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Rabbi John Rosove's Blog

Rabbi John Rosove's Blog

Category Archives: Jewish-Islamic Relations

“How a U.S. Jewish group’s leadership race became mired in Islamophobia” – 972+ Magazine

12 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Jewish Identity, Jewish-Islamic Relations

≈ 1 Comment

An umbrella organization’s heated election shows how right-wing, bigoted assessments of ‘Jewishness’ are becoming normalized in our community.

By Mik Moore – May 11, 2020

Though the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP) wields limited power, it’s leadership has a voice allegedly representing the organized American Jewish community, but that voice over the years has increasingly not represented the mainstream of the American Jewish community with respect to Israel, the occupation, and the settlement enterprise in the West Bank.

This year, the long-time right-wing, male, and hawkish Chair of the Board, Malcolm Hoenlein, retired and  the Chair of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid society, Dianne Lob, a finance executive at the investment management firm AllianceBernstein, was elected COP’s new Board Chair. That election did not sit well with Morton Klein, the one-man extremist right-wing Islamophobic leader of the Zionist Organization of America, who challenged Lob’s election.

This article in 972+ presents a fair overview of the politics inside the COP that reflects the schisms within the organized American Jewish community.

https://www.972mag.com/conference-presidents-american-jews-islamophobia/

“The Top Shin Bet Official who ‘Converted’ a Hamas Supporter to Judaism” – Jerusalem Post

16 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish-Islamic Relations, Social Justice, Uncategorized

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The unimaginably bizarre situation meant that for years this man lived with the dissonance of being both a Hamas operative and an admirer of Judaism.”

By YONAH JEREMY BOB – MARCH 14, 2020, The Jerusalem Post

Note: As Israel battles the Coronavirus, President Reuven Rivlin invited Benny Gantz (the leader of the Blue and White Party) to form the next government (Gantz has a committed majority of 61 seats that includes the recommendation of the Joint List – the four Arab Parties).

This article by Yonah Jeremy Bob of The Jerusalem Post tells the extraordinary story of the conversion of a Hamas terrorist to Judaism, reviews the state of Palestinian leadership and succession in the Palestinian Authority, and reveals the work of the Shin Bet (Israel’s secret service) over the last number of years.

It is an excellent overview and well worth the read as politics are evolving in Israel vis a vis Israeli Arab citizens (the Joint List earned 15 Knesset seats in this last election, the most ever) and within the Palestinian Authority.

Yonah Jeremy Bob is a Foreign Affairs Lecturer and an Intelligence, Terrorism, and Legal Analyst for The Jerusalem Post

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/The-top-Shin-Bet-official-whoconverted-a-Hamas-supporter-to-Judaism-620657

My new book – “Why Israel [and its Future] Matters – Letters of a Liberal Rabbi to his Children and the Millennial Generation with an Afterword by Daniel and David Rosove”

28 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Book Recommendations, Ethics, Human rights, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Jewish-Christian Relations, Jewish-Islamic Relations, Social Justice

≈ 2 Comments

Available at  https://www.amazon.com/Why-Israel-its-Future-Matters/dp/1934730831

Pre-publication Endorsements

“Morally unflinching, intellectually courageous, Rabbi John Rosove has provided us with a desperately needed map for how to navigate the growing tensions between progressives and the State of Israel. By calling out Israel when it has done wrong and calling out its critics when they exaggerate Israel’s flaws, Rabbi Rosove echoes the ancient prophets, who criticized their people but always loved and defended them. This thoughtful and passionate book reminds us that commitment to Israel and to social justice are essential components of a healthy Jewish identity.” —Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem

