Talking about antisemitism can feel challenging when our communities hold different views about where it comes from and how to address it. We offer this messaging guidance for Jewish clergy planning to talk about antisemitism to a Jewish audience, for the High Holidays and beyond.
Fear
- Antisemitism is real. If you’re feeling concerned for your safety or fearful about the future in a way that you haven’t felt before, that is completely understandable. That fear tells you what’s important to you: your personal safety, the safety of your family and community, and the safety and longevity of the Jewish people. As the Ritva (13th century Spain) says, “…all Jews are guarantors of one another, and they are all a single body…”
- Fear can be a guide to what we value most. But when we get stuck in a fear response, we don’t always act in our own best interests. Fear has led many Jews to withdraw from relationships, coalitions, and communities. Sometimes the non-Jews in those relationships have revealed themselves to be unsafe. But sometimes there is simply confusion, discomfort, or anxiety.
Shared Safety
- The truth is that we Jews will never be safe in a vacuum. Our safety is bound up with the safety of other marginalized communities. We need stronger, deeper relationships with non-Jews — for everyone’s sake.
- Jews are sadly not the only group under attack right now. Studies show that events in Israel and Palestine can cause an increase in hate crimes against Jews, Muslims, and Arabs. When we see violence against immigrant communities, Muslim communities, trans and queer communities, or any other marginalized groups, Jews should reach out to the affected groups — the same way we would want them to reach out to us — even if we don’t know where to start or we’re feeling hurt by their silence. We can be the ones to build bridges. We can apply the golden rule and act toward others how we would want them to act toward us.
Democracy
- Jews in the United States and Canada are safer and freer than Jews have almost ever been in history. That’s no accident. Jews — and other groups — have found safety here thanks to collective striving for liberal democracy, free speech, separation of church and state, and a free society.
- Our safety depends on protecting the democratic values that the current U.S. administration gravely threatens. Building fortresses around our synagogues, day schools, and JCCs may be sadly necessary, but it is not sufficient to keep us safe in the long term.
Exploiting Our Fears to Undermine Democracy
- When the current U.S. administration or anyone else tries to use our real fears as an excuse to attack immigrants or universities or freedom of speech, we can and should call out what is happening. That playbook — using accusations of antisemitism as an excuse for attacks on our rights — only endangers Jews further.
Shaping Narratives
- When an antisemitic incident or crime occurs, we can choose what stories to tell. Not only the story of the harm that was done, but also the story of neighborhoods and communities rallying around their Jewish communities and of elected officials standing up for what’s right. The majority of people are not antisemitic, and they are just as much a part of the story as the perpetrator.
Israel
- When a politician criticizes the Israeli government, even if they accuse Israel of war crimes or vote for changes to U.S. foreign policy, it isn’t inherently antisemitic. Israel is a country with elected leaders, and we must hold them to the same standard as any other country’s leaders.
- Blaming Jews for Israel’s actions is dangerous to Jews.
- Claiming that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic is also dangerous to Jews. It makes it harder to call out actual antisemitism and be heard.
- Sometimes criticism of Israel does cross the line into antisemitism. If the criticism draws on antisemitic tropes, blames Israel for all of the world’s problems, or turns into blaming all Jews for Israel’s actions, that is antisemitism. We must keep defining these lines, and we must keep lifting up the common humanity of Israelis and Palestinians.
We can’t end antisemitism alone. But we can help. Not by having fights in comment sections, but by talking to our neighbors and strengthening those relationships that may have gotten a little harder. We can help by standing up for democracy and the rule of law and against any form of hatred.
Want to dig deeper? Check out:
- T’ruah’s A Very Brief Guide to Antisemitism
- Rabbi Jill Jacobs’s piece on Criticism of Israel and Antisemitism: How to Tell Where One Ends and the Other Begins
- Antisemitism & Immigration: A Messaging Guide for Jewish Clergy from T’ruah and Bend the Arc