Against Antisemitism and Hate

These words were shared at the NAACP sponsored program
“Unity Against Antisemitism and Hate” on January 31, 2022

So, for the past few weeks, I have been reflecting on Rabbi Charlie’s Radical Hospitality — his discernment balanced with the concept of welcoming the stranger – hachnasat orchim -The truth is my instincts to discern and welcome compassionate would be similar. 36 times in our Torah are we instructed to care for the stranger.

And to what end do we employ our empathetic and ethical directive? To open the door of welcome to the threat of violence and hate? To put our community at risk because a stranger was welcomed into our midst?

The past week has been filled with revisiting and enforcing of synagogue security protocols, safety trainings, and scheduling active shooter trainings. Ironically -scarily – I had taken part of all of these several years ago post Pittsburgh, Poway, Charleston, at the community I served in Orlando.

I recall reality of visiting synagogues in France – where you could only enter the holiness of a sanctuary after prior ID screening and admission through a check point manned with machine guns and surrounded by iron bars. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of thinking it is different here in the United States, in New Jersey.

And it makes me sad. But more than that, it makes me mad. To quote Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, nominee for antisemitism ambassador, “It is not radical to say that going to services, whether to converse with God or with the neighbors you see only once a week, should not be an act of courage.”

The gunman’s antisemitic trope regarding “a well-known rabbi had the pull to have a terrorist in another state removed from prison “underscores just how serious and insidious this truly problem is.

So what do we do?

As anti-racists we must come together and understand that the system of antisemitism can only be dismantled If everyone sees this basic truth: all other forms of hate grow from antisemitism. It is the fundamental and core problem…it is not a by-product or additional hatred. It is the life blood that feeds all hate, whether it be anti-Black, anti -Asian anti -LGBTQ+ and all marginalized communities.

And it must be eradicated.

Where antisemitism resides, so does the instability of democratic institutions. As Eric K Ward, of the Western States Center is a leader in the antiracist movement and an expert in the system of antisemitism says:

“antisemitism fuels White nationalism, a genocidal movement now
enthroned in the highest seats of American power, and fighting antisemitism cuts off that fuel for the sake of all marginalized communities under siege from and the social movement that helped raise it up… To refuse to deal with any ideology of domination, moreover, is to abet it. Contemporary social
justice movements are quite clear that to refuse antiracism is an act of racism; to refuse feminism is an act of sexism. To refuse opposition to antisemitism, likewise, is an act of antisemitism.”

I understand that I present as a white Jewish woman of Eastern European background and when I enter spaces of color I am mindful, that my background alone has afforded me privileges that others don’t automatically receive. However, as Eric Ward stresses, “You don’t choose race, power chooses it for you; it names you…If we acknowledge that White nationalism clearly and forcefully names Jews as non-white, and did so in the very fiber of its emergence as a post-civil rights right-wing revolutionary movement, then we are forced to recognize our own ignorance about the country we thought we lived in. It is time to have that conversation.”

So, what do we do?

What do we do?

We must continue doing what we are doing – showing up for each other as we are this evening. We must continue to engage in honest, even if it is sometimes difficult dialogue. We must continue to speak out each and every time against acts of hate. We must understand the many evolving tropes of the language of antisemitism – which include anti Zionism tropes -and teach others to understand and recognize it and speak out against them when they hear them. Because, until we begin to dismantle the system of antisemitism together there will be no freedom.

I am deeply grateful that here, in Atlantic County, New Jersey our holy community of interfaith and interconnected partners places such a high value on taking the steps to create unity in the face antisemitism and hate. Chazak chazak v’nitchazeik Be strong, be strong…may we continue to strengthen one another.

Thank you.