Diane Gensler, at The Blogs

Sep 21, 2024, 3:57 AM

Watching Oct 7 Documentary ‘Screams Before Silence’ Is Like Stifling a Scream

As I write this, I just returned home from viewing the October 7 hour-long documentary Screams Before Silence at a local Baltimore synagogue. I was on automatic pilot on my way home, barely thinking about my driving as the images...

May 21, 2024, 7:11 AM

An Urgent Message to the Protestors on US College Campuses

Image created by the author with some images from pngtree. Image courtesy of the author.

You want to do the right thing. I get it. You want to stop the killing of innocents in the Gaza Strip. And that is laudable. But you are doing more harm than good. You are endorsing the violence that Hamas...

Apr 10, 2024, 11:38 AM

Fighting Antisemitism in American Public Schools: A Losing Battle, Part 7

Image courtesy of the author who created the cartoon from images on Rawpixel.com on Freepik.com, Deviantart.com and Vecteezy.com.

This is the seventh and final blog of a multi-part series on fighting antisemitism in America’s public school systems. Is it wrong to have a “hijab-wearing day” in an American public school at this point in time, asking students...

Mar 27, 2024, 10:19 PM

Fighting Antisemitism in American Public School Systems: A Losing Battle, Part 6

This is Part Six of a multi-part series on fighting antisemitism in America’s public school systems. I was under the impression that Maryland’s public schools experienced an uptick in antisemitic incidents because of the Israel-Hamas war. But it turns out...

Mar 19, 2024, 1:17 AM

Fighting Antisemitism in America’s Public School Systems: A Losing Battle Part 5

This is Part Five of a multi-part series on fighting antisemitism in America’s public school systems. I’ve always been pleased that my kids’ Maryland public high school has a chapter of the Jewish Student Union (JSU). It’s especially important...

Mar 7, 2024, 11:30 PM

Fighting Antisemitism in America’s Public School Systems: A Losing Battle Part 4

This is Part Four of a multi-part series on fighting antisemitism in America’s public school systems. It is distressing to all parents when a child is bullied or targeted in any way. Unfortunately, as the Hamas-Israel War rages on,...

Feb 29, 2024, 12:29 PM

Fighting Antisemitism in America’s Public School System: A Losing Battle, Part 3

As I was working on Part Two of this series, I read in The Baltimore Sun about yet another conflict taking place in a Maryland school that was triggered by the Hamas-Israel War. A special education teacher had filed...

Feb 21, 2024, 8:14 AM

Fighting Antisemitism in American Public Schools: A Losing Battle, Part Two

This is Part Two of a multi-part series on fighting antisemitism in America’s public school systems. You can find Part One here. Well before the events of October 7, 2023, Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, issued a policy...

Feb 16, 2024, 12:13 AM

Fighting antisemitism in American public schools: A losing battle, part 1

This is Part One of a multi-part series by the author on fighting antisemitism in America’s public school systems. Against the horrifying backdrop of the war in Israel, it is especially concerning that antisemitism and anti-Zionism have rampantly infiltrated...

Nov 1, 2023, 5:34 AM

To Students on College Campuses (Our Own Daughter Included)

I’m crying today as I watch a YouTube video of US college students protesting the impact of the Israel-Hamas war. I find the protests disturbing and difficult to watch. Young girls with Israeli flags are holding photos of children...

About Me

Diane Gensler is a Life Member of Hadassah Baltimore, a member of the Hadassah Educators Council and the Hadassah Writers' Circle, and a lay leader in her synagogue. She is the author of Forgive Us Our Trespasses: A Memoir of a Jewish Teacher in a Catholic School (Apprentice House Press, 2020) and occasionally writes articles for organizations of which she is a member, such as the Jewish Genealogy Society of Maryland. She is a certified English and special education teacher. In addition to teaching in public and private schools, she developed educational software, tutored online and wrote and managed online curriculum. She is a Maryland Writing Project Teacher Consultant and a mentor. A native Baltimorean and mother of three, she leads the Baltimore Jewish Writers Guild and holds volunteer positions in her children’s schools and activities.

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