“Rabbi John Rosove’s letters to his sons are tender and loving, but also gripping and challenging, as he grapples with modern Israel, Jewish identity, relations between Israelis and Diaspora Jews, and perhaps most significantly whether ‘you can maintain your ethical and moral values while at the same time being supporters of the Jewish state despite its flaws and imperfections.’ Rosove pulls no punches, laying out both the imperfections and the ethical choices surrounding Israel and American Jews. But he also manifests a passionate love for Israel and what one scholar has called ‘values-based aspirational Zionism.’ This book will raise as many questions for Rosove’s sons as it answers; it is a book that many of us wish we had written for our own children.” —Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, S. Daniel Abraham Professor in Middle Eastern Policy Studies, Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs  – Former US Ambassador to Israel (2001-2005) and US Ambassador to Egypt (1997-2001)

“Rabbi Rosove’s truths reach minds and open hearts. I urge each and every individual who feels in any way connected to the Jewish People, to ponder this powerful assemblage of candid insightful messages which address the core issues facing Israel as a nation, and as a notion. A must read!” —The Honorable Isaac Herzog, Chairman, Jewish Agency for Israel

“Rosove’s optimism, and his boundless faith in Jewish peoplehood and Jewish values, makes this book an invaluable blueprint for Jews, both in Israel and around the world, to help the Jewish State live up to its founding values of acceptance, pluralism, and democracy and become a true light unto the nations.” —Anat Hoffman, Executive Director, Israel Religious Action Center

“What a marvelous and refreshing book! A liberal social activist and committed Reform Jew, Rosove makes the case to Jewish millennials that they need Israel as a source of pride, connection, and Jewish renewal, and Israel needs them for the liberal values that they can bring to the Zionist enterprise. In its call for “aspirational Zionism,” the book is honest and tough about Israel’s flaws, but optimistic about the country’s direction and filled with practical strategies for promoting change. This is a no-nonsense, straight-talking work, intellectually rigorous but deeply personal. And most important, it demonstrates in compelling prose to young Jews—and Jews of all ages—that Jewish life cannot be sustained without Israel at its core.” —Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, President Emeritus, Union for Reform Judaism

“In a beautifully written, passionate, emotional and heartfelt book, Rabbi Rosove describes his love for Israel. Always honest, authentic and sincere, John does not attempt to hide Israel’s imperfections. His forty years in the rabbinate taught him that anything human is imperfect, and that true love requires engagement in the world of improvement and repair. Read and re-read Rabbi Rosove’s book. Turn the pages over and over again. You will glean his spirit, and the spirit of our people that has created and sustained the State of Israel—one of the great miracles of the world.” —Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, Senior Rabbi, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, New York City

“Rosove’s missives are essential reading for all concerned with the Jewish condition today.” —David N. Myers, Kahn Professor of Jewish History, UCLA; President of the Board, New Israel Fund

“This book is a must-read for countless Diaspora Jews looking for information and different ways to comprehend the significance of modern-day Israel. Rabbi Rosove offers not only for his sons, but for educators looking for new material, guiding questions, and matter of fact explanations. With everything he offers us in this short volume, Rabbi Rosove teaches us to never give up hope, which makes this a must-read for all.” —Rabbi Josh Weinberg, VP for Israel and Reform Zionism, Union for Reform Judaism; Director, Association of Reform Zionists of America

“A moving love letter to Israel from a rabbinic leader who refuses to give into despair, but instead recommits to building a democratic Israel that lives up to the vision of its founders.” —Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

“A must-read for those inside the community and out who are not just looking for the right answers, but the right questions.” —Brooke Davies, Former President of the J Street U National Board

A request: If you like the book, please write a review on Amazon.

 

The Fox Hunt – A gripping tale

13 Sunday Oct 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Book Recommendations, Human rights, Jewish-Islamic Relations

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The Fox Hunt – A Memoir of Yemen and my Odyssey to America (Harper Collins: New York, 2018) reads like an action novel based in the fundamentalist and extremist Muslim world. It tells the odyssey of a young Yemeni Muslim man, Mohammed Al Samawi, who dared to challenge the template of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish attitudes in which he was raised and risked his life to escape his beloved country of birth in the midst of its murderous civil war in 2015.

