Standing up for the Jewish community in Greater Naples

By Jeff Zalasky, JCRC Chair

One of the primary responsibilities of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is to promote and represent the interest and position of the Jewish community when it is appropriate to do so. This responsibility applies to legal, moral, political and social issues that confront society in general and the Jewish community in Greater Naples, specifically. The question our JCRC Committee grapples with is when, and under what circumstances, JCRC should take an active and visible position.

The biggest obstacle to advocating a position that may impact the Jewish community is that the Jewish community does not speak with one voice. The diverse views of our community are mirrored by the diverse views of our committee members. Therefore, substantive and procedural safeguards must be adhered to before JCRC takes a position on any issue.

Four substantive requirements must be met before JCRC advocates a position on an issue:

1. We limit taking a position to those issues that most of us in the Jewish community can agree on. Our committee recognizes that satisfying this fi rst requirement is difficult but there are some issues (antisemitism, for instance) that are fairly obvious.

2. The issue should be a significant one to the Jewish community.

3. While not an absolute requirement, the issue should have imminent potential adverse consequences.

4. The potential ramifications to the Jewish community of the issue, and the action taken by JCRC, must be thoroughly analyzed.

In addition to the substantive requirements outlined above, JCRC must adhere to procedural safeguards before it takes any action. JCRC is a committee of Jewish Federation of Greater Naples (JFGN). JCRC is, therefore, not an independent 501(c )(3) nonprofit corporation as it is in many communities around the country. This means JCRC reports to Jane Schiff (JFGN chair), Jeffrey Feld (president and CEO of JFGN) and, finally, the JFGN Board. JCRC needs to obtain authority from JFGN before JCRC can take a position on any issue.

This analytic approach utilized by JCRC, coupled with the procedural oversight by JFGN, assures that JCRC only speaks out on critical issues after a careful vetting process has been completed. Since I assumed the position of JCRC chair a little over a year ago, JCRC has taken positions on several occasions.

Last fall, Collier County considered approving an ordinance that would have made it a sanctuary county to guarantee individual rights. While on the surface, that seemed innocuous, after reviewing the entire proposed ordinance, JCRC concluded it was overly broad, it would induce unnecessary litigation, it would lead to a tremendous amount of uncertainty in our community, and it had the potential to be used as a tool to enable and foster racism and antisemitism. We also concluded the ordinance would never be upheld by higher courts.

JCRC opposed the proposed ordinance on legal grounds, not political ideology. JCRC submitted a letter to all five Collier County Commissioners in opposition to the ordinance on that basis. As JCRC chair, I also spoke against the proposed ordinance at a County Board meeting. The ordinance was defeated by a 3–2 vote.

This spring, I and four Jewish friends attended a fundraiser for the Fisher House at the Vineyards Country Club. The Fisher House is a 501(c)(3) corporation, which, as far as I can tell, is not affiliated with a religious group. At the beginning of the event, a priest was invited by the organizers to give a prayer. During the first part of his prayer, he referenced the slogan “Let’s Make America Great Again.” He also blessed “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

As JCRC chair, I was appalled at this blatant failure to even consider the possibility that others in the audience may not hold the same political and/or religious beliefs as this priest. After soliciting input from the co-chairs of the Catholic Jewish Dialogue Committee (under the JCRC umbrella) and Jeffrey Feld, an email was sent to that priest and his superior on behalf of JCRC and JFGN objecting to the content of that “prayer.” We never received a response from that priest.

Recently, Jeffrey Feld, Joel Pittelman, as chair of the Antisemitism Task Force (a sub-committee of JCRC), and I prepared a letter to the Jewish community discussing recent acts of antisemitism and antisemitic messaging by the campaign staff of two candidates for local public office. That letter was approved by JFGN and sent to all Federation members via e-blast.

JCRC will continue to act when it is appropriate to do so, utilizing the criteria and process outlined above. We take our responsibility to represent your interests seriously. We are careful to limit the situations on which we act on behalf of our Jewish community to those instances in which we are confident most people in the Jewish community support the action and position.

If you believe there is an act or action that should be addressed by JCRC, please report it to me so our committee can evaluate it and determine if a response is appropriate.