homebound as a result of the pandemic.

“[Volunteers] call on [families] every few days [and ask], ‘How are you doing? Can we run an errand for you? Can we go shopping for you?’” Lipskier said, adding they also have a food distribution program and are offering Zoom programs.

“Many people are feeling lonely, like they’re stuck and they’re not seeing all their friends,” Lipskier said. “[We] created an online community so people can be in touch with each other.”

He urged people to spread the word about the campaign on social media. “We are looking [for] people to push themselves to do something good and at the same time, encouraging another person [to do something good],” Lipskier said, adding that the goal is to create a chain reaction of acts of kindness as if it were a Facebook post or a tweet.

Rosenberg added that Chabad of Sherman Oaks has long been an advocate for people helping one another out. The campaign, he said, is essentially “bringing Chabad of Sherman Oaks out to the public, because we feel and see that the reception is there. People want this now. I hope that people will see this and … really use it to promote popular change in the world.”

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