8 | JULY 29 • 2021 

PURELY COMMENTARY

O

pen any American news 
source, and America’s 
“culture wars” dominate 
the headlines. With conservatives 
on one side and liberals on the 
other, we vilify each other as if 
in preparation for a civil war. 
However, not 
only does Judaism 
offer us guidance 
in addressing the 
culture wars of our 
day, but Judaism 
also demands that 
we engage each 
other especially 
when we disagree with each 
other. 

RACE AND RACISM 
If we are to accept the verbal gre-
nades tossed by politicians and 
pundits, it is perhaps the battle 
over race and racism that most 
threatens to unweave the very 
fabric of this country. 
 The good news is that on this 
topic the majority of Americans, 
the reasonable left and the rea-
sonable right, agree: Racism is 
wrong; racism is on the decline 
— and yet racism still exists.
Nevertheless, the murder last 
year of George Floyd released a 
torrent of longtime pain and an 
avalanche of built-up fear. People 
of color continue to experience 
racial disparities in wealth, edu-
cation, employment, housing, 
policing, incarceration, political 
disenfranchisement and health 
— especially as we saw during 
this past year of COVID-19. 
Additionally, the violence within 
communities of color is rampant 
and the despair significant. 

ROOTS OF INEQUALITY
Certainly, no single cause exists 

for the inequality from which 
people of color suffer. Some 
blame a certain lack of commit-
ment to education, the challenges 
of single-parenthood or mis-
placed priorities as it comes to 
spending discretionary income. 
 Others point to the existence 
of systemic racism: When con-
scious or unconscious racist atti-
tudes intersect with institutional 
practices, it results in vastly 
different treatments, systems of 
care and outcomes for different 
racial groups. 
Systemic racism also helps us 
to understand the cumulative 
effects of racism over time. For 
example, the post-World War II 
G.I. Bill helped many Americans 
to build home equity and access 
high-paying jobs, allowing 
wealth to build over the gener-
ations. 
However, most Black service 
members received no such ben-
efit. Today, the average white 
family has approximately 10 
times the net worth of a Black 
family. 

WHAT CAN WE DO?
As compassionate human beings 
and as Jews who are obligated to 
care for our own people (which 

includes Jews of color), we must 
try to remedy the causes of these 
fears. The Talmud instructs us 
that whenever there is a cri-
sis, we should examine our 
own deeds first. Thanks to the 
generosity of a grant from the 
Hermelin-Davidson Center for 
Congregational Excellence, we 
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek 
of Southfield are engaging in 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
(DEI) training with the goals of 
learning, reflecting and, where 
necessary, doing teshuvah (repen-
tance) for our own shortcomings. 
We are actively seeking to 
overcome our individual and 
collective yetzer hara (animal 
instincts toward prejudice). After 
all, the reasonable left and the 
reasonable right agree conceptu-
ally that diversity and inclusion 
strengthen a community, a col-
lege or university, a business or 
a governmental body. We agree 
that diversity and inclusion are 
worthwhile goals as it pertains to 
broadening the scope of partic-
ipation and opportunity for any 
gender, sexual identity and race. 

DRAWING THE LINE
While as it pertains to race and 
racism in America there is so 

much on which most of us agree, 
there appears to be a border that 
we Jews choose not to cross in 
terms of ending racial inequality. 
While Jews have long supported 
affirmative action in theory, the 
Jewish community opposed affir-
mative action when it came to 
quotas. Jews oppose a zero-sum 
approach to combating racism 
because, when it comes to quo-
tas, Jews often lose. For example, 
one might support more people 
of color attending the University 
of Michigan. However, one might 
object if allowing more people 
of color to attend the University 
means that his or her own child 
will not be accepted. As the par-
ent of a high school student, I 
empathize with this fear. 
Perhaps, then, we should view 
the battle against racism as we 
view tzedakah. With regard to 
our charitable giving, we are obli-
gated to give not less than 10%, 
but we are forbidden from giving 
more than 20%. Perhaps in our 
desire to end racism, we are obli-
gated to make sacrifices, but only 
to a point.
A similar conversation might 
occur regarding slave repara-
tions. On one hand, we know 
that the biblical Egyptians gave 
the Israelites gold and other 
objects when our ancestors left 
slavery and that in our own day 
the German government gave 
reparations to Holocaust survi-
vors. On the other hand, today’s 
African American community 
is generations removed from 
slavery and, for many Jews, 
our ancestors were not even in 
America during slavery. 
Additionally, my immigrant 
ancestors worked night and day 
to provide for their families with 

Rabbi 
Aaron Starr

guest column
What’s Kosher in 
Combating Racism?

