8 | SEPTEMBER 2 • 2021 

PURELY COMMENTARY

T

his year saw some great 
Jewish highs — two 
gold medals for Israel 
in the Tokyo Olympics — and 
some great Jewish lows — a 
COVID-violating engagement 
party in 
Australia 
caught on 
tape, mocking 
a universal 
lockdown. 
 We saw Israel 
taking the lead 
in vaccines — 
inoculating Arab and Jew in 
Israel as equals and sharing 
vaccination information with 
the world — and we saw 
Jews heaping abuse at other 
Jews for merely praying in 
the egalitarian section of the 
Western Wall. 
Jews in America, in all 
their political and religious 
diversity, came together for 
Zoom rallies, Washington 
rallies and West Bloomfield 
rallies to fight antisemitism, 
and we looked on in horror as 
our fellow Jews were violently 
and verbally abused — simply 
for being Jewish.
 In a year of COVID, there 
were many highs and lows, but 
I would like in particular to 
ask: Am I my brother’s keeper? 
Am I responsible for all Jews 
and can I get nachas (prideful 
joy) from Jews I don’t even 
know and who don’t know 
me?
Indeed, Jewish 
accomplishments make us feel 
so proud to be Jewish. Didn’t 

we feel that sense of Jewish 
pride and Jewish unity seeing 
everyone stand for “Hatikva” 
in Tokyo? But doesn’t the 
worst behavior by Jews stir 
in us a collective desire to 
repent? 
Watching videos of that 
terrible religious engagement 
party in Australia or videos of 
Jews screaming at other Jews 
because they pray differently 
— how painful for all Jews, 
and how deeply disturbing 
and thought-provoking at 
this time of introspection 
and asking of forgiveness. We 
are, after all, one people, with 
one heart, with a common 
destiny.
As director of the Jewish 
Community Relations 
Council/AJC of Detroit, I 
see firsthand how the rest 
of the community sees Jews 
as one, where one Jew doing 
good can be so meaningful to 
all our people, and one Jew 
doing bad things can be so 
detrimental. 

There is never an excuse 
for antisemitism and never 
an excuse for the world to 
condemn Jews as a collective. 
At the same time, our 
tradition tells us Kol Yisrael 
Areivim Ze Bazeh — all Jews 
are responsible — literally, 
guarantors — for each other. 
All of us must unite to take 
pride when one of us does 
something commendable 
or incredible; we must 
also condemn actions that 
harm the world and bring 
embarrassment to our people 
and to God, even if just a 
few Jews, far away, are doing 
them.
Just as the world saw proud 
Jews during the Olympics, 
I was so heartened that 
some of the greatest rabbis, 
in particular, Rav Eliezer 
Melamed, condemned those 
who heaped insults and 
vitriol on those praying at the 
Kotel’s egalitarian section. 
We cannot escape 
responsibility for each other’s 

actions; we must share in the 
praise when one of us wins a 
gold and we must share in the 
concern when even one of us 
acts badly.

THE NEED FOR UNITY
Jews — few or many — set an 
example of partnership and 
cooperation with our non-Jew-
ish neighbors, no matter what 
their religion, ethnicity or 
race, when we show we care 
about those around us. Indeed, 
one of the best ways to fight 
antismetism and ignorance is 
to demonstrate to the greater 
society how unified the Jews are 
in promoting ethical work that 
makes the greater Metro Detroit 
a better place to live for all of us. 
 
As we get ready to observe 
Rosh Hashanah, the holiday 
where Jews celebrate the 
creation of the universe, the 
JCRC/AJC celebrates not 
only the impact our Jewish 
community can have on the 
broader community, but 
also the importance of the 
Jewish community accepting 
responsibility, as one, as 
guarantors for each other. Rosh 
Hashanah tells us that each Jew 
has a responsibility to the great 
world that God created and 
a responsibility to encourage 
every other Jew to work hard to 
better this world as well.
L
’shanah tovah, for a year 
of good health, free from the 
shackles of COVID, full of 
Jewish pride and filled with 
a deep sense of responsibility 
to look out for each other and 
work as a unified people to 
improve this great world we are 
blessed to live in. 

Rabbi Asher Lopatin is executive 
director of the Jewish Community 
Relations Council/American Jewish 
Committee.

Rabbi Asher 
Lopatin

guest column

Am I My Brother’s Keeper? 
Reflections on Jewish Unity 
Before the New Year