To read my entire review, see my blog at the Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-fox-hunt-a-gripping-tale/

Can Ilhan Omar Overcome Her Prejudice – by Hirsi Ali – Wall Street Journal – July 12

14 Sunday Jul 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Human rights, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish-Islamic Relations, Social Justice, Women's Rights

≈ 2 Comments

My gratitude to my friend Rick Feldman who posted this article  on the J Street Leader’s List serve. Hirsi Ali is always worth reading – and now especially with regards to Ilhan Omar and the 4 progressive Congresswomen.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-ilhan-omar-overcome-her-prejudice-11562970265?shareToken=st41fda349d9ed4b689237a19b1aab6a5a&reflink=share_mobilewebshare

Can Ilhan Omar Overcome Her Prejudice?

I was born in Somalia and grew up amid pervasive Muslim anti-Semitism. Hate is hard to unlearn without coming to terms with how you learned it.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

July 12, 2019 6:24 pm ET

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar at a news conference in Washington, April 10. Photo: jim bourg/Reuters

 

I once opened a speech by confessing to a crowd of Jews that I used to hate them. It was 2006 and I was a young native of Somalia who’d been elected to the Dutch Parliament. The American Jewish Committee was giving me its Moral Courage Award. I felt honored and humbled, but a little dishonest if I didn’t own up to my anti-Semitic past. So I told them how I’d learned to blame the Jews for everything.

Fast-forward to 2019. A freshman congresswoman from Minnesota has been infuriating the Jewish community and discomfiting the Democratic leadership with her expressions of anti-Semitism. Like me, Ilhan Omar was born in Somalia and exposed at an early age to Muslim anti-Semitism.

Some of the members of my 2006 AJC audience have asked me to explain and respond to Ms. Omar’s comments, including her equivocal apologies. Their main question is whether it is possible for Ms. Omar to unlearn her evident hatred of Jews—and if so, how to help.

In my experience it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to unlearn hate without coming to terms with how you learned to hate. Most Americans are familiar with the classic Western flavors of anti-Semitism: the Christian, European, white-supremacist and Communist types. But little attention has been paid to the special case of Muslim anti-Semitism. That is a pity because today it is anti-Semitism’s most zealous, most potent and most underestimated form.

I never heard the term “anti-Semitism” until I moved to the Netherlands in my 20s. But I had firsthand familiarity with its Muslim variety. As a child in Somalia, I was a passive consumer of anti-Semitism. Things would break, conflicts would arise, shortages would occur—and adults would blame it all on the Jews.

When I was a little girl, my mom often lost her temper with my brother, with the grocer or with a neighbor. She would scream or curse under her breath “Yahud!” followed by a description of the hostility, ignominy or despicable behavior of the subject of her wrath. It wasn’t just my mother; grown-ups around me exclaimed “Yahud!” the way Americans use the F-word. I was made to understand that Jews—Yahud—were all bad. No one took any trouble to build a rational framework around the idea—hardly necessary, since there were no Jews around. But it set the necessary foundation for the next phase of my development.

At 15 I became an Islamist by joining the Muslim Brotherhood. I began attending religious and civil-society events, where I received an education in the depth and breadth of Jewish villainy. This was done in two ways.

The first was theological. We were taught that the Jews betrayed our prophet Muhammad. Through Quranic verses (such as 7:166, 2:65 and 5:60), we learned that Allah had eternally condemned them, that they were not human but descendants of pigs and monkeys, that we should aspire to kill them wherever we found them. We were taught to pray: “Dear God, please destroy the Jews, the Zionists, the state of Israel. Amen.”

We were taught that the Jews occupied the Holy Land of Palestine. We were shown pictures of mutilated bodies, dead children, wailing widows and weeping orphans. Standing over them in military uniform were Israeli soldiers with large guns. We were told their killing of Palestinians was wanton, unprovoked and an expression of their hatred for Muslims.

