We the ‘organized Jewish community’ need to get our priorities straight
It’s time that we look inward and truly ask ourselves in the mirror, “If I am only for myself, what am I?” Image by iStock
By Jonathan Kamel July 1, 2020
I was recently on one of the hundreds of Zoom calls hosted by a major Jewish organization since the start of COVID-19, a routine affair that is part of my new normal. What was not routine, was a moment of crystal clarity I experienced after the call that I felt compelled to articulate to our communal leaders.
The call was with two male Senators, one Democrat, one Republican. The typical spiel was given on bipartisan support for Israel and the need to confront anti-Semitism (both causes I strongly support). But it was the questions being asked by the moderator and members of the community that set off alarm bells within my Jewish kishkes; questions on the same old drumbeat of a nuclear-armed Iran, BDS, and anti-Israel bias at the United Nations. Of the portion of Q&A, BDS and the U.N. took up a lion share of the speakers’ remarks.
With police brutality against Black men and women finally getting attention, a raging pandemic, and Israel steps away from a monumental decision to annex territory in the West Bank, these were the priorities being asked by our community to two U.S senators?
But then I paused to reflect on this phenomenon and came to a realization. These were the questions being asked because these are the issues that for decades have been the priorities and fundraising mechanisms for the organized Jewish community. These are the issues that our organizational communal leaders have deemed the most urgent and necessary to address. For financial or political reasons, raging against BDS and the U.N. have become synonymous with Jewish organizational activism. And perhaps, these are the issues that American Jews feel are most important to them.
Have we ever stopped to ask ourselves, why is this so? Why does nearly every mainstream American Jewish organization hem and haw about BDS and the U.N. as if they are existential crises? In today’s moment in history when lives are hanging in the balance and white American Jews are finally beginning to grapple with white privilege, how can these issues continue to be the main focus of our community?
Have we thought to take a moment and question our priorities in this moment and moving forward? What is our responsibility to fight just as hard for Black lives as we fight for Jews facing anti-Semitism in this country and around the world? What does it look like to examine how our community perpetuates systemic racism within our ranks just as we interrogate how the UN Security Council continuously singles out Israel?
How can we afford not to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask “Ma Anachnu” – who are we in this moment? And what will we stand for?
I am a member and leader in the “establishment” of American Jewish organizations. I’ve grown up in the community and been given the opportunities of a lifetime to speak on different conference stages, travel to Israel on fully-funded trips, and meet dozens of members of Congress. All in the name of our American Jewish community. All of these experiences have instilled in me a deep love for the Jewish people and the courage to speak up when change is needed.
Right now, we the organized Jewish community need a wakeup call and we need it fast. It starts with responsible leadership. The organizations that represent the American Jewish community need to reevaluate what’s important for our community at this moment and how we articulate our values in this time of reckoning.
We need to prioritize addressing and dismantling the systems that affect the most vulnerable in our country, and not just when it’s easy or focused on anti-Semitism. With every political leader we speak to, we need to make clear that we care just as much about the safety and security of people of color in America as the well-being of the state of Israel. We need to use our power to ensure that the Holocaust survivor and the descendants of slaves have access to quality healthcare. The list goes on and on.
If our communal organizations don’t engage in this necessary teshuva, my fear is that they will lose credibility with Jews of my Millennial generation and those of Gen Z. This is to say nothing of their ability to mobilize support from beyond the Jewish community to impact issues such as anti-Semitism and Holocaust education.
On this call, I realized that for decades most of the organizations striving to represent American Jewry have prioritized the first part of Hillel’s famous words, “If I’m not for myself, who will be for me” to a tee. Because of this we have grown strong, prosperous, and influential. It’s time that we look inward and truly ask ourselves in the mirror, “If I am only for myself, what am I?
Jonathan Kamel is a Chicago-based millennial and is the chair of IPF Atid, Israel Policy Forum’s young professionals program with chapters across the United States. He also serves on the board of Israel Policy Forum.
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