Jewish and Proud.
That was the tag-line for the American Jewish Committee’s call for Jews, this past Monday, January 6, to post a photo with that message on social media, or to wear a Star of David necklace, a kippah, or something visible that is an identifiable Jewish symbol.
Jewish and proud was also an underlying theme of the anti-hate march across the Brooklyn Bridge last Sunday, January 5, 2020, which brought together Jews from across the spectrum of the community and others to protest anti-Semitism and the violence against Jews before and during Chanukah.
I was attending the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis conference in Palm Springs, California, from last Sunday through Wednesday. Many of us, both women and men, walked through the hotel wearing our kippot between sessions without a second thought.
The American Conference of Cantors had gathered in the same hotel for their midwinter retreat. Yes, more kippot, for sure.
As far as I know, there were no discouraging words, negative comments, or incidents, in response to our presence.
Yet, Jews in New York, in various American metropolitan areas, and in European cities, especially those who regularly wear identifiable symbols, are now, even more than before, in a position of needing to be cautious and watchful for someone who might see them as a target, based on something that the potential attacker hates.
We can’t limit descriptions of the perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts to any one particular perspective.
Some people associate all Jews with what they don’t like about the State of Israel.
Some people link all Jews to their favorite conspiracy theory about Jews trying to assume control of the world, seeing Jews as trying to thwart the hegemony and manifest destiny of white male Christians.
Some people still see all Jews as guilty of the crime of deicide, putting Jesus to death 2000 years ago, which makes us worthy of eternal scorn and punishment.
As we learned from the attack on Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in October, 2018, some people see Jews as insidiously manipulative of populations, supporting the compassionate harboring of refugees and asylum seekers in a way that would alter the supposedly traditional racial composition of America. That makeup of our nation has been changing in any case.
On the night of the attack on the Chanukah party in Monsey, New York, Rabbi Stephen and Donna Karol were in Jerusalem, visiting 40 of our cousins who are part of the ultra-Orthodox community there. Steve and Donna told me that they had a wonderful time with our family.
We know well about the characteristics of the Jewish community, locally, nationally and internationally.
Our diversity is a fact of life.
Our disagreements are sharp and all too enduring.
Our expressions of our opinions can sometimes be described as cantankerous, arrogant, narrow-minded, and disrespectful.
But we are SO MUCH MORE.
In the Torah reading for this week, Va-y’chi, Jacob, also known as Israel, offered his final message to his family.
Genesis Chapter 49 begins: “Jacob then summoned his sons, saying, ‘Gather ‘round that I may tell you what shall befall you in days to come.’”
He proceeded to speak of his sons in forthright terms, not always glowing and complimentary in his comments, but realistic for sure.
What words would we want to hear now, in 5780, as 2020 begins, at a time when we are concerned for our safety in ways we may not have expected to be even two years ago?
We do need realism, but that realism isn’t only about what’s wrong with us, because there is so much that is right about who we are.
As members of a Jewish community, there are blessings which we bring to ourselves, to each other, and to the world.
We declare that time can be holy and special, sometimes more sacred than space, because Judaism enables us to celebrate that holiness of time in our homes, in our actions, and whenever we gather together.
We have the capacity to practice Jewish values that guide us away from divisiveness and disrespect. Judaism teaches us to see the face of God in every human being. Our tradition directs us to treat all people with compassion and understanding. We declare our love for God when we pray and when we pass into the threshold of our homes by the mezuzah that bears, on its parchment, words of love and welcome.
Conspiracy theories, rumors, unfounded attacks and innuendo should not define us. And we should not absorb or be misled by pervasive misinformation or disinformation that are found in extreme excess the world over, claims that could cause us to turn on one another.
No. We believe in the acquisition of knowledge through our own personal exploration and, more importantly, through our partnerships in learning. God is present when words of Torah pass between us. God speaks to us when we study. We speak to God when we pray.
Our experiences throughout history remind us that our ages-long quest for freedom, embodied in the Exodus from Egypt, remembered at every Pesach Seder, continues today. We still seek to preserve our freedom and to work for the freedom of all people, so that they will not face cruelty, prejudice, discrimination, and oppression, and so that we will not be inadvertent partners in the marginalization of any of God’s children.
We Jews in America are like a mirror of Jews in Israel and in other communities around the world. We don’t always see eye to eye, but we are committed to the welfare of our people, our extended family, wherever we live, so that we can continue to share the best of the gifts of our heritage with the entire human family.
We are Jewish, and we are proud. May we continue to put our best foot forward, as individuals and as a community, as we step out, every day, into a world that needs our love, our wisdom, our concern, our compassion, and our hope.
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