Locust Street Art and Buffalo Jewish School at odds

This time, it led to a dispute between an Orthodox Jewish school and a local nonprofit arts organization.

Locust Street Art, which offers free or low-cost art classes, initially declined to collaborate with the Ohr Temimim School, an Orthodox Jewish school in Amherst and indicated so in an email. But following backlash from the community, Locust Street retracted its statement the same day and apologized.

“I am incredibly ashamed of our error in judgment,” Executive Director Rachelyn Noworyta said in her email to the school. “At Locust Street Art, we know and believe that the arts are for everyone, and it would be a serious mistake on our part to deny access to the arts to young people at Ohr Temimim School.”

Rachel Shanowitz, an administrator at Ohr Temimim School, spearheaded the project to expose nearly 50 students at the school to the enrichment that Locust Street offers through works of art. Having joined her program in March with her children, she found the experience “welcoming and accommodating.”

However, after six to eight weeks of communication, mostly involving logistics, Shanowitz said she was shocked to receive an email last week saying the nonprofit group no longer wanted to collaborate with the school, due to ideological disagreements.

“Unfortunately, upon further review of your organization, we have found that our missions are not aligned and we will not be able to set up programming with your school,” said the email sent by Morgan Arnett, instructor outside location at Locust Street. “It appears we are at a great ethical divide and cannot in good conscience work with a pro-Israel organization that supports the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”

Arnett also added that the decision “was not taken lightly.”

“I didn’t see it coming. It was a very surprising message. There was no indication or any other communication that this was about to happen,” Shanowitz told The News.

About seven hours later, Shanowitz said he received the apology email from Noworyta.

Shanowitz, who grew up in Argentina and faced anti-Semitism before coming to the United States, said the letter shook her.

“The assertion was that we supported the genocide. And that dismayed me a little bit because I never saw any political aspect or topic of discussion throughout my experience there,” he said. -she declared.

Noworyta’s follow-up email states that the school does not take sides on political issues and believes that art has the power to bring people together.

“We try to always lead with positive intention and love for all. We failed to live up to this fundamental philosophy today and allowed misinterpretations to cloud our judgment,” she said, adding that ‘they would seek to do better in the future.

This is not the first time current conflicts in the Middle East have impacted Western New York. In November, the West New York chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council purchased space on digital billboards on Buffalo’s busiest highways, I-190 and I-290, calling for an end to violence in Gaza. Lamar Advertising removed them without explanation within days, sparking community outrage. MPAC-WNY teamed up with the Buffalo chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace in January to try to send the same message and criticized the agency’s earlier decision to crack down on free speech.

In October, The News reported on two incidents where students tore down Israeli flags displayed in a school building in the Sweet Home school district, leading several members of the Jewish community to highlight the worrying rise in anti-Semitic behavior since the 7 October, when Hamas attacked Israel.

StopAntisemitism, a US organization fighting anti-Semitism, tweeted about the incident on Tuesday evening.

“Shocking discrimination as a Jewish school was denied services by Locust Street Art instructor Morgan Arnett because the school was ‘pro-Israel,'” the tweet read, adding: “According to their website, “Art is for everyone.” Except half of the world’s Jews.”

Michael Berger, Ohr Temimim’s associate attorney, sent the arts organization an email condemning its decision to refuse any collaboration.

“I am in absolute disbelief at the statements contained in the letter,” he said. “Just because she starts claiming that our school supports genocide is an absolute smear. Just because a group supports the State of Israel does not in any way equate to supporting genocide .”

Locust Street Art did not make Arnett available for comment on the matter.

“An ill-advised email was sent to the school and within hours I sent a formal apology and redacted it,” Noworyta told The News on Wednesday. “This apology has been accepted and we look forward to working with Ohr Temimim School.”

She is working with the board to create a policy that will require any denials to be submitted to the board.

“We are an art school that caters to everyone, regardless of religious beliefs, ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender or skin color. “It’s important to us, art is for everyone and we hold strongly to that,” Noworyta said.