8 January 10 • 2019
jn

scene, safely planted in a comfortable 
chair, not breaking a thing and no 
longer bleeding.
I began to contemplate the whole 
scene. What is it about Jews and 
Christmas, I thought? Christmas is a 
beautiful, celebratory holiday, filled 
with lots of love, fun and gifts. Nothing 
wrong with that. So, what is it that 
causes so many Jews (including this 
one) to overthink it? Why is there a 
slight touch of uncomfortableness for 
so many of us? Is there something 
inherent in the Jewish soul or are 
the scars of history so deep that we 
can’
t just chill out and fully embrace 
Christmas? Attending a Christmas 
party doesn’
t mean we’
re embracing the 
gospel of Jesus or betraying our Jewish 
heritage, so why do we still feel a bit 
like a pair of brown shoes on a black 
tuxedo on Christmas Day?
As I sat there, I quickly began to 
recalibrate my attitude. Jews must do a 
better job at tolerating and respecting 
the religious differences of others, 
I thought, just as we demand from 
non-Jews. I reminded myself of all 
the non-Jewish people with whom we 
are aligned in the fight against hatred 
and injustice. I even thought of all the 
“righteous Gentiles” in Europe who 
risked their lives in order to save Jewish 
lives. We Jews honor them and other 
good Christians when we respect their 
holidays, and Christmas is among the 
most beautiful and holiest days of the 
year for them.
Surely I can embrace the cheer of 
good people on their special night. 
Doing so, I figured, is a sign of respect, 
solidarity and kindness — actually a 
very Jewish thing to do.
Suddenly my daughter-in-law’
s 
mother approached me and kindly 
asked me if I’
d like another drink.
“Definitely,
” I said with a smile, 
contentedly. “Make it a double.
”
I could get used to this holiday. ■

Mark Jacobs is the AIPAC Michigan chair for 
African American Outreach, a co-director of the 
Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, a board 
member of the Jewish Community Relations 
Council-AJC and the director of Jewish Family 
Service’
s Legal Referral Committee.

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continued from page 6

I

n the aftermath 
of the tragic syn-
agogue shooting 
in Pittsburgh, I asked 
one of my colleagues 
in Israel about the last 
time she was subject-
ed to anti-Semitism. 
She thought about it 
and responded that, 
actually, she never directly experienced 
anti-Semitism.
Our conversation moved to the 
anti-Semitic incidents that took place 
at Michigan campuses during my 
two years as the Jewish Agency Israel 
Fellow at Michigan State University 
(MSU) Hillel, including a Valentine’
s 
Day card distributed at Central 
Michigan University — whose campus 
is part of the Hillel Campus Alliance 
of Michigan (HCAM), a division of 
MSU Hillel that oversees 10 campuses 
throughout the state — which stated 
“My love to you burns like 6 million 
Jews,” a swastika scratched on an MSU 
student’
s car and our AEPi house get-
ting vandalized with Hitler mustaches 
spray-painted on past fraternity broth-
ers’
 pictures. 
My colleague was shocked to hear 
about these incidents — and how they 
continue to occur, whether it be two 
University of Michigan instructors 
recently denying recommendation let-
ters to students because they planned 
to study abroad in Israel or the deadly 
anti-Semitic attack in Pittsburgh. I told 
her that while I worked at MSU Hillel, 
I lived for two years as a minority. 
Even now, I’
m only just beginning 
to understand how Jews live in the 
diaspora. For Israelis who haven’
t had 
the opportunity to spend a significant 
amount of time in North America, like 
I did, the gap in understanding is that 
much greater. 
In the summer of 2017, I became 
one of the hundreds of Jewish Agency 
shlichim (Israeli emissaries) who 
return home to Israel each year after 
serving in diaspora Jewish communi-
ties, undergoing transformative profes-
sional and personal experiences. More 

than a year after my return, my own 
transformation continues.
During my work as an Israel Fellow, 
I reached out to and spoke with many 
students, most of whom didn’
t really 
know about Israel. I always felt that 
every talk with a student (Jewish or 
non-Jewish) was important because 
I was a shaliach (emissary), and they 
saw me as Israel. For a lot of them, I 
was their only personal contact with 
Israel or an Israeli. 
MSU Hillel has a terrific collabora-
tive initiative with the David Project, 
in which they reach out to non-Jewish 
student leaders and their groups in 
order to forge friendships between 
Jewish students and the broader 
campus community. The highlight of 
this initiative is a 10-day trip to Israel 
which, in an unbiased manner, gives 
non-Jewish student leaders an inside 
look at Israel, Israeli culture and the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The stu-
dent leaders who attend the trip bring 
back important lessons for their orga-
nizations.
As an Israel Fellow and as part 
of the collaboration with the David 
Project, I also had the opportunity to 
work on programming that celebrat-
ed diversity. For example, we had an 
African American dance/Jewish hora 
class, in which both groups taught 
each other the styles from their respec-
tive cultures. It was inspiring to see 
how Hebrew music and Israeli culture 
made such a positive first impression 
about Israel on the African American 
students. It was just one example of 
the meaningful relationship between 
Jewish and non-Jewish students at 
MSU, with Israel at the center of that 
relationship. Through such programs, 
we showed a diverse study body that 
Israel is more than what people see on 
the news — that it does have conflict, 
but also so many other sides. 
I still keep in touch with some of the 
non-Jewish student leaders I worked 
with at MSU. I can see that, even in 
the flurry of all of today’
s headlines, 
they understand the complexity of 
Israel. When I visited East Lansing 

this past Sukkot, I met with one of 
the non-Jewish students who took a 
trip to Israel through Hillel, a student 
who feels destined for involvement in 
local or national American politics. 
He proactively reached out to me, and 
we spent a full day together. In that 
moment, I understood the impact I 
had on him. He cleared an entire day 
in his schedule just to spend time 
with me and to talk about Israel. One 
day, in whatever role he assumes, he’
ll 
bring his unique narrative on Israel to 
the table.
Yet at the same time, since return-
ing to Israel, I’
ve realized that the 
awareness doesn’
t necessarily go both 
ways. It seems to me that most of 
us, as Israelis, don’
t know very much 
about the diaspora unless it pertains to 
major news stories like disagreements 
about egalitarian prayer at the Western 
Wall or the shooting in Pittsburgh. 
Nor do many Israelis understand or 
respect the diversity of Jewish prac-
tices and Jewish ways of life in the 
diaspora. When I attended the Jewish 
Federations of North America General 
Assembly in Tel Aviv in October, I 
was encouraged to learn about how 
seriously the Jewish Agency is working 
to raise Israelis’
 awareness and accep-
tance of Judaism’
s religious streams 
and the Jewish community’
s most 
important challenges both in Israel 
and the diaspora. 
As a returning shaliach, I came to 
understand how everything Israelis do 
or decide here affects Jewish life in the 
diaspora and how we need to do all we 
can to foster increased mutual under-
standing between Israeli and diaspora 
Jews. From anti-Semitism to religious 
pluralism, the Jewish people have 
numerous challenges and opportuni-
ties before them. It’
s incumbent upon 
us to try to understand each other, to 
prioritize Jewish unity and to tackle 
this journey together. ■

Rotem Raiter, the former Jewish Agency Israel 
Fellow to Michigan State University Hillel, works 
for a consulting com 
pany in Israel’
s Jezreel 
Valley.

commentary

A Former Emissary’s Refl
 ections
on Israel and the Diaspora

Rotem Raiter

