12 | FEBRUARY 23 • 2023
guest column
Standing United Against Hate
I
magine there are three
islands. On each island
resides a group of habitants
who respect, like, and admire
each other. They work together
to protect their
culture and way
of thinking.
An option
exists for the
dwellers to
visit the other
islands — though
— from what
they’ve heard, why would they?
The others on the neighboring
islands appear to be self-interest-
ed, absorbed in their own way
of thinking, failing to see what
potential lies beyond their own
island. And yet — each of these
islanders has a way to visit the
other island. They have a boat
available yet choose not to use it.
Rather, they choose to stay with
their own kind, where they find
comfort in the familiar.
Are you — yes, you — the
reader, on your own island?
How comfortable are you to
travel to the next island over
— not necessarily to explore an
alternative way of thinking —
but at least to understand it? The
simple act of understanding has
the potential to breed empathy,
and that empathy has the poten-
tial to breed a mutual respect.
We’re all too familiar that
many in the world have a
deep-rooted hatred and dis-
dain for Jews. Reform Jews,
Conservative Jews, Orthodox
Jews, Sephardi Jews, Ashkenazi
Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Jews of
color, straight Jews, gay Jews,
and the list goes on. One thing
is for certain — if you’re Jewish
— a Jew-hater hates you.
The American Jewish
Committee (AJC) released
the results of its “State of
Antisemitism in America”
survey. A few of the takeaways,
according to the survey:
Forty-one percent of U.S. Jews
surveyed said the status of Jews
in America is less secure than a
year ago, up from 31% in 2021.
One in five American Jews feel
somewhat or very unsafe when
attending Jewish institutions
because of antisemitism. And
one in four American Jews ages
18-29 who have experienced
antisemitism online reported
that the encounter made them
feel physically threatened.
Jews have enemies here in
America and around the world.
Antisemites are united in their
hate against us. The rhetoric and
blatant antisemitism spewed
from both the far left and the far
right are virtually indistinguish-
able. It’s time we as Jews stand
united against those spewing
such hate and vitriol.
The Jewish Community
Relations Council/AJC —
Detroit (JCRC/AJC) has inter-
faith friends and partners from
all walks of life — Black, white,
Christian, Hindu, Muslim,
Chaldean — the support we
have in the greater Metro
Detroit community should
make us all proud to live in such
a melting pot of diversity.
And yet — even with support
from our friends from other
beliefs and walks of life — many
of us manage to stay in our own
silos, fearing to engage with
those who we radically disagree
with.
The AJC findings should
act as a unifying force among
American Jewry. The survey
doesn’t cite political ideologies,
branches of Judaism, or the race
of the respondents. The statistics
are clear — Jews from all walks
of life, with many ways of think-
ing, fear antisemitism and its
ever-growing presence here in
America.
With that in mind, I think
it’s time we take that boat that
has been docked for far too
long and travel to the neigh-
boring island. What would it
look like if AIPAC and J Street
leaders broke bread together, or
IfNotNow and ZOA folks held a
joint community forum?
As outlandish as those exam-
ples may seem — they’re neces-
sary for us to survive and thrive
as a Jewish people. As Jews —
especially in light of the most
recent AJC survey — we must
stand together against the hate
that is permeating our society.
And we can’t stand together if
we’re looking at each other from
across the water.
Let’s hop on that boat. It’s time
to come together.
Sam Dubin is assistant director/director
of media relations at the JCRC/AJC.
continued from page 10
Sam Dubin
the United States and most of
Europe?
They could have imagined
none of this. So, even in these
worrisome times, let’s use the
upcoming 75th anniversary of
Israel’s creation as an oppor-
tunity to change the nature of
the conversation we have about
Israel. To be sure, the conflict
with the Palestinians is grinding
and heartbreaking, and it does
deserve attention, but it is not
the story of what Israel is. The
Israeli rabbinate’s reprehensible
treatment of non-Orthodox
Judaism is important and needs
to be addressed, but it, too, is
not the story of Israel.
The story of Israel is, plain
and simple, the story of the
rebirth of the Jewish people, the
re-creation of a thriving Jewish
people in its own land, speaking
its own language, living accord-
ing to its own calendar, produc-
ing its own great works of liter-
ature and celebrating thousands
of years of Jewish tradition.
Of course, we are worried.
Some of us are disappointed.
Still, what we need to do is to
weep, not in heartbreak, but
in celebration and thanksgiv-
ing. We dare not be satisfied
or unconcerned, but we have
to marvel at everything that’s
been created. We need to revel
in the success of a country that
was founded in order so that
the Jewish people could leave
the horrors of the middle of
the 20th century and every-
thing that came before it in
the past, never to forget, but
without allowing it to define
us. We created a state to create
a new Jewish future. And we
succeeded.
These are some of the themes
that I look forward to address-
ing when I have the privilege of
visiting Congregation Shaarey
Zedek April 14-15, an invitation
for which I am deeply grateful
and a visit to which I much look
forward.
Daniel Gordis is Koret Distinguished
Fellow at Shalem College in Jerusalem,
and author of the forthcoming Impossible
Takes Longer: 75 Years After Its Creation,
Has Israel Fulfilled Its Founders’ Dreams?
(Ecco/HarperCollins), to be published in
April. He will be Scholar-in-Residence at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek April 14-15.
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