#and that's a form of antisemitism we can learn to recognize and try to fix when we see it or contribute to it

[tired-fandom-ndn]

I don't usually give a crap about grammar but I DO think it's important to try to show the bare minimum of thoughtfulness and respect when using words from languages that are from marginalized ethnic groups or often appropriated from in your own culture, especially when those words are often misused in harmful ways.

[cephalopodvictorious]

Hi there! I have a fairly serious question. How can I include Jewish people in my activism? I don't practice Judaism or know anybody who does, and I have no clue how the religion works. All I know is that they're aren't getting as much attention to their injustices as they should and I want to help somehow. I'm ready to learn and educate myself. I want to help.

Hey Nonny! I really, really appreciate this ask, and I want to let you know you’ve already accomplished step 1: listen to us.

Step 2 is understanding some really fundamental things about Judaism. This is in no way a knock on you because everyone is ignorant of facts until they’re taught them, but you say “practice Judaism” and yeah, its a religion, but its also an ethnoreligion, meaning that it is also an ethnicity. We are from the levant and many of us live in diaspora, but when you get down to the genetic level we’re still recognizably from the levant. So while you can convert to the religion and become Jewish, you can also be ethnically and culturally Jewish and not practice the religion

Step 3 is checking occasionally for our holidays. We follow a lunar calendar, and so our holidays aren’t always fixed to the Roman calendar, and listen. Even I have to google when the fuck the holidays are sometimes, ok? They move around. And if you fuck up and schedule an event on a holiday and someone says “hey that’s on a day we straight up can’t make it because its a holiday” just 1) move the event date, or 2) say “shit! ok!” and try to set up a second event or come up with some other way for us to participate. Pro tip: our two holiest days are Rosh Hashanah (September 9th-11th in 2018) and Yom Kippur (September 18th-19th in 2018), which are generally always in September. Even for those of us who don’t go to temple on those days, those are days to spend with the family and we don’t tend to go out on them. You may also want to try to steer clear of scheduling events from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday because of Shabbos, but we also understand the traditional work week, so stress less about that part. 

Step 4 is to understand that antisemitism is a unique form of racism that takes many forms, requires a fair amount of mental gymnastics, and hides in plain sight. They want you to believe that we’re unclean parasites, but they want you to believe that we hold all the power and we’re oppressing everyone. Honestly, follow most conspiracy theories back and they think that the “global elite” or “globalists” or “world government” are fleecing you into thinking that we landed on the moon or that the earth is round, and they literally mean us Jews. Don’t fall for it. When someone criticizes someone Jewish, is it because of something that that person did, or is it riddled with dogwhistles and just an attack on their identity? When someone criticizes Israel is it a criticism of a government, or just repackaged blood libel from the 1200′s?

Step 5 is recognizing that there’s no one Jewish voice. We don’t have a pope, we don’t have a centralized authority, and we don’t have one experience or opinion. Recognize that its complex, and recognize intersectionality. There are people who are black and Jewish, Asian and Jewish, hispanic and Jewish. They often get left out of conversations and that’s not fair. Remember that different sects of Judaism have different perspectives and it might be really hard to balance all of that, but if you’re having a hard time, honestly just ask and we’ll be happy to work with you to try to work something out.

Step 6 is to remember when someone is Jewish and honor that. Its incredibly frustrating when every blurb about a Jewish person leaves that part of their life out, or when dead Jewish people are remembered with crosses or Christian iconography or “RIP” (we say “may their memory be a blessing”). Christianity is the default in the West, and we want Jews to be remembered as Jews. 

Really, do what you’re already doing: approach activism with an open heart and open ears. We understand that there are plenty of people who have never met Jewish people or learned about us, and we understand that whoopsies happen. All we ask is that you try, and that you listen. 

if anyone else wants to add any good rules, please jump in!

