Letter to the Clergy

In the wake of George Floyd's murder, two childhood friends and I wrote to our clergy encouraging them and our community to take a stand against racial injustices. The letter was read aloud at services and a summer "Racism Read-in" was held over zoom the following few months.

Dear Rabbi’s W., M., and Cantor R.,

As congregants and former students of KA, we have noticed and are concerned by an overwhelming silence from our organization regarding the current protests in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless other Black Americans. As Jews we are taught that Pikuach Nefesh, or the preservation of life, is our most sacred commandment. Coupled with Tikkun Olam, the duty to better the world around us, and a core tenant of Reform Judaism, we feel that it is KA’s duty to address the injustices that are bombarding our television sets and news feeds.

Our KA education has shaped us, our moral values, and informed us of our moral obligations. Through KA’s programs, we learned that participating in mitzvot, tzedakah, and the principle Tikkun Olam is imperative to leading a good Jewish life. We have seen the KA community come together to raise funds, collect donations and comfort each other in times of hardship. We were also taught to remember the history of injustices perpetrated against our community and were warned to never allow such hateful acts to come to fruition again, no matter the target. The time has once again come to denounce injustice, but if we stay silent or take no action what does “never again” mean? 

As such, we believe our leaders have an obligation to be the first to stand up in solidarity with those most affected by the injustices inflicted by the hands of the state. Further, as an organization with Black and Brown congregants, it is again an obligation to stand in support with all of our community, not just when it is convenient and comfortable to do so. Saying Black lives matter and mentioning the names of murdered Black Americans should not be shied away from. Instead it should be faced head-on in a show of strength and unanimity. Pursuing justice is an inherently Jewish task and it is our duty to use our collective resources, whether it's our money, our voices or our bodies, to do so. 

We acknowledge the work that the congregation has done in solidarity with Black communities in WP and beyond. Talking about racism occurring outside of our community is important, but there is a difficult conversation that must be had within our own community. Real change takes place when people are pushed to face the discomfort of dismantling oppressive systems. This includes the unknowing microaggressions we participate in daily that create and enable a racist environment. It is not enough to merely not participate in racism; we must actively stand up to those exhibiting racist behavior or perpetuating racist systems.

KA has the privilege to reside in an upper-middle class, majority white, and relatively tolerant community. However, no community is perfect and it is imperative that the Jewish community and specifically KA takes the time to educate its members on the ways that they have been able to and continue to benefit from anti-Black racism. As well as the actions they can take to combat it themselves. This is not to say that KA or its members are active contributors to anti-Black racism, but our White members are still beneficiaries of these injustices and anti-Black racism is still alive within the Jewish community.

When first arriving in America, Jews were not granted all of the privileges that come from whiteness. However, White Eastern European Jews still retained more social and political power than Black people. Most White Jews to a random observer will only register as White individuals. In the antebellum south Jews were able to own slaves. Jewish men received and cashed in on the benefits of the GI bill following WWII, while Black men were systematically denied services. 

Many of our ancestors came to the Americas with nothing but the promise of a better life. And as White Americans we were able to build wealth through our careers, our property, and our privilege. In contrast, Black Americans have been systematically left out of the benefits from the American experiment. We as White Jews have benefitted from conditional Whiteness, and at this time we feel it is our obligation to use that privilege to lift the voices of our Black friends, family, neighbors, and congregants. This is not to understate the very real antisemitism that we have and continue to face, but there are Black Jews in our congregation that bear the brunt of both racism and antisemitism.

Racial injustice does not exist in a vacuum. It does not exist only in Minneapolis, in Detroit, in Jacksonville, in Los Angeles, or in Atlanta. It does not only happen in big cities. It happens in our own communities. In 2011, the WP Police Department killed an unarmed Black man inside of his own apartment. His name was Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., he was tasered and shot by police when they responded to his medical alert necklace being accidentally triggered and he tried to send them away. Just like nearly every other case of a Black person being killed by the police, no charges were brought against the officers, and the family was not compensated despite public pushback.

In the pursuit of justice it is necessary to recognize police brutality and injustice in our own community. We acknowledge that KA has a good relationship with the WPPD and rely on them during holidays and services. Yet, we must also think about how this good relationship was able to be formed, and how our proximity to Whiteness has aided our pursuits. Regardless, this does not release us from the obligation to push our community and those who support us to be better. While we rely on and appreciate the work that WPPD does to keep our congregation safe, we must not let that hold us back from demanding better from our public servants.

We ask you as spiritual leaders, as advocates of justice and morality, to please call on our broader community to take a stand at this time and begin the painful work of creating an anti-racist world. Encourage our community to participate in the great Jewish traditions of reading and discussion, of education and self-betterment, of Tikkun Olam and Tzedakah. Please share with our fellow congregants information on how to raise anti-racist children, how to combat racist thoughts taught to us through media and history, and how to approach the world with a mindset of harm reduction. 

We have attached a list of resources that includes articles, books, podcasts and videos all focused on anti-racist work in the plethora of ways it can be put into practice. Please choose some of these works and incorporate them into KA’s discussion groups and services. Please bring awareness to our community of the small actions they can take that create much larger ripples. We also call on you to reach out to the broader spiritual community of Westchester and bring them together for a peaceful demonstration of our solidarity and opposition to anti-Black racism. As Rabbis once joined by the side of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama we implore you to band together with your fellow clergy people in our own backyard and peacefully register our dissent.

We’d like to leave you with a poem that was read to us often at KA, and in this moment feels more relevant than ever before. We must remember to speak up for each other in times of injustice or we may be next.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Sincerely,

JT, JL, and Catherine Reynolds