The Jewish Leaders’ Conference in Israel
The Jewish Leaders’ Conference—held in Israel this April and led by Tim Jackins and me—was a leap forward in forging unity and closeness, combatting internalized oppression, and building bridges amongst Jews from seven countries (Israel, Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, England, Canada, and the United States). We had thirty-five Israelis, a strong group of Global Majority Jews, and a strong group of young and young adult Jews.
I heard fewer complaints and less rehearsing of disappointment than at any other conference I can remember. We were happy to be together, and to be in Israel, and it showed! Every time I looked around