August 12th, 2016 8 Av, 5776
Dear Friends,
Much ink has been spilled in the Jewish world recently about the release of the Black Lives Matter platform. In it, the leadership of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement laid out their vision for the future of the Black Lives Matter, and how the United States can better reflect the needs and diversity of all its inhabitants.
Many Jews have aligned themselves with the Black Lives Matter movement, feeling that it's long past time that the US heal its old wounds, address economic justice, racism, police brutality, drug sentencing, prison reform and all the myriad and complex issues which overlap with those.
Writing about the need to have a better foreign policy and military strategy better aligned with the movement's values, the BLM statement included one line which set the Jewish world up in arms. "The U.S. justifies and advances the global war on terror via its alliance with Israel and is complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people."
The Jewish blogosphere has been full of rabbis, leaders, teachers, activists, and ordinary folk pontificating about what the appropriate Jewish response to this should be. On the one hand, many Jews agree with much of the rest of the BLM platform, and don't want to walk away from a very important conversation happening in the U.S. today. On the other hand, many Jewish leaders and organizations are aghast that BLM's platform would use the word genocide, and would also completely omit any reference to Palestinian responsibility for continued Palestinian suffering (which then seems to imply that Israel is the only one at fault).
What do I think?
I think that the US has a lot of work to do to address the issues the BLM movement (and to some extent the Sanders and Trump campaigns) has brought to the surface. I hope the movement succeeds in making the US a more perfect union.
I of course agree that Israel's treatment of the Palestinians does not rise to the level of genocide, even with the challenges that exist. I believe that the use of the word genocide was meant to be especially provocative, and it saddens me that it was written by someone who was herself born Jewish.
I believe the fancy word making the rounds today is intersectionality, whereby groups that see themselves as oppressed tend to link up with other oppressed people. My problem with this trend is that the world is complicated, and just because most people want someone to blame doesn't mean that problems are as simple as who's right and who's wrong. That there is more than a little anti-semitism in the BLM movement saddens me. That the BLM movement is too often linked with the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel) movement also saddens me.
We Jews have been at the forefront of many civil rights movements in the U.S.
I truly wish we could reclaim the natural relationship the Jewish community used to have with the African-American community. There are, of course, many Jews and African-Americans working together still. It troubles me that the BLM movement has become stained by its leaders insistence on being anti-Israel.
That said, I don't think it's wise for Jews to abandon the BLM movement in order to convince them to change their stance on Israel. I believe it was Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who said that you don't make peace with your friends. What he meant is that building bridges is hard work. Diplomacy is difficult. Transformational change isn't easy, and requires us to move outside ourselves, connecting and working even with people we disagree with.
Too often in our country and throughout the world, we only talk to people we already agree with. How many of us only listen to one news source and don't take the time to listen to other viewpoints? How many of us only have friends that live the same kind of lifestyle as ourselves?
I obviously don't think the BLM position on Israel is helpful or appropriate, even as I do think there are ways Israel could make things easier for the Palestinians and there is a lot the Palestinians need to do to take ownership of their end of the problem. Laying the entirety of the blame for the Israeli-Palestinian problems at Israel's feet is short-sighted, inaccurate, and woefully uneducated.
That being said, I want to encourage us all not to shy away from thinking about the rest of the BLM platform. I do think we should all read it. It can be found at www.policy.m4bl.org
On the Jewish calendar, Tisha B'Av marks the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem. It is the 2nd most important fast day on the Jewish calendar, second only to Yom Kippur. Though Tisha B'Av is tonight and tomorrow, the rabbis have decreed that Shabbat is not a time for fasting, so the fast is deferred until Saturday night and all day Sunday (until sundown). The rabbis teach that the Temple was destroyed because of sin'at chinam, baseless hatred, and it is our job to ensure that the world become a shelter of peace instead of a haven for ego and dissension.
I believe we live in a time when too many are looking for simple solutions, manufacturing artificial boogeymen in order to decide who can fix society. For society to change, all of us need to do our part. I hope that even despite our differences, Jews will continue to be at the forefront of the movements to heal America, including BLM.
Our sages teach in the Mishnah that it is not upon us to finish the task, though neither are we free to walk away from it.
There is much work to do. I invite us all to take a deep breath and find the work that calls out to us. Perhaps that is where God is inviting us once again to be God's partners in making this world the land of our dreams.
May it be so.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Ilan
PS Services and Adopt-A-Shabbat tonight are at the Moinesters at 6 pm
Services tomorrow morning are at 9:15
Our observance of Tisha B'Av will take place tomorrow (Saturday) night at 7:45 pm, and will include readings and discussions about the history of Tisha B'Av, and how we move from mourning and sadness to finding joy and healing.
Services Sunday morning are at 8 a.m.
Due to the fast day there will be no breakfast after minyan.