The theological and the political stories were woven together, as in the Hamas charter: “The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: ‘The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The Stones and trees will say, “O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill me.” ’ . . . There is no solution for the Palestine question except through Jihad.”

That combination of narratives is the essence of Muslim anti-Semitism. Mohammed Morsi, the longtime Muslim Brotherhood leader who died June 17 but was president of Egypt for a year beginning in 2012, urged in 2010: “We must never forget, brothers, to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews”—two categories that tend to merge along with allegations of world domination.

European anti-Semitism is also a mixture. Medieval Christian antipathy toward “Christ killers” blended with radical critiques of capitalism in the 19th century and racial pseudoscience in the 20th. But before the Depression, anti-Semitic parties were not mass parties. Nor have they been since World War II. Muslim anti-Semitism has a broader base, and its propagators have had the time and resources to spread it widely.

To see how, begin at the top. Most men (and the odd woman) in power in Muslim-majority countries are autocrats. Even where there are elections, corrupt rulers play an intricate game to stay in power. Their signature move is the promise to “free” the Holy Land—that is, to eliminate the Jewish state. The rulers of Iran are explicit about this goal. Other Muslim leaders may pay lip service to the peace process and the two-state solution, but government anti-Semitism is frequently on display at the United Nations, where Israel is repeatedly compared to apartheid South Africa, accused of genocide and demonized as racist.

Media also play their part. There is very little freedom of expression in Muslim-majority countries, and state-owned media churn out anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda daily—as do even media groups that style themselves as critical of Muslim autocracies, such as Al Jazeera and Al-Manar.

Then there are the mosques, madrassas and other religious institutions. Schools in general, especially college campuses, have been an Islamist stronghold for generations in Muslim-majority countries. That matters because graduates go on to leadership positions in the professions, media, government and other institutions.

Refugee camps are another zone of indoctrination. They are full of vulnerable people, and Islamists prey on them. They come offering food, tents and first aid, followed by education. They establish madrassas in the camps, then indoctrinate the kids with a message that consists in large part of hatred for Jews and rejection of Israel.

Perhaps—I do not know—this is what happened to Ms. Omar in the four years she spent in a refugee camp in Kenya as a child. Or perhaps she became acquainted with Islamist anti-Semitism in Minnesota, where her family settled when she was 12. In any case, her preoccupation with the Jews and Israel would otherwise be hard to explain.

Spreading anti-Semitism through all these channels is no trivial matter—and this brings us to the question of resources. “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” Ms. Omar tweeted in February, implying that American politicians support Israel only because of Jewish financial contributions. The irony is that the resources available to propagate Islamist ideologies, with their attendant anti-Semitism, vastly exceed what pro-Israel groups spend in the U.S. Since the early 1970s the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has spent vast sums to spread Wahhabi Islam abroad. Much of this funding is opaque, but estimates of the cumulative sum run as high as $100 billion.

Thousands of schools in Pakistan, funded with Saudi money, “teach a version of Islam that leads [to] anti-Western militancy,” according to Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy—and, one might add, to an anti-Semitic militancy.

In recent years the Saudi leadership has tried to turn away from supporting this type of religious radicalism. But increasingly Qatar seems to be taking over the Saudi role. In the U.S. alone, the Qatar Foundation has given $30.6 million over the past eight years to public schools, ostensibly for teaching Arabic and promoting cultural exchange.

For years, Qatar has hosted influential radical clerics such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi and provided them with a global microphone, and the country’s school textbooks have been criticized for anti-Semitism. They present Jews as treacherous and crafty but also weak, wretched and cowardly; Islam is described as inherently superior. “The Grade 11 text discusses at length the issue of how non-Muslims should be treated,” the Middle East Media Research Institute reports. “It warns students not to form relationships with unbelievers, and emphasizes the principle of loyalty to Muslims and disavowal of unbelievers.”

