A Call for Solidarity in the Face of Anti-Semitism and Hate
Remarks at Yes to Love, No to Hate: Interfaith Solidarity, Hope and Action tonight at Fourth Universalist Society, NYC. Seventy-two organizations came together in the wake of the events of Charlottesville and the ongoing spike in hate crimes.
Full text of remarks:

I start tonight with my story, as I seek to connect all our stories to each other.
I grew up — a white, middle-class Jewish woman — believing that I could completely, wholly be American and Jewish, and that those identities were mutually supportive. While I had experiences with subtle forms of anti-semitism, I never felt personally threatened. While I studied the horrors of the Holocaust, my family had not experienced it first hand. In my life, the fight against antisemitism was based on lessons learned, rather than lessons experienced.
But this has changed in the last few years. I have seen the old Jewish conspiracy tropes about nefarious Jewish power and influence rear their ugly head. Meanwhile, known white supremacists and anti-Semites were brought into top positions of leadership in our government, emboldening hate across the country. A colleague, a rabbi in Montana, had her, her family’s and her community’s safety threatened because they were Jews. On International Day of Holocaust Remembrance, the statements coming from Washington DC remembered “all those who died” — erasing the 6 million Jews who were targeted and murdered. And last week, white Nationalists and Nazis marched in Charlottesville, resurrecting Nazi propaganda and chanting “Jews will not replace us!”
These expressions of hate are not new, but they have never felt more dangerous to me. Anti-semitism is here. It is real. It is destabilizing and it is painful.
And, I know that anti-Semitism does not exist in isolation. It exists alongside oppression against people of color, against immigrants, against LGBTQ Americans, against women. Attacks against any of us are attacks against all of us.
I truly believe that the only way out of this is together, working side by side against the common enemies of hatred, racism, and oppression in all its forms. As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously taught (based on a saying of Emma Lazarus): none of us are free until all of us are free. That’s the work.
As we gather today, I am reminded of a teaching from the Ethics of our Ancestors, a Jewish wisdom text from the second century. Rabbi Tarfon teaches: “The day is short; the task is great..and the Master (God!) is insistent.”
“The day is short” — time is of the essence, lives are on the line. We must act!
“The task before us is great.” — uprooting hatred and systems of oppression is a tremendous task.
“The Master is insistent.” — The Master — God — wants us, needs us to work together to seek justice and liberation for all.
As many of us who have been doing this for some time know, it is not always easy — but we know it is necessary. We will not always, maybe not often, agree on policy or tactic — and we cannot walk away. We may make mistakes, hurt someone else or be hurt — and instead of giving up, we need to share our pain and to listen to others; to apologize and to forgive.
An example of the challenges and the possibilities of this work comes from recent weeks with the upcoming March for Racial Justice. The march is scheduled on the anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of African Americans in Elaine, Arkansas, nearly a century ago — which this year falls on the date of the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. Many members of the Jewish community felt hurt and pain, expressing the feeling of being shut out of this important march. When that happened, Jewish leaders reached out to march organizers and after listening and hard conversations, the organizers shared where they were coming from and made it clear they want Jews, of all backgrounds, as allies. The organizers created the possibility for participation and now, there will be an action here in NYC on Sunday, October 1, the day after the march and Yom Kippur. I will be there with enthusiam and I urge everyone who cannot attend in D.C. to march with me in our streets!
Rabbi Tarfon said: “The day is short and the task before us is great.”
So I ask us: Are we up for the task?
Tonight, we have chosen love over hate and faith over fear. We have come here recognizing that there is more that unites us than that divides us and that we won’t let others divide us and diminish our collective power.
Today, let’s affirm that none of us are free until all of us are free.
Take a look around at this beloved, diverse, interfaith community. We are in this together, we need each other. Today. Tomorrow. And every day.
Our Master is insistent: Let’s get to work!
*To see the statement from march organizers on Yom Kippur: https://www.m4rj.com/updates/2017/8/16/yom-kippur-statement
