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6 | JUNE 18 • 2020 

Editor’
s Note

Healing Ourselves 
L

ast week, we published 
the phrase “Black Lives 
Matter” on the cover 
of the Jewish News. I saw the 
move as a small, necessary 
gesture, the next step in our 
community’
s 
long journey 
toward racial 
justice and 
understanding. 
Many of 
our readers 
agreed, but 
not all. We’
ve 
already lost at least two sub-
scribers over our coverage 
of the nationwide protests 
that have erupted in recent 
weeks. Others have sent us 
hostile comments accusing 
Black Lives Matter of being 
an anti-Semitic movement. 
(There have been some honest 
questions about the roots of 
this, too, which I will address 

further down.) 
As it happens, shortly 
before the protests began, 
some JN subscribers tar-
geted black staffers here at 
Renaissance Media with racist 
calls and harassment. I don’
t 
want to repeat what was said 
to my colleagues, but it makes 
me sick. 
We have heard a lot over 
the last few weeks about the 
need to identify and address 
racism and prejudice within 
our own communities (see a 
related story, page 33). Well, 
the Jewish community is 
not immune to this. We, of 
course, wrestle with our own 
widespread intergeneration-
al trauma, but that doesn’
t 
excuse us from doing the hard 
work of recognizing when we 
may be, consciously or uncon-
sciously, expressing bigotry of 
our own toward other groups. 

It is far past time for us to 
reckon with such realities. 
One of the best things we 
can do, in this moment, is 
to talk to friends, family and 
loved ones who are expressing 
these kinds of views, and help 
each other not only recognize 
that such beliefs are wrong, 
but also try to work together 
to overcome them. 
So, I’
ll start here, by 
clearing up this one thing. 
Why are some calling Black 
Lives Matter anti-Semitic? It 
dates back to a 2016 charter 
from an affiliated organiza-
tion named the Movement 
for Black Lives, which had 
expressed solidarity with 
Palestinians and used words 
like “genocide” and “apart-
heid” to describe the Israeli 
government. The language 
was roundly criticized by 
many Jewish groups at the 

time, and the group’
s current 
charter doesn’
t mention Israel. 
Regardless, the “Black Lives 
Matter” slogan itself has taken 
on a life of its own, and stands 
for something much larger 
than one political movement 
today. It is a statement of raw 
power, purpose and intent. 
We can affirm its truth, and 
the underlying problems of 
American systemic racism 
the phrase points to, without 
qualification. 
And American Jews should, 
in fact, be wary of sitting out 
this moment, due to Israel 
or any other reason. Because 
seeking justice doesn’
t just 
help the black community. It 
helps us, too. 

Are you having these difficult con-
versations about race with people 
you love right now? Write to 
alapin@thejewishnews.com and let 
us know how those talks are going. 

Andrew Lapin 

letters

Unfortunate Omission
I was very disappointed by 
the omission of Congregation 
B’
nai Moshe in the recent 
article about synagogues 
offering more than prayer 
during the COVID-19 pan-
demic. 
Congregation B’
nai Moshe 
has hosted a zoom daily min-
yan from the very beginning 
of the pandemic. We held a 
virtual family game night and 
Rabbi Shalom Kantor streams 
weekly drash on the Torah 
portion via Facebook. 
We have amazing speakers 
scheduled in both July and 
August and will be featuring 
Cantor Zachary Mondrow for 
a virtual concert in August. 

We have had participation 
in our streaming events from 
multiple states and countries 
and we will continue to pro-
vide both ritual and social 
virtual outlets during the 
pandemic. 

Steven Fine 

Congregation B’
nai Moshe

Service for Israel
Sar-El stands for the program 
called “Service for Israel.” 
Prior to the pandemic, 
several of us, from Detroit, 
New York, Washington and 
other cities, along with other 
groups from other countries, 
came back from spending 
weekdays working for the 
IDF, helping out with little 

jobs like … Well, this is what 
I did, mostly: loading and 
unloading shipping pallets 
for the Air Force, issuing the 
paratroopers’
 helmets, web-
bing (“turtles”), knee-pads 
and fatigues, and packing up 
and putting away their tents 
and tent poles. 
We ate in the Army’
s mess 
halls, wore their fatigues and 
slept in the barracks. We 
started each day with a flag 
raising and “Hatikva.” At 
night we’
d learn from the sol-
diers and from speakers they 
brought in. I worked out in 
the gym with the paratroop-
ers and their teachers and 
davened — prayed — in the 
base synagogues.
I can’
t say enough good 

about Sar-El and Volunteers 
for Israel. Lots of volunteers 
keep coming back to it. 
 Working, eating, and 
learning with people, sleeping 
in the same barracks — good 
friendships form here, not 
just with your fellow volun-
teers but even with soldiers. 
Some of them — volunteers 
and soldiers both — have the 

COURTESY OF MICHAEL DALLEN

b

Michael
Dallen in 
Israel

continued on page 10