The allegation that Jewish or Zionist money controls Congress is nonsensical. The Center for Responsive Politics estimates that the Israeli government has spent $34 million on lobbying in Washington since 2017. The Saudis and Qataris spent a combined $51 million during the same period. If we include foreign nongovernmental organizations, the pro-Israel lobbying figure rises to $63 million—less than the $68 million spent lobbying for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2018 domestic American pro-Israeli lobbying—including but not limited to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac—totaled $5.1 million. No comparable figures are available for domestic pro-Islamist lobbying efforts. But as journalist Armin Rosen observes, Aipac’s 2018 total, at $3.5 million, was less than either the American Association of Airport Executives or the Association of American Railroads spent on lobbying. Aipac’s influence has more to do with the power of its arguments than the size of its wallet.

Now consider the demographics. Jews were a minority in Europe in the 1930s, but a substantial one, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. Today Jews are at a much greater disadvantage. For each Jew world-wide, there are 100 Muslims. In many European countries—including France, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K.—the Muslim population far exceeds the Jewish population, and the gap is widening. American Jews still outnumber Muslims but won’t by 2050.

The problem of Muslim anti-Semitism is much bigger than Ilhan Omar. Condemning her, expelling her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, or defeating her in 2020 won’t make the problem go away.

Islamists have understood well how to couple Muslim anti-Semitism with the American left’s vague notion of “social justice.” They have succeeded in couching their agenda in the progressive framework of the oppressed versus the oppressor. Identity politics and victimhood culture also provide Islamists with the vocabulary to deflect their critics with accusations of “Islamophobia,” “white privilege” and “insensitivity.” A perfect illustration was the way Ms. Omar and her allies were able to turn a House resolution condemning her anti-Semitism into a garbled “intersectional” rant in which Muslims emerged as the most vulnerable minority in the league table of victimhood.

As for me, I eventually unlearned my hatred of Jews, Zionists and Israel. As an asylum seeker turned student turned politician in Holland, I was exposed to a complex set of circumstances that led me to question my own prejudices. Perhaps I didn’t stay in the Islamist fold long enough for the indoctrination to stick. Perhaps my falling out with my parents and extended family after I left home led me to a wider reappraisal of my youthful beliefs. Perhaps it was my loss of religious faith.

In any event, I am living proof that one can be born a Somali, raised as an anti-Semite, indoctrinated as an anti-Zionist—and still overcome all this to appreciate the unique culture of Judaism and the extraordinary achievement of the state of Israel. If I can make that leap, so perhaps can Ms. Omar. Yet that is not really the issue at stake. For she and I are only two individuals. The real question is what, if anything, can be done to check the advance of the mass movement that is Muslim anti-Semitism. Absent a world-wide Muslim reformation, followed by an Islamic enlightenment, I am not sure I know.

Ms. Hirsi Ali is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Correction
An earlier version misstated the sum spent on lobbying for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Opinion: Democrat Progressive 'Squad' is Giving Nancy Pelosi a Headache

Opinion: Democrat Progressive ‘Squad’ is Giving Nancy Pelosi a Headache

Ever since Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts were elected, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has found herself taking heat. Images: Getty/AFP Composite: Mark Kelly

When an ex-Fatah Palestinian ‘neighbor’ took up a Zionist author’s challenge

16 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Human rights, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Jewish-Islamic Relations, Social Justice

≈ 2 Comments

Yossi Klein Halevi’s book Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor (written in English, translated into Arabic and soon to be translated into Hebrew) is a must-read explanation of the Zionist and Israeli experience, the first time an Israeli Jew reached out to Palestinians to explain what Israel means to the Jewish people.

Yossi invited Palestinians to respond, and he received many hostile emails but also a thoughtful and serious response from Mohammad Dajani, once was a leader in Fatah.

Mohammad’s letters are included in the republished paperback of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor along with 50 pages of other Palestinian responses.