---

Also: remember that not all Jewish people keep Kosher, but if you know or suspect that people who keep Kosher might be showing up, try to have food that they can eat. If you’re holding some event with food during Pesach (Passover) try to have some food that is not leavened bread. I can’t tell you how bitter it is to show up to an event during Pesach only to find out that the only food is sandwiches or bagels or muffins, so I can’t eat anything. Literally a fruit plate or a salad without croutons would solve this. I’m still so bitter about it. It does double duty if you have vegans present too!

[yourreddancer]

from a friend...

My cousins live in a very small town outside of Pittsburgh, Indiana, PA, and the below was written by the President of the college there. The last part of his letter is excellent and these are things that every one of us can do to try to eliminate the hate in the world today.

Sue

On the morning of Saturday, October 27, a gunman walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue and killed 11 Sabbath-morning worshippers. He also wounded two other worshippers and four of the police officers who responded. Now a week has passed, and it is again the Sabbath. The victims are buried. Those who used the massacre to push their own political agenda have come and gone. And the families, friends, congregations, and communities of the slain are struggling to put their lives together and to move forward in the face of their grief, anger, and loss. Personally, I have spent the week in grief, prayer, study, and reflection.

Along with many others, I have asked myself what we can do—what I can do—to put an end to antisemitism and the evil it spawns. I know some think the solution lies in election results, new laws, speech codes, or, perhaps, a strong condemnation from a university president. But antisemitism and all racism and discrimination are deeply rooted, complex problems that will not yield to simple solutions.

Antisemitism did not begin last Saturday or in the Holocaust or with the Spanish Inquisition or with the Crusades or with Christianity. Before that, Jews faced discrimination and persecution from the Romans and before that from the Greeks. For millennia, people have portrayed those different from themselves as less-than-human—as animals—or as possessing superhuman powers or as the leaders of vast conspiracies against society. We find this not only in antisemitism but also in the treatment of indigenous peoples around the world, in slavery, and in all forms of racism and discrimination. There is no quick fix for something so deeply ingrained in human cultures.

Being a university president doesn’t grant me special insight or powers in this most difficult of issues, but I do continue to have faith in the transformative powers of education and community. We must find ways to stand together and to learn from each other. Here are things you can do (and I can do).

Proclaim your beliefs that hate and discrimination have no place in our community, just as our friends and colleagues who are part of the Racial Justice Coalition for Change did last Thursday.

Have the courage to call out as unacceptable the racist joke or language that you hear from your friends or your family.

Accept the heartfelt apology from one who has made a mistake and help them learn and grow from it.

Set a new and different standard with your own behavior.

And each week (or each day) get to know a person who is different from you. Fight against the fears that spring from deeply ingrained, learned prejudices—the fears that would have you cross the street or avert your eyes or make fun of or demonize someone who is different. Start by recognizing the new person as someone who is, in fact, very much like you. It doesn’t matter whether they are Jew or Gentile, Muslim or Christian or Buddhist—or whether they are of a different race, ethnic background, sex, or gender or from a different country or have a disability. Just as you do, they want to have enough food to eat and clean water to drink, to live a good life, to love and to be loved, to make their own choices, to find joy, and to be successful. If they are cut, they will bleed blood as red as yours. They will be as hurt by a cruel word and as thankful for a kind word as you would be.

Then, go beyond the basic humanity that binds us all. Each person has been shaped and challenged by their life experience—by things like their religion and their race—by their differences from you. The diversity of experience, even challenging and painful experience, is what makes our community strong. It is what makes us learn and grow the most. Share life stories with others and learn from them. Create a community built both on trust and on celebration of differences.

In the last week, I wished for a simple way to make things right for our region and for our university. I grieve for all who have suffered from the evil of last weekend. Amid the pain we have felt, and will likely feel again, I maintain a belief that we are stronger than our weaknesses might suggest.

I believe that the remedy for bad speech is more, louder good speech. I believe that the remedy for intolerance is an even stronger culture of inclusion. And I believe that the only cure for hate is love.

Mike Driscoll