The ‘Other’: A Framework for Learning, Questioning, and Acting

Two fathers (one Muslim, one Jewish) and their children protesting
immigration and refugee executive order in Chicago
on Jan 30, 2017 (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)

Here is the message I shared today with the Jewish Community High School of the Bay (JCHS) : 

The diversity of the JCHS school community is powerful. We come from different parts of the world and grew up in different types of families. We represent a broad range of economic circumstances and hold different perspectives about politics, society, and even Judaism.

For example, nearly 40% of JCHS student homes include an adult born outside of the United States. In Jewish terms, some of us identify most with Mizrachi heritage and others with Ashkenazi culture. Some with Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, or Reform, and others with secular expressions of Jewish life.

One thread that links all these differences is the Jewish core idea of being different, being the other. Torah refers to the first Jew, Abraham, as ha’ivri --
literally, “the one who stands on the other side.” (Genesis 14:13) Abraham’s legacy developed through the centuries into becoming among those who stand up for the other. As we read repeatedly during this season from Torah, “We should not oppress the stranger (the other) because we were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 22:20)

Our ancestors experienced both the sting and stigma of being treated as the other. Even today, the JCHS student community works hard to embrace Jewish others of every type, and our educators and families include others of every kind.

Recent presidential executive orders have been directed toward others: toward building a wall between the United States and Mexico, toward cuts in federal funding to sanctuary cities (including San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda and East Palo Alto), and toward a temporary ban of refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.

It is not our place as a high school to set complex immigration or national security policies. Yet, it is our place to stand up for the other. It is our place to educate ourselves about the extent to which those policies balance essential human values with national security. It also is our place to invite constructive debate about the extent to which these policies advance or oppose core Jewish values. As a school, we also stand ready to support student initiatives toward constructive conversations about or advocacy on these issues within the spectrum of student beliefs.

To advance our community’s learning, we invite you to come to JCHS on Sunday, March 19 to attend the Jewish Community Forum: Championing Democratic Freedoms, Advancing Justice and Ensuring Security hosted by Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund, and JCHS. This forum will bring together scholars, academics, politicians, and Jewish leaders to explore these topics and to develop skills for dealing with many of today’s issues. Learn more about the Forum and register here.

We all come to these issues with different perspectives and sensitivities. This calls to mind what Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote about the “dignity of difference.” He asks, “How do we live with moral difference and yet sustain an overarching community?” And he responds, “The answer is conversation – the disciplined act of communication – the disciplined act of communicating (making my views intelligible to someone who does not share them) and listening (entering into the inner world of someone whose views are opposed to my own). Each is a genuine form of respect, of paying attention to the other, of conferring value on his or her opinions even though they are not mine.”

We believe learning that draws on wisdom from the past, prepares us for the challenges of the present, and anticipates dilemmas of the future is essential. To aid that learning, we urge families to be:

1. Sharing Jewish Values: Over the course of their journey with us, JCHS students have studied many Jewish texts that speak to their ethical responsibility and the importance of human dignity. Here are three source sheets for you to access:
1. From JCHS, used by Rabbi Dean Kertesz when teaching about diversity and inclusion.
2. From Sinai Akiba Academy in Los Angeles, used by Rabbi Andy Feig when teaching about human dignity.
3. From Facing History and Ourselves, whose Bay Area office already has helped more than 300,000 students locally connect history with the choices they make daily, when teaching about the dignity of difference.
2. Encouraging Questions: At JCHS, we strive to inspire curiosity and empower civic engagement. We encourage parents and students to talk together about concerns they have because of these executive orders. Work together to seek answers to those questions. Model for each other how you struggle with ethical dilemmas. Discuss together how each of you might become engaged around any of these issues that concern you the most.

These values and questions, rooted in our tradition, provide ample inspiration, but only if we realize that inspiration through our actions. Please learn and question, please come to the Forum, and please take action to bring a measure of hope and healing to our fractured world.