Both men come from extremist backgrounds. Mohammad explains how his mind and heart opened to the Israeli experience when his father was treated respectfully as a cancer patient at Hadassah Medical Center by Israeli doctors and nurses, and his mother was treated with respect by Israeli doctors at the time of her death.

As a teenager and young man, Yossi joined the extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane in protecting elderly Jews in Brooklyn from anti-Semitic attacks, but he rejected Kahane when the extremist rabbi turned his wrath against Palestinian Arabs.

Below is the link to an interview of Yossi and Mohammad conducted by David Horowitz in The Times of Israel. The two men speak frankly and honestly about themselves and their personal histories, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the evolution of their understanding of the “other.” Their dialogue represents a pathway to reconciliation. Neither man, however, wears rose-colored glasses. Each understands the hatred and fear that define the relationship of Israelis neighbors with their Palestinian neighbors and the risks each takes in advocating for dialogue and learning about the other.

Palestinians bombed Mohammad’s car  in an assassination attempt after he took 27 Palestinian students to Auschwitz to learn about the Holocaust. He refuses to deny or retract on moral grounds anything he said publicly after his journey to the death camp.

Mohammad believes that many Palestinians are open to learning about Jews and Israelis, but Palestinian extremists threaten Palestinians who do so with the charge of treason and assassination.

Yossi believes that many Israelis and Diaspora Jews too are open to learning more about the Palestinian experience despite Jewish extremists charging such efforts as disloyal and treasonous.

Read the interview (link below) and then buy Yossi’s second edition paperback volume Letters to My Palestinian Neighbors.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/when-an-ex-fatah-palestinian-neighbor-took-up-a-zionist-authors-challenge/?utm_source=The+Weekend+Edition&utm_campaign=weekend-edition-2019-06-16&utm_medium=email

A year of anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist and anti-Israel hate

05 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Jewish-Christian Relations, Jewish-Islamic Relations

≈ 1 Comment

The New York Times today (April 5, 2019) reviews the spread of anti-Semitic hate around the world. How ought we Jews to respond? That’s the perennial question we ask ourselves.

See my blog at the Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-year-of-anti-semitic-anti-zionist-and-anti-israel-hate/

Orly Erez-Likovsky at the the Israel Central Elections Commission

11 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Human rights, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Jewish-Islamic Relations, Social Justice

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On Wednesday, Orly Erez-Likovsky, the head of IRAC’s legal department, went before the Israel Central Elections Commission and argued in favor of disqualifying the candidacies of Michael Ben Ari and Itamar Ben Gvir, candidates who view themselves as Rabbi Kahane’s heirs, and who are running in the elections for the 21st Knesset. The shameful decision made by the Commission will not discourage us, and we will be submitting a petition to Israel’s Supreme Court later this week.

Posted by Rabbi Joshua Weinberg, VP of Israel and Reform Zionism of the Union for Reform Judaism

Current Debate in Congress over anti-Semitism and Criticism of Israel

06 Wednesday Mar 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish-Islamic Relations, Social Justice

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This J Street statement puts the current tumult over Congresswoman Omar’s statements concerning Antisemitism and Criticism of Israel into sharp focus. I urge you to read it.

https://jstreet.org/…/statement-on-the-current-debate-ove…/…

The LA Women’s March

04 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Human rights, Jewish Identity, Jewish-Christian Relations, Jewish-Islamic Relations, Social Justice, Women's Rights

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Note: This was sent to our congregants at Temple Israel of Hollywood in support of the LA Women’s March. Please note the strategic activities we have scheduled around this event.

To Our TIOH Family,

It would be impossible to overstate the power and uplift so many of us have felt witnessing and participating in the past two Women’s Marches. These marches, harnessing multigenerational expressions of women’s dignity and power and bringing to light so many issues of critical importance to our country, have been catalysts for much good in our world.

