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Rabbi Diana's Weekly Message

Rabbi's Message/Services Zoom only Tonight

10/22/2021 03:46:07 PM

Oct22

Dear Chevre,

This evening at 7:00 pm Shabbat Services will be on Zoom ONLY. I am getting over a cold and have energy to lead but not to project. Thank you for understanding!

Summer of 2019, I was sitting in Central Park at the end of the Reclaim Pride gathering, a segment of the 50thAnniversary of the Stonewall riot commemoration that did not include corporate floats or the presence of police officers. It was a multi-racial, joyous event with several speakers and performers. Suddenly the group leading was chanting about “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” and I felt a chill in my body. While I understand intersectionality, and as a progressive Zionist have plenty of criticism of Israel’s policies and occupation, I couldn’t for the life of me understand what this chant was doing at the end of Pride parade celebrating 50 years of LGBTQ protest and life in America. The assumption was that everyone there shared this belief system. I did not, and as a Jewish person, I felt excluded.

Just yesterday, as I was in an inspiring service led by Rabbi Jonah focusing on the climate emergency we find ourselves in, I learned of another moment like the one I experienced in New York. The DC chapter of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led environmental advocacy organization declined to speak at the Freedom to Vote rally in DC recently, stating that they would not stand beside “Zionist organizations” JCPA, the National Council of Jewish Women and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and that they would not join any future coalitions that include those groups.

We should be troubled and saddened that a segment of the Sunrise Movement refused to march with Jewish organizations which are leaders in civil rights in America because their members support Israel in a variety of ways. Hopefully the DC chapter will understand its stance as exclusionary and have a change of heart.  The Washington DC JCRC said,

It is regrettable that Sunrise DC has injected division, acrimony, and hatred into a powerful movement that is uniting Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life to defend our democracy, including over 60 American Jewish organizations.  We condemn Sunrise DC’s suggestion that American Jews who support the right of the State of Israel to exist and flourish be excluded from the civic movements that embody our Jewish values and that we have led and participated in for so long.  We must not allow gratuitous, hateful grandstanding to fracture this critical national coalition at such a pivotal moment for our nation.

Thankfully, the larger Sunrise movement did not endorse its DC chapters’ view. They posted on Twitter: “To be clear, Sunrise DC’s statement and actions are not in line with our values. Singling out Jewish organizations for removal from a coalition, despite others holding similar views, is antisemitic and unacceptable.”

To read more from the national Sunrise movement, here is their tweet on the subject:

https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/status/1451587127674822656?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Whether it is about voting access issues or environmental issues, we need to find commonalities to work together. As Rabbi Jonah commented on this situation, “To succeed as a movement, the Sunrise Movement and all New Green Deal supporters are going to have form coalitions--including with unlikely partners; we all want this planet to stick around a little longer.”

And for those of us who consider ourselves Zionists of any stripe, unlikely partnerships work both ways, which includes those who do not see themselves as Zionists. There are so many powerful people who do not want to see LGBTQ people thrive and who have a powerful stake in working against environmental rights. Our Jewish tradition shows us that opposing voices can still be part of the same conversation “for the sake of heaven.” Let’s keep the tent big when we are talking about our survival.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Diana
Fri, May 3 2024 25 Nisan 5784