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<\/a>In case you missed it, the release of The Movement for Black Lives\u2019 new platform, Vision for Black Lives<\/a>, has raised the ire of many in the organized Jewish community.<\/p>\nOrganizations ranging from the institutional (Boston Jewish Community Relations Council<\/a>) to the progressive activist (T\u2019ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights<\/a>) have slammed the document\u2019s support for BDS, its characterization of Israel as an \u201capartheid\u201d state, and its condemnation of America\u2019s complicity \u201cin the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n Before moving on to Jewish reactions to the platform, I want to briefly address my own take on these three items.<\/p>\n First to BDS. I have written enough about how\u2014while I do not personally support boycotts, divestments, and sanctions\u2014I have little patience<\/a> with those who demonize its supporters<\/a>. Now to the charge that Israel is an apartheid state. The fact is that I really don\u2019t have any other word to describe a nation with a large chunk of territory in which two populations live side by side under two completely different sets of laws. And finally, my response to describing Israel\u2019s policies as genocide\u00a0is that I do not believe it to be an appropriate\u00a0or\u00a0accurate description.\u00a0Though I think there is strong evidence that Israel would love to disperse and be rid of Palestinians, I don\u2019t see any reason to use a word that describes the\u00a0most horrific crimes against humanity. Calling it that only closes the eyes of stubborn people to the real injustices taking place.<\/p>\n So those are my particular feelings about a very small section of what is really a wide-ranging document which overwhelmingly deals with criminal justice abuses, reparations, economic justice, community control, and political power.<\/p>\n As I thought about what I would write here on the blog\u2014and obviously I must address this\u2014I decided\u00a0to share an exchange that I had on Facebook with one particular rabbi. I really\u00a0cannot think of\u00a0any\u00a0better way to express what I\u2019m feeling\u00a0than what I said to him. I\u2019m not going to share his name, though I will say that he is a dynamic young man from the liberal side of the Jewish divide who runs an outreach program primarily directed to young people. And also that the Forward named him one of today\u2019s \u201cmost inspirational\u201d rabbis.\u00a0I have slightly edited our\u00a0dialogue to eliminate side issues.<\/p>\n It started with a\u00a0post to his many Facebook followers that\u00a0was a kind of open letter to Black Lives Matter (BLM) leaders:<\/p>\n The Inspirational Rabbi:<\/strong> \u00a0Newsflash to the Black Lives Matter leadership:<\/p>\n A plurality of Israel\u2019s Jews are of color\u2014to suggest it\u2019s somehow a situation in Israel of white Jewish people keeping down brown Arab people is simply false.\u201d<\/p>\n The Palestinian population has skyrocketed since 1948 \u2013 to call Israel\u2019s actions towards the Palestinians \u201cgenocide\u201d is ridiculous, false and doesn\u2019t help those of us trying to support many of your legitimate claims. It alienates those of us who actively call for an end to the occupation, for the elimination of discriminatory laws, and for a peaceful two-state solution; not to mention making your domestic claims \/ demands require a more intense inspection before simply accepting them as legitimate due to a concern over rash hyperbole.<\/p>\n \u2026How are people like me supposed to support you now<\/p>\n The Atheist Rabbi:<\/strong> \u00a0You write, \u201cA plurality of Israel\u2019s Jews are of color.\u201d<\/p>\n Citing Israeli demographics is not a legitimate rejoinder to the statement from Black Lives Matter. Race is constructed differently in each society according to the hierarchy it desires to maintain. In this you fall into the trap that Ta-Nehisi Coates addressed in \u201cBetween the World and Me\u201d:<\/p>\n Americans believe in the reality of \u2018race\u2019 as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world. Racism\u2014 the need to ascribe bone-deep features to people and then humiliate, reduce, and destroy them\u2014 inevitably follows from this inalterable condition.<\/p>\n \u2026 But race is the child of racism, not the father.<\/p>\n Just as America racialized \u201cwhiteness\u201d and \u201cblackness\u201d (see James Baldwin) Israeli society has racialized Jewishness which they call \u201cnationality.\u201d They elevate Jews to a place of privilege above all other human beings under their rule. And lets not forget that the very same Ethiopian Jews who are always paraded around to prove that Israel\u2019s not racist have suffered more than enough bigotry to retire that argument. Space does not permit me to detail other abuses directed at African refugees and, of course, Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank.<\/p>\n It should not surprise us that black American activists would identify with the Palestinian cause. If one truly cares about black lives in this country, this should not \u201calienate\u201d anyone. It should be viewed as an opening for dialogue, especially for those who claim that they \u201cactively call for an end to the occupation, for the elimination of discriminatory laws.\u201d (And, by the way, it\u2019s not working. We\u2019re coming up on fifty years of Israeli rule over the West Bank and Israel\u2019s right wing has never held more power. Is it any wonder that oppressed people would identify with the cause of the Palestinians?) Perhaps by learning more about the oppression of black Americans we might acquire increased empathy for the plight of Palestinians; empathy that extends beyond platitudes about a \u201ctwo-state solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, you pose the question: \u201cHow are people like me supposed to support you now?\u201d<\/p>\n The cause of Black Lives Matter is neither less honorable nor urgent because they do not see eye-to-eye with you on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Support for their cause is required by those of us who understand the ways in which black people are abused and degraded in our own American society. Since when does social justice require that victims of oppression must agree with your every cherished notion?<\/p>\n The Inspirational Rabbi:<\/strong> \u00a0What if BLM\u2019s platform called for discrimination against gays \/ outlawing gay marriage or for outlawing abortion because it disproportionately impacts the black community \u2014 are you still ready to wave their organizational signs and endorse their platform if\/when it includes statements that run counter to your perceptions of right and wrong?<\/p>\n I say wholeheartedly now that I\u2019ll never vote for a candidate who\u2019s anti-gay rights \u2014 that\u2019s a line in the sand for me \u2014 even if I love \/ agree with the rest of their platform. Is that not reasonable? Why different here?<\/p>\n The Atheist Rabbi:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u2026 being an ally means listening and attempting to understand the anguish of others whom we claim to support. Behind this statement lies their pain. That\u2019s what I choose to hear. What you asked was, \u201cHow are people like me supposed to support you now?\u201d \u2026 I believe that my reply was clear. We support them because their cause is just.<\/p>\n The Inspirational Rabbi:<\/strong>\u00a0 I suppose my follow up question would be: How do you determine what their singular \u201ccause\u201d is after releasing such a broad platform? Is Hamas\u2019s cause just because in broad based terms it aims to restore Palestinian sovereignty to the land, even though their platform contains horrendous statements and an expressed desire for Jewish extermination? Do they too deserve our support because \u201ctheir cause is just\u201d? (I\u2019m not likening BLM to Hamas of course \u2013 just pushing the argument to see where we end up \u2014 trying to understand.) Does it not require a bit more nuance?<\/p>\n The Atheist Rabbi:\u00a0<\/strong> 1) I do not believe that there exist any parallels between a call to diminish the rights or dignity of LGBTQ+ people and advocacy for Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n \u2026 2) [You ask], \u201cHow do you determine what their singular \u2018cause\u2019 is after releasing such a broad platform?\u201d Their primary cause is quite clear to me. It is to address police brutality and other institutional and structural racism directed at black people. This particular statement\u2019s main points overwhelmingly deal with criminal justice abuses, reparations, economic justice, community control, and political power. I think it\u2019s also worth mentioning that this is not some kind of \u201cofficial statement.\u201d Black Lives Matter is an informal designation for an umbrella movement. This platform represents a step toward organizing. It is not enforceable and does not speak for every supporter of the cause.<\/p>\n You posed the initial question, \u201cHow are people like me supposed to support you now?\u201d For what it\u2019s worth\u2014and that may be nothing to many people\u2014my several replies to that and your other questions are the best I have to offer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The collective freak-out of the Jewish world about this platform does not surprise me. However, I must admit that the inability of so-called progressive Jews to contend with it does.<\/p>\n My interlocutor directed his followers to a piece in the Forward that he said \u201cis well put and most closely resembles how I\u2019m feeling at the moment.\u201d Here\u2019s a link to the piece, \u201cBlack Lives Matter Lost Me With That Israel-Bashing Platform\u201d by Rabbi Ari Hart, a founder of \u201cUri L\u2019Tzedek: Orthodox Social Justice.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s an expression of both\u00a0how fragile one\u2019s\u00a0Jewish ego can be and just how ethnocentric and conditional is the support for Black Lives Matter. And if this is how my colleague and this rabbi are responding, I\u2019m not sure they were really allies to begin with.<\/p>\n