It is, at the same time, impossible to ignore published accounts claiming that specific individuals in leadership positions of the National Women’s March have made blatantly anti-Semitic remarks.

We at TIOH have been and remain committed to the Women’s Rights Movement, gender justice, and civil rights. We also refuse to let anti-Semitic statements or actions go without response. Our challenge is to hold both truths in this complicated and fraught time, which at its core, holds so very much potential for change.

We share with you our thoughts on this moment:

  1. If you look to the homepage of the Women’s March Los Angeles (WMLA), you will see a strongly worded statement stating clearly that WMLA “has no affiliation and was never part of the Women’s March Inc. WMLA is its own separate organization with separate leadership, board, and funding.” Part of what has come to light in the face of recent allegations of anti-Semitic comments by a few leaders of the National Women’s March is that the national leadership does not represent, nor is it connected by finances or governance, to many of the hundreds of local marches across the country, including Los Angeles.
  2. Anti-Semitism is a very real problem in our world and lies at the heart of white supremacy. There has been an historic increase, according to surveys published by the ADL, in anti-Semitic hate crimes over the past two years in our country and abroad. Acknowledging, learning about, and fighting anti-Semitism wherever it occurs, including in the National Women’s March leadership group, is of critical importance to everyone concerned about promoting an inclusive and decent America.
  3. That being said, the Women’s March Unity Principles reflect much of the justice work in which TIOH and our partner organizations are engaging. We are pleased that changes have been made to these Unity Principles to explicitly include Jewish women and that representatives of national Jewish leadership organizations were part of the crafting of the 2019 Women’s Agenda. Being involved in the real work of this movement is very much in line with our justice principles.
  4. Despite the anti-Semitic statements by some individuals in the National Women’s March, we believe that it is critical for representatives from the Jewish community to remain in dialogue and actively engaged with them, as well as to continue the important work of eradicating anti-Semitism at every level of our society. Teshuvah, a return to each person’s best self, is always possible. We believe strongly that The Women’s March, as an intersectional movement, must include Jewish women because it is there, in the heart of the movement, that we can both act on our social justice principles and combat anti-Semitism.
  5. We especially encourage TIOHers to participate in our local Women’s March Los Angeles. We also encourage TIOHers to explicitly speak out against all expressions of anti-Semitism whenever we encounter them. Our public engagement in both the women’s movement and our work to combat anti-Semitism is at the core of who we are as American Reform Jews.

Please read these comments from the Union for Reform Judaism and Women of Reform Judaism. You will see that our position at TIOH is cast in the same spirit as our Reform movement’s leadership.

Join us at the LA Women’s March! TIOHers will be joining Jewish Center for Justice (JCJ), as well as folks from synagogues across Los Angeles, at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 19th to pray and march together. Meetup details will be forthcoming.

In addition to marching, come to the following events:

  • At TIOH this Sunday, January 4, at 10:00 a.m., join Rabbi Jocee Hudson for bagels, coffee, and an open informal conversation about what it means for us as members of the Jewish community, who are committed to Women’s Rights and Civil Rights, to participate in the Women’s March.
  • Please join members of the broader community on Sunday, January 13, at 7:00 p.m. at University Synagogue for a Teach-In with Zioness and JCJ.
  • Please join us at TIOH before Shabbat services on Friday, January 18, at 5pm, to show our public resistance to anti-Semitism as we hear from David Lehrer on “How anti-Semitism Lies at the Heart of White Supremacy.”

For questions about our Social Justice work at TIOH, please contact Heidi Segal heidijsegal@gmail.com.

If you would like to join TIOH’s Gender Justice Social Justice Working Group, please click here or contact co-chairs, Marilyn Szatmary and Margaret Katch.

B’tzedek –

Rabbi John L. Rosove – Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh – Rabbi Jocee Hudson – Shelly Fox, Cantorial Soloist and Musical Director – Heidi Segal, TIOH Vice President, Social Justice – Aliza Lesser, WoTIOH Chair

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