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Essays and viewpoints
PURELY COMMENTARY
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Living Jewish Values at Haven
Editor’s Note: Jessica Caminker was part of JFS’ 100 Mensches Essay Contest a year ago, won, and was given a stipend to participate on the Haven’s Youth Advisory Board. She has written the attached essay about her experience.
As a result of my participation in Jewish Family Service’s “100 Mensches” essay competition, I was offered the unique opportunity to apply for a position on a new Youth Advisory Board at Haven, a local comprehensive program for survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse. Haven does incredibly important work, providing shelter, intervention services, counseling, advocacy education and more to thousands of people each year. These efforts make all the difference for those who take advantage of them and lay the foundation for a future in which they won’t be necessary.
I found incredible meaning in the time I spent with Haven. Especially as a young woman beginning to navigate society as an individual for the first time, I feel very connected to the cause of eradicating intimate partner violence and helping heal those who have been affected by it.
The Youth Advisory Board certainly gave me the opportunity to assist in pursuing this goal, as well as deepened my appreciation for and understanding of the Jewish values that go hand in hand with its mission.
Although Haven is not a uniquely Jewish organization, the strides it takes to better the lives of others beautifully reflect values that Judaism holds closely, and my time spent on the board allowed me to personally involve myself in furthering many of these ideals.
The Jewish Family Service mission statement is: “Inspired by the wisdom and values of Jewish tradition, we strengthen lives through compassionate service.” As part of this mission statement, JFS also highlights and describes several significant examples of such Jewish values. Among them are chesed (compassion and kindness), tzedakah (justice) and tikkun olam (repairing the world).
These three concepts serve as a sort of algorithm for much of Haven’s work: When someone comes to Haven seeking help, they are welcomed immediately with overwhelming compassion in a clear expression of chesed.
Next, the organization takes steps toward securing justice for the individual seeking help. Through interventions, court advocacy, personal protection orders or whatever the situation requires, Haven pursues tzedakah on behalf of everyone it serves.
Finally, even once an individual’s immediate needs have been met, Haven continues to provide them with longer-term care such as support groups and counseling, as well as hosting events for educational programming and youth outreach which attack the broader issue. In this way, both directly and indirectly, Haven sets out to repair the world.
The value that I found the most profound in Haven’s work, however, is that of B’tzelem Elohim, viewing every human being equally and as they were created: in God’s image. All of Haven’s tasks, each with its own specific goals, serve to preserve and empower the humanity and dignity in each individual. In all the support and encouragement that Haven has to offer, the “victims” it serves are never victimized; Rather, they are reminded of their worth and fundamental importance as people. This elevates Haven to the next level of service: Not only does it help those in need, but it does so with grace, mindfulness and in true recognition of God’s image Jessica in everyone. Caminker While I am grateful to have learned many lessons from this experience, my main takeaway is this: The more we can do to remind the world of the holiness found in every single human being, the better suited we will be to combat these difficult issues together going forward. Haven encouraged me to identify the inherent value in myself and in everyone I meet. And although my personal involvement with Haven ends here, for now, I am confident this is a message that I will carry with me and aim to spread for the rest of my life. Thank you, Haven, and thank you, JFS!
Jessica Caminker was raised in Ann Arbor and West Bloomfield and graduated from the Frankel Jewish Academy with the class of 2021. She is eager to spend a gap year at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem and continue her Jewish learning before returning to the Honors Program at the University of Michigan the following year.
letters
Antisemitism’s Real Name: Jew-Hatred
The lid is off on Jew-hatred in America. If that doesn’t scare us, it certainly should. We can try to justify this danger any number of ways. It’s an issue based on politics. It’s all about people’s views on the Israeli/ Palestinian issue. It’s relevant to our concern about Critical Race Theory and the issue of Caucasians and our relationship to people of color.
Well, let’s take a look back in history. Jew-hatred has been a permanent feature for Jews for thousands of years. Before party politics, the Israel/Palestinian issue and Critical Race Theory, there has been the desire to eliminate the Jewish people. Unfortunately, it has also been existent in the United States since its inception. It has just never been as open and omnipresent as it is today.
Have we forgotten our history, our courageous and successful battle for survival against impossible odds? Standing together, caring for and about each other has been an important force against our oppressors, which include the Greek and Roman Empires. They are gone and we remain. A miracle!
