I spent the first part of this week attending the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly gathering in Washington, D.C. This annual event brought together 2000 Jewish communal professionals and lay leaders, from throughout North America and Israel. The overarching theme, heard over and over again in workshops and from the stage in large plenary events was, “UNITY.” That unity of the Jewish people is what is necessary to move forward into the Jewish future.
Unity messaging actually does our community a disservice, both on the macro level at events like JFNA’s General Assembly, and in smaller spaces like our own. I attended the General Assembly as a participant in the Summit of Belonging, celebrating the launch of JFNA’s Center on Jewish Belonging – a convening of different Jewish organizations and leaders who firmly believe that we are not all the same, that our differences matter, and indeed, that the diversity of the Jewish community – the presence of Jews of colour, of LGBTQ+ Jews, of Jews embracing a wide range of Jewish religious practices, and Jews in and from interfaith families – is one of our greatest strengths as a people. The work of the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley talks about the difference between “othering” and “same-ing” – othering is when we deny someone’s humanity based on their identity, and same-ing is when we act as if we all have the same needs within a community. True belonging exists between those – when we can lift up that which we do have in common, and celebrate that which makes us different.
Too often, especially in the past year, when I hear calls for Jewish unity, it is not a unity of belonging, but a unity of “same-ing” (and unfortunately, also sometimes of othering). It is a unity that ignores our differences, and privileges one voice, one vision of our Jewish future. It ignores that we have different spiritual needs and aspirations, different visions for the future of the Jewish people and the future of the State of Israel. How powerful might our Jewish people be if we could instead acknowledge our differences, hold the tension that comes with healthy disagreement, to do so without denying the humanity of any person.
No doubt, the coming weeks and months will give us plenty of opportunities to disagree, and they will test our unity. My prayer for all of us is that we, as a community, can hold that disagreement, to create space for each of us to show up as our full selves, with all of our values, commitments, identities, and dreams for the future. That we can hear others in our community who have different values, commitments, identities, and dreams for the future. And together, we can continue to build a Jewish community at Temple Shalom and in the world more broadly where each of us finds a sense of belonging.
