Answer these questions honestly:
If I walk into your shul for Friday night service would you sit next to me or would you allow one person to occupy an entire pew?
If I walked into your shul right about the time you were picking up your child would you presume I was a nanny?
If you sat across from me on the subway and noticed the Magen David around my neck, would you smile at me? Or wonder why I was wearing it?
If I were shopping for challah in your shop on Friday afternoon, would you wish me a good Shabbos?
I pose these questions not just because they are my experiences, but to encourage us to take a look inward and remember our history as Jews. I’m sure many of us have heard an anti-Semitic remark that shook us to the core, but for the most part secular Jews can walk around not attracting much attention. But not long ago to be a Jew was a bad thing, something to be loathed, something to try to hide. Through the promise of America, many Jews were able to start anew simply by changing their last name. In the US Jews became “white,” and with that whiteness came privilege. But as Jews don’t we also have the responsibility to remember what life was like before this era of unprecedented privilege? We’re taught to never forget about our experience as outsiders, and yet, we have.
Erika Davis is an educator and writer; her blog, “Black, Gay and Jewish: A Gay Black Woman's Discovery of Her Jewish Self,” shares the story of her conversion to Judaism.
(20) Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Eternal your God is giving you.
רַב וְרַבִּי חֲנִינָא וְרַבִּי יוֹחָנָן וְרַב חֲבִיבָא מַתְנוּ: בְּכוּלֵּיהּ דְּסֵדֶר מוֹעֵד כָּל כִּי הַאי זוּגָא חַלּוֹפֵי רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן וּמְעַיֵּיל רַבִּי יוֹנָתָן. כׇּל מִי שֶׁאֶפְשָׁר לִמְחוֹת לְאַנְשֵׁי בֵיתוֹ וְלֹא מִיחָה — נִתְפָּס עַל אַנְשֵׁי בֵיתוֹ. בְּאַנְשֵׁי עִירוֹ — נִתְפָּס עַל אַנְשֵׁי עִירוֹ. בְּכָל הָעוֹלָם כּוּלּוֹ — נִתְפָּס עַל כָּל הָעוֹלָם כּוּלּוֹ.
It was related that Rav, and Rabbi Ḥanina, and Rabbi Yoḥanan, and Rav Ḥaviva taught the statement cited below. ...They said: Anyone who had the capability to effectively protest the sinful conduct of the members of his household and did not protest, he himself is apprehended for the sins of the members of his household and punished. If he is in a position to protest the sinful conduct of the people of his town, and he fails to do so, he is apprehended for the sins of the people of his town. If he is in a position to protest the sinful conduct of the whole world, and he fails to do so, he is apprehended for the sins of the whole world.
לפיכך כו': תנו רבנן אדם יחידי נברא ומפני מה שלא יהו המינים אומרין הרבה רשויות בשמים דבר אחר מפני הצדיקים ומפני הרשעים שלא יהו הצדיקים אומרים אנו בני צדיק ורשעים אומרים אנו בני רשע דבר אחר מפני המשפחות שלא יהו משפחות מתגרות זו בזו ומה עכשיו שנברא יחיד מתגרות נבראו שנים על אחת כמה וכמה דבר אחר מפני הגזלנין ומפני החמסנין ומה עכשיו שנברא יחידי גוזלין וחומסין נבראו שנים על אחת כמה וכמה: ולהגיד גדולתו כו': תנו רבנן להגיד גדולתו של מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא שאדם טובע כמה מטבעות בחותם אחד וכולן דומין זה לזה אבל הקדוש ברוך הוא טובע כל אדם בחותמו של אדם הראשון ואין אחד מהן דומה לחבירו
§ The mishna teaches: Therefore, Adam was created alone. The Sages taught in a baraita: Adam was created alone, and for what reason? So that the heretics will not say: There are many authorities in Heaven, and each created a different person. Alternatively, Adam was created alone due to the righteous and due to the wicked. It was so that the righteous will not say: We are the children of the righteous, and righteousness is natural for us, so there is no need for us to exert ourselves to be righteous, and so that the wicked will not say: We are the children of the wicked and cannot change our ways. The baraita continues: Alternatively, Adam was created alone due to the families, so that the families will not quarrel with each other, each one boasting of the heritage of their progenitor. And if now that Adam was created alone, families still quarrel and each family claims superiority, if there were two people created initially, all the more so would they do this. The mishna teaches: And this serves to tell of the greatness of the Holy One of Blessing, as when a person stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to each other. But the supreme Ruler, the Holy One of Blessing, stamped all people with the seal of Adam, as all are Adam's offspring, and not one of them is similar to another.
from Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays by Abraham Joshua Heschel,
Susannah Heschel (Editor)
I look forward to privilege of being present at meeting tomorrow. Likelihood exists that Negro problem will be like the weather. Everybody talks about it but nobody does anything about it. Please demand of religious leaders personal involvement not just solemn declaration. We forfeit the right to worship God as long as we continue to humiliate Negroes. Church synagogue have failed. They must repent. Ask of religious leaders to call for national repentance and personal sacrifice. Let religious leaders donate one month's salary toward fund for Negro housing and education. I propose that you Mr. President declare state of moral emergency. A Marshall plan for aid to Negroes is becoming a necessity. The hour calls for moral grandeur and spiritual audacity.
All the dude needed to do was serve hors-d’oeuvres. But no, he’d decided to go above and beyond the call of duty to snidely inform Ariel that he was seated at the wrong table.
“Excuse me, sir,” he’d begun. “But you can’t sit here. These tables are reserved for the rabbis being honored tonight.”
“I know,” came Ariel’s answer. “That’s why I’m sitting here.”
The golden nametag above the server’s vest pocket read “Seth”. Seth blinked a couple of times, obviously not comprehending Ariel’s answer, and repeated himself. This time very slowly.
“Sir…these tables…are for the rabbis.”
“Yes,” Ariel had replied, just as delayed... “I got that. And I am one of them. Hence the here. And the. Sitting.”
“Ah. Ok,” Seth nodded and grinned with this, “Riiiiiight. Gotcha” kind of vibe, and walked off.
Not two minutes later, an older woman—mid-fifties, salt-and-chocolate hair, bound and shackled in costume jewelry, and slathered with overwhelmingly powerful perfume—had swooped down on Ariel, drowning him in apologies. She, as it turns out, was the JLU’s event manager. And a certain server had made a major party foul at her major party. And so that’s how, in the spirit of making amends, Ariel had ended up with a bottle of rancid wine at his personal discretion on his table.
Chateau de WTF, as you recall.