In today’s Jewish community, there is a lot of talk about inclusiveness and pluralism. Indeed, in some circles, it takes the top spot on the Jewish agenda.
Certainly it is a central value of the Jewish faith to love one’s fellow. Hillel, one of the foremost sages of the Mishnaic period, designated it as the central principle of the Torah. It is therefore ironic that many of the organizations and groups that push this value to the top of their agenda are composed of populations that are ideologically homogeneous.
Fortunately, there are organizations that do not push inclusiveness as an agenda — they just live it.
On Nov. 4, the Jewish Study Network honored Palo Alto resident Anat Pilovsky for her dedication to Jewish education at their annual dinner. The daughter of a Holocaust survivor, Pilovsky was raised in Tel Aviv in a secular household. She married her childhood sweetheart and moved to the Bay Area to pursue higher education.
At the table next to Anat was a man with a black hat and long beard. The dean of a yeshiva in Southern California, Rabbi Shlomo Gottesman came to show his support for the Jewish Study Network.
Just behind Anat were members of Reform Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills. Anat participates in a Torah study class with Rabbi Janet Marder there, and some of her fellow congregants attended the event in her honor.
Elsewhere in the room were émigrés from the former Soviet Union. They have no formal affiliation with any congregation, but they study Torah and wanted to show their support for the JSN. There were people from Sephardic backgrounds, Persian Jews and Europeans. In short, the flavors in the room outnumbered the famous 31 of Baskin-Robbins.
The S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation conducts a program called “Gvanim” (“color hues” in Hebrew). The program is designed to bring together Jews from different backgrounds for dialogue and discussion. Significant resources are being pumped into creating an environment that is safe and comfortable for people to interact with others who think differently. How fortunate we are in the South Bay that such an environment already exists in our midst!
The JSN dinner is not the only event that unites a full spectrum of the local Jewish community. AIPAC holds several events in the winter that also draw large, diverse crowds.
What is it about these two organizations that has such a wide appeal?
The answer is that both groups have agendas that transcend political and denominational barriers. AIPAC is about lobbying for a secure Israel in a bipartisan fashion. It doesn’t matter if you are a liberal Democrat or conservative Republican — if you believe in a strong and secure Israel, then AIPAC is for you.
The Jewish Study Network is about raising the level of Jewish literacy. It does not matter if you are religious, secular or something in between — if you believe in Jewish education, the JSN is for you.
Developing a cohesive Jewish community in an environment of diversity is the challenge of our time. We would do well to look to the business world as a model. In large companies, a plethora of different religious and ethnic groups come together to work for a common employer. They do not spend time dwelling on their differences.
Obviously a common purpose works well in bringing people together and breaking down potential intolerance and xenophobia. The same should be true of the Jewish community.
Rather than a push for dialogue and proscriptive pluralism, there should be a push for goals that are bigger than the independent agendas of different factions.
Rabbi Joey Felsen is executive director of the Jewish Study Network.