What does it take to admit the truth about the real cause of Jew-hatred and for our generation to take its place beside our ancestors in this fight for our survival and that of future generations who can look and learn from our example?
We are a link in a continuous chain of Jewish history. Let us not be the ones to break that chain, to fail our people.
— Joel Gershenson Farmington Hills
analysis
Ben & Jerry’s Alarming Boycott Crosses A Dangerous Line
After months of bitter disagreements, it was shocking to see Benjamin Netanyahu finally agree with the rival who took over his beloved throne, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. But some issues simply go too far, and Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling its ice cream in “Occupied Palestinian Territories” was one of those.
“Now we Israelis know which ice cream NOT to buy,” tweeted Netanyahu. Bennett, according to his office, “made it clear that he views with utmost gravity the decision by Ben & Jerry’s to boycott Israel, and added that this is a subsidiary of Unilever, which has taken a clearly anti-Israel step.”
This temporary rapprochement between political foes is consistent with much of the Jewish world. How do we explain such widespread distaste for the Ben & Jerry’s decision?
I see two key factors, both having little to do with partisan politics. First, the decision clarified the true mission of the BDS movement — to push for a boycott of all of Israel. The movement’s reaction to the announcement made that clear, calling for ending all sales and operations in “Apartheid Israel.” If there’s one thing most Jews agree with, it is that boycotting Israel proper (pre-1967 borders) is out of line. What’s more, Ben & Jerry’s is coming dangerously close to
doing just that. Unlike previous companies subjected to boycotts, such as SodaStream, Ben & Jerry’s makes its ice cream inside Israel proper. It doesn’t even operate any ice cream stores over the 1967 lines; all it does is sell to individuals or vendors such as supermarkets and gas stations. By targeting sales to the West Bank — rather than exports of David Suissa settler products — Ben & Jerry’s
JNS.org is setting an alarming precedent. There’s even confusion about whether Ben & Jerry’s will still sell its products inside Israel, as was initially suggested by parent company Unilever, which may have spoken too soon. In any case, as reported in the Jerusalem Post, the boycott criteria already set by Ben & Jerry’s “would make any Israeli or foreign company
ROBERT ALEXANDER/GETTY IMAGES VIA JTA
continued on page 9
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PURELY COMMENTARY
guest column What’s Kosher in Combating Racism?
Open any American news source, and America’s “culture wars” dominate the headlines. With conservatives on one side and liberals on the other, we vilify each other as if in preparation for a civil war. However, not only does Judaism offer us guidance in addressing the culture wars of our day, but Judaism
Rabbi also demands that
Aaron Starr we engage each other especially when we disagree with each other.
RACE AND RACISM
If we are to accept the verbal grenades tossed by politicians and pundits, it is perhaps the battle over race and racism that most threatens to unweave the very fabric of this country. The good news is that on this topic the majority of Americans, the reasonable left and the reasonable right, agree: Racism is wrong; racism is on the decline — and yet racism still exists.
Nevertheless, the murder last year of George Floyd released a torrent of longtime pain and an avalanche of built-up fear. People of color continue to experience racial disparities in wealth, education, employment, housing, policing, incarceration, political disenfranchisement and health — especially as we saw during this past year of COVID-19. Additionally, the violence within communities of color is rampant and the despair significant.
ROOTS OF INEQUALITY
Certainly, no single cause exists for the inequality from which people of color suffer. Some blame a certain lack of commitment to education, the challenges of single-parenthood or misplaced priorities as it comes to spending discretionary income. Others point to the existence of systemic racism: When conscious or unconscious racist attitudes intersect with institutional practices, it results in vastly different treatments, systems of care and outcomes for different racial groups.
Systemic racism also helps us to understand the cumulative effects of racism over time. For example, the post-World War II G.I. Bill helped many Americans to build home equity and access high-paying jobs, allowing wealth to build over the generations.
However, most Black service members received no such benefit. Today, the average white family has approximately 10 times the net worth of a Black family.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
As compassionate human beings and as Jews who are obligated to care for our own people (which includes Jews of color), we must try to remedy the causes of these fears. The Talmud instructs us that whenever there is a crisis, we should examine our own deeds first. Thanks to the generosity of a grant from the Hermelin-Davidson Center for Congregational Excellence, we at Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Southfield are engaging in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training with the goals of learning, reflecting and, where necessary, doing teshuvah (repentance) for our own shortcomings.
We are actively seeking to overcome our individual and collective yetzer hara (animal instincts toward prejudice). After all, the reasonable left and the reasonable right agree conceptually that diversity and inclusion strengthen a community, a college or university, a business or a governmental body. We agree that diversity and inclusion are worthwhile goals as it pertains to broadening the scope of participation and opportunity for any gender, sexual identity and race.
DRAWING THE LINE
While as it pertains to race and racism in America there is so much on which most of us agree, there appears to be a border that we Jews choose not to cross in terms of ending racial inequality. While Jews have long supported affirmative action in theory, the Jewish community opposed affirmative action when it came to quotas. Jews oppose a zero-sum approach to combating racism because, when it comes to quotas, Jews often lose. For example, one might support more people of color attending the University of Michigan. However, one might object if allowing more people of color to attend the University means that his or her own child will not be accepted. As the parent of a high school student, I empathize with this fear.
Perhaps, then, we should view the battle against racism as we view tzedakah. With regard to our charitable giving, we are obligated to give not less than 10%, but we are forbidden from giving more than 20%. Perhaps in our desire to end racism, we are obligated to make sacrifices, but only to a point.
A similar conversation might occur regarding slave reparations. On one hand, we know that the biblical Egyptians gave the Israelites gold and other objects when our ancestors left slavery and that in our own day the German government gave reparations to Holocaust survivors. On the other hand, today’s African American community is generations removed from slavery and, for many Jews, our ancestors were not even in America during slavery.
Additionally, my immigrant ancestors worked night and day to provide for their families with
gratitude for the promise of America on their lips, and they directed their children to focus on hard work and education as the keys to success. At the same time, my family certainly benefited from the American economic system built on the backs of people of color. To which Jewish values and to which Jewish laws do we turn as we argue with the question of what more we can do beyond individual teshuvah and personal tzedakah to address the racial inequality in this country?
I know that I am obligated to pursue justice, but I am also obligated to offer compassion. I know that my fellow Americans and that my fellow Jews are suffering and therefore I am obligated to help, but I am afraid to give up too much. I wonder how we might get out of the zero-sum approach to combating racism so that ending racism is a win-win for all.
JUDAISM AS ANTIDOTE
We are in the grips of a culture war in this country, with questions of race and racism at the very heart of the battle. Among Judaism’s gifts to the world, though, is the teaching that the antidote to political polarization is the ability, modeled by Jews, to participate in meaningful and even heated dialogue rooted in respect, in radical listening and in giving our opponent the benefit of the doubt. Let us follow the meta-lesson of our Talmud and, rather than retreat to our own echo chambers, engage in discussion, listening, learning and growth.
Rabbi Aaron Starr is a spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield.
“Ben & Jerry’s” from page 6 that helps stock a [West Bank] supermarket with those products susceptible to boycotts. Even the European Union doesn’t ban the sale of its products to the settlements.”
Regardless of where one sits on the political spectrum, Ben & Jerry’s has crossed a line that repulses much of the mainstream Jewish community.
PICKING ON ISRAEL
The second way that line has been crossed is a familiar one — singling out the Jewish state. Will Ben & Jerry’s now boycott China to protest the ethnic cleansing of Uyghurs? What other atrocities will it protest through national boycotts? And why pick only on Israel?
These are not partisan questions; they are human ones. We’ve seen this singling out of Israel over and over by groups that ignore genocides and mass murders to go after the world’s only Jewish state. For decades, the United Nations, which reserves the majority of its condemnations for Israel, has led this anti-Zionist parade that effectively has signaled that it’s always open season on the Jewish state.
When a beloved brand joins the anti-Israel parade so loudly and forcefully, it concentrates the mind. It reminds us, first, of the power of the anti-Israel movement to intimidate and, second, that regardless of our political disagreements, sometimes it’s worth uniting for a specific cause.
The unfair and discriminatory targeting of Israel is one such cause.
David Suissa is editor-in-chief and publisher of Tribe Media Corp, and “Jewish Journal.” He can be reached at davids@ jewishjournal.com. This article was first published by the Jewish Journal. If you have a home in Detroit, or are interested in moving into the city, HFL’ s Move-in Detroit fund offers interestfree loans for young Jewish Detroiters making the city their home.
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