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Be Proactive, Not Reactive
W
hat IfNotNow
appears to not
understand as an
organization, and as individu-
als, is that effective problem-
solving results from a proac-
tive approach rather than a
reactive one.
Jeremy
If you’re a member of
Rosenberg
IfNotNow and you’re reading
this, your jaw may have just
dropped. How dare he say
that? Our protests and dem-
onstrations make a huge difference and
show the Jewish community exactly how
we feel! Indeed, they do.
However, protests and demonstrations
are inherently reactive. In two examples,
I’d like to describe actions taken by
IfNotNow and propose a constructive
alternative action.
A recent story that has been relevant
internationally is the “Birthright walk-
outs” that have happened twice. Staging
a walk-out or boycotting is reactive. It
is important to note that Birthright is
a Jewish heritage trip, and nowhere is
there any sort of guarantee that the con-
flict will be discussed. Furthermore, it’s a
free trip and, by walking out, participants
are forfeiting a ticket home.
If you choose to go on the trip, being
proactive would include asking ques-
tions and having conversations about
difficult topics with people outside of the
trip. You don’t need to abandon the trip
— there are plenty of ways to arrange to
meet people in the designated free time
provided.
If you’d rather not go on the trip at
all, then being proactive could
mean organizing a similar trip that
highlights the conflict completely.
Creating a trip that highlights the
Israeli narrative and the Palestinian
narrative simultaneously would
have a greater impact and would
likely be supported more than a
walk-out “protesting the occupa-
tion.”
Another recent event was
an IfNotNow protest at Hillel
Day School during its Israel
Independence Day celebration. This
action represented an ignorance and
indifference to the audience before
whom they stood. Perhaps IfNotNow did
not consider that they’d be presenting
themselves in front of children too young
to comprehend their words. There were
also Israeli children, Israeli parents and
Israeli teachers present at this celebra-
tion. If IfNotNow did consider this and
chose to hold their demonstration there
anyway, it would be reasonable to ques-
tion the character of IfNotNow and its
constituents.
In this situation, being proactive
would have involved reaching out to
Head of School Steve Freedman and set-
ting up a time to meet and discuss how
Israel is taught in Jewish day schools.
The way in which IfNotNow protested
lessened its legitimacy and credibility as
an organization, and likely diminished
its ability to have a positive impact on
the way in which people are educated
about Israel.
Israel education is still presented in a
way that makes the Jewish people and
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the State of Israel appear to be the under-
dog, which is not the current reality.
There are constant threats, but as Israel
has repeatedly shown, it is fully equipped
to defend itself.
Many of the people at the forefront
of creating the curriculum to educate
Jewish people about the State of Israel
were of a generation that experienced the
Holocaust, witnessed Israel become the
Jewish state and grew up observing Israel
struggle to grow while simultaneously
defending itself in continuous wars.
Perhaps that’s why it’s so easy for some
young Jewish progressives to distance
themselves from Israel. They were born
into a world where Israel is already ours;
they don’t know what a world without a
Jewish state looks like. Their immersion
in social justice, social change and pro-
gressivism appears to have led to a dis-
connect about what it means to be a Jew
in the larger multicultural world.
We are hardly 73 years removed from
the greatest tragedy in human history,
and it happened to us. In those 73 years
we have gone from losing more than 6
million people to having more than 6
million people in a country that we can
call our own.
The Jewish people’s greatest attribute
is unity. When that unity is lost, only
the worst can come. Every exile, perse-
cution or large-scale misfortune took
place at a time when the Jewish com-
munity had self-divided. Whether that
meant converting under the pressure of
the Christians, Catholics or others who
kicked us out of their countries for thou-
sands of years or even leaving Judaism
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behind, believing that it could help them
survive, it happened because our own
religion seemed like the problem, not the
answer.
The sense of community and the
feeling of unity is passed generation to
generation when decisions are made for
the future — and not for the present. The
people who brought Israel into existence
decided how it should be taught and sup-
ported it through their lifetimes were not
thinking of themselves; they were think-
ing of their children, their grandchildren
and their great-grandchildren.
In a time where anti-Semitism is an
issue rather than a reason to execute
Jewish people, it’s easy to take for granted
how lucky we are to live in a time where
we have a place to call home.
What I ask members of IfNotNow
and other social justice organizations to
consider is not the current situation, not
your own feelings and not the expressed
opinions of your organization; think of
your children, think of your grandchil-
dren and think of the future of the Jewish
people.
You can love Israel. You can hate Israel.
You can disagree with Israel, or you can
support Israel with no second thoughts.
Regardless, your actions should reflect
what you want for the Jewish future, not
what you might want for yourself right
now.
So, I guess, to answer your original
question, “If not now, when?”
Sometime soon. But be patient. •
Jeremy Rosenberg of West Bloomfield is a student
at Wayne State University.
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