Joanna Silver
@joannasilver73.bsky.social
Part-time federal public defender, part-time organizer, advocate, agitator. Autism mom, pit-bull mom. Still vegan, still late to all new tech platforms.
Reposted by Joanna Silver
MCJC joined 100s of Jews at ICE headquarters to protest its inhumane practices. We weren't quiet about the connections between repression and occupation in the US and Palestine; a message (almost uniformly) warmly received by other attendees. Credit to @rabbis4ceasefire.bsky.social for the sign.
February 12, 2026 at 2:33 AM
MCJC joined 100s of Jews at ICE headquarters to protest its inhumane practices. We weren't quiet about the connections between repression and occupation in the US and Palestine; a message (almost uniformly) warmly received by other attendees. Credit to @rabbis4ceasefire.bsky.social for the sign.
Reposted by Joanna Silver
Happy New Year! We’ve had a busy end of the year and want to share all of our recent work.
1. Our letter of support for @vanhollen.senate.gov has reached over 600 signatures including former MD Attorney General Brian Frosh.
1. Our letter of support for @vanhollen.senate.gov has reached over 600 signatures including former MD Attorney General Brian Frosh.
January 9, 2026 at 4:00 AM
Happy New Year! We’ve had a busy end of the year and want to share all of our recent work.
1. Our letter of support for @vanhollen.senate.gov has reached over 600 signatures including former MD Attorney General Brian Frosh.
1. Our letter of support for @vanhollen.senate.gov has reached over 600 signatures including former MD Attorney General Brian Frosh.
Reposted by Joanna Silver
@thehill.com recently covered our Jewish community letter of support for Senator Van Hollen amid attacks from the JCRC for Sen. Van Hollen’s record of supporting Palestinian human rights. Our letter now has over 600 signatures from Jewish Marylanders.
Read the article: thehill.com/opinion/whit...
Read the article: thehill.com/opinion/whit...
thehill.com
December 26, 2025 at 7:48 PM
@thehill.com recently covered our Jewish community letter of support for Senator Van Hollen amid attacks from the JCRC for Sen. Van Hollen’s record of supporting Palestinian human rights. Our letter now has over 600 signatures from Jewish Marylanders.
Read the article: thehill.com/opinion/whit...
Read the article: thehill.com/opinion/whit...
This was such a meaningful celebration at the end of our first year as an organization. If you live in MoCo and are looking for a Jewish communal and/or activist space that centers collective liberation without Zionism, please check us out!
Yesterday, we held our first Hanukkah celebration, complete with a latke competition, Yiddish songs, learning about the history of Hanukkah with Rabbi Ariel Tovlev, menorah crafts and more! Happy Hanukkah and happy holidays to all! 🕎
December 22, 2025 at 3:33 PM
This was such a meaningful celebration at the end of our first year as an organization. If you live in MoCo and are looking for a Jewish communal and/or activist space that centers collective liberation without Zionism, please check us out!
So much good stuff in here. One of the most thoughtful and hopeful pieces I've read in awhile.
A Better Way to Approach Antisemitism on Campus (opinion)
Policing speech about Israel is counterproductive.
www.insidehighered.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
So much good stuff in here. One of the most thoughtful and hopeful pieces I've read in awhile.
Powerful and hopeful piece in @jewishcurrents.bsky.social
December 16, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Powerful and hopeful piece in @jewishcurrents.bsky.social
Thanks to everyone who has signed so far. Please keep signing, it's not too late!
Over‼️500‼️Jewish Marylanders have signed our letter of support for @vanhollen.senate.gov in just a few days.
Join the letter: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Read the letter: drive.google.com/file/d/1TRuG...
Join the letter: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Read the letter: drive.google.com/file/d/1TRuG...
December 10, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Thanks to everyone who has signed so far. Please keep signing, it's not too late!
Recommended Thanksgiving listening. www.democracynow.org/2025/11/27/i...
Leonard Peltier on Indigenous Rights, His Half-Century in Prison & More
In September, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman sat down with longtime political prisoner and Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier for his first extended television and radio broadcast interview since hi...
www.democracynow.org
November 28, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Recommended Thanksgiving listening. www.democracynow.org/2025/11/27/i...
He was charged with throwing objects at a moving vehicle www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Palestinian-American teenager held in Israeli prison freed after nine months
Israeli soldiers had taken Mohammed Ibrahim from his home in a night raid when he was only 15 years old
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:11 PM
He was charged with throwing objects at a moving vehicle www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
In case that ridiculous women-hating garbage they published this week wasn’t enough to get you off the times.
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM
In case that ridiculous women-hating garbage they published this week wasn’t enough to get you off the times.
For my Jewish friends: www.bendthearc.us/reject_adl_m...
Add your name: American Jews reject the ADL’s racist “Mamdani Monitor”
If the ADL wants to keep Jews isolated from our allies and neighbors, their time as Jewish leaders is over.
www.bendthearc.us
November 7, 2025 at 5:41 PM
For my Jewish friends: www.bendthearc.us/reject_adl_m...
In a time of ever-present bad news, it is delightful to have a several day run of good news: www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Jury finds D.C. ‘sandwich guy’ not guilty of assaulting officer
Sean C. Dunn admitted he flung the hoagie at a federal agent. His attorneys called it a “harmless gesture” of protest as Trump commandeered D.C. police.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:19 PM
In a time of ever-present bad news, it is delightful to have a several day run of good news: www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Reposted by Joanna Silver
I can't get enough of this local legend.
“A lot of people are talking about how Jews in New York feel about @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social...
Well, I’m a Jew in New York!
And I’m out here canvassing with my community for Zohran!”
Watch Madeline’s story about why she’s a New York Jew for Zohran:
Well, I’m a Jew in New York!
And I’m out here canvassing with my community for Zohran!”
Watch Madeline’s story about why she’s a New York Jew for Zohran:
October 28, 2025 at 7:55 PM
I can't get enough of this local legend.
"...in fact, despite their distinct views about Israel, the dynamics that made older Jewish Democrats initially skeptical of Obama are the same that make you and your congregants skeptical of Mamdani....
Jewish fears about Zohran Mamdani reveal more about us than about him — and it's a problem - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The co-creator of the Great Schlep says a prominent rabbi got things wrong with his sermon on the NYC mayor's race.
www.jta.org
October 25, 2025 at 8:01 PM
"...in fact, despite their distinct views about Israel, the dynamics that made older Jewish Democrats initially skeptical of Obama are the same that make you and your congregants skeptical of Mamdani....
Reposted by Joanna Silver
MCJC Member Adina Cohen has filed a civil rights complaint after Club Pilates North Bethesda banned her for wearing shirts with messages like “Jews Say Ceasefire Now.”
Read the press release from CAIR ⬇️
www.cair.com/press_releas...
Read the press release from CAIR ⬇️
www.cair.com/press_releas...
CAIR Submits Civil Rights Complaint Against North Bethesda Pilates Studio for Discrimination Toward Md. Jewish Woman
www.cair.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:05 AM
MCJC Member Adina Cohen has filed a civil rights complaint after Club Pilates North Bethesda banned her for wearing shirts with messages like “Jews Say Ceasefire Now.”
Read the press release from CAIR ⬇️
www.cair.com/press_releas...
Read the press release from CAIR ⬇️
www.cair.com/press_releas...
Please take a minute to check out what one of our state legislators is up to.....
Last week, hours before the start of Yom Kippur, Montgomery County State Senator Ben Kramer sent us a belittling diatribe, insulting his Jewish constituents and repeating debunked talking points from the Israeli government.
Read the letter and our response: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Read the letter and our response: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
October 10, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Please take a minute to check out what one of our state legislators is up to.....
What the F basically sums up the entire state of affairs at the moment, this being the latest bit of icing on the authoritarian cake.
‘What the F**k?’ CBS News Insiders Prepare for Takeover by Self-Described ‘Zionist Fanatic’
Bari Weiss is expected to be announced as editor-in-chief of CBS News, as employees worry her new role will bring a pro-Israel bias, more censorship, and lower editorial standards.
zeteo.com
October 6, 2025 at 2:20 AM
What the F basically sums up the entire state of affairs at the moment, this being the latest bit of icing on the authoritarian cake.
Friends, as we approach Yom Kippur and you consider how you can make Teshuvah this year; in particular how you can take collective responsibility for our community's wrongdoings, I'd encourage you to consider this. givebutter.com/FoodAidTzeda...
High Holidays 5786 Tzedakah Campaign
Let’s keep Gaza Soup Kitchen running through the High Holidays
givebutter.com
September 30, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Friends, as we approach Yom Kippur and you consider how you can make Teshuvah this year; in particular how you can take collective responsibility for our community's wrongdoings, I'd encourage you to consider this. givebutter.com/FoodAidTzeda...
Grateful, once again, to @vanhollen.senate.gov for doing the right thing, even when (and especially when) the powers that be refuse to.
Van Hollen Criticizes Democratic Leaders for Delay in Endorsing Mamdani
www.nytimes.com
September 13, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Grateful, once again, to @vanhollen.senate.gov for doing the right thing, even when (and especially when) the powers that be refuse to.
Well this is terrifying. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
UC Berkeley shares 160 names with Trump administration in ‘McCarthy era’ move
Prominent professor Judith Butler among students and faculty investigated for ‘alleged antisemitic incidents’
www.theguardian.com
September 13, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Well this is terrifying. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Joanna Silver
An update on this: the Maryland State Department of Education has reversed course and will not implement changes to remove mentions of Palestine in the state curriculum.
Read more in CAIR’s press release: www.cair.com/press_releas...
Read more in CAIR’s press release: www.cair.com/press_releas...
August 28, 2025 at 7:42 PM
An update on this: the Maryland State Department of Education has reversed course and will not implement changes to remove mentions of Palestine in the state curriculum.
Read more in CAIR’s press release: www.cair.com/press_releas...
Read more in CAIR’s press release: www.cair.com/press_releas...
"I would suggest that it is the Washington Jewish Week editorial board, not I, who has applied a double standard." Thank you @vanhollen.senate.gov for refusing to be bullied and for continuing to speak and vote with your conscience.
An Editorial Response From Maryland’s Senior Senator
I have long believed that the United States should pursue a values-based foreign policy that is grounded in clear standards that we apply uniformly across the globe.
www.washingtonjewishweek.com
August 20, 2025 at 7:31 PM
"I would suggest that it is the Washington Jewish Week editorial board, not I, who has applied a double standard." Thank you @vanhollen.senate.gov for refusing to be bullied and for continuing to speak and vote with your conscience.