Social Justice Fellowship

Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.

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Elie Wiesel (1928–2016)

• I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides.
• No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.

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No Religion is an Island by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972)

The religions of the world are no more self-sufficient, no more independent, nor more isolated than individuals or nations. Energies, experiences, and ideas that come to life outside the boundaries of a particular religion or all religions continue to challenge and to affect every religion.

Horizons are wider, dangers are greater...No religion is an island. We are all involved with one another. Spiritual betrayal on the part of one of us affects the faith of all of us. Views adopted in one community have an impact on other communities. Today religious isolationism is a myth. For all the profound differences in perspective and substance, Judaism is sooner or later affected by the intellectual, moral, and spiritual events within the Christian society, and vice versa...

No Man is an Island by John Donne (1572-1631)

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

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White Jews: Stop Calling Yourselves “White-Passing”
By Nylah Burton

White Jews aren’t white-passing. They are functionally white. “White-passing” implies the need to hide. When someone is white-passing, it often means that their white privilege is limited, and it can be snatched away if their true ethnicity is discovered. For example, a white-passing Latinx person may be deported if their immigration status is revealed. “White-passing” means the privilege is only extended in contexts in which a person is mistaken for white. A white-passing black person may get some privilege due to their appearance, but will still be subject to systemic economic disparities.

But in this country, at this moment in time, those systemic punishments don’t always apply to white Jews when people find out that they are Jewish. Most systemic benefits of whiteness will not be taken away from white Ashkenazi Jews who possess them if someone discovers their Jewishness. No doubt, prejudice, and antisemitism may remain, but their loan rates will stay the same and the police won’t be more likely to pull the trigger.

This is what being functionally white means, that someone can and is willing to operate in American society as white, without the fear that their ethnicity will be discovered. They can live in white neighborhoods, have the safety of whiteness, go to white schools, marry white people, and have the economic privilege of whiteness.

This is not to say that being Jewish isn’t incredibly dangerous in this country. Antisemitic hate crimes make up the vast majority of all hate crimes. But at this point in time in America, antisemitism is not comparable to systemic racism. All Jews will be a target of white supremacists, but many Jews may not ever experience racism.

This is because racism is an institutional poison based on skin color, on one’s proximity to whiteness, or one’s distance from blackness. White supremacy is an extreme ideology that asserts the superiority of Western European Christian whiteness with violence and murder. It can spread like wildfire, but it is rarely coded into every aspect of our lives. Racism is.

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As Elie Wiesel accepted his Nobel Prize he famously said, "We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim." In recent years, celebrities have been vocal on political issues from Colin Kaepernick to Taylor Swift to Jane Fonda and suffered criticism for doing so. Based on the below texts, what do you think Judaism has to say about taking a stand?

If you see what needs to be repaired and how to repair it, then you have found a piece of the world that God has left for you to complete. But if you only see what is wrong and what is ugly in the world, then it is you yourself that needs repair.

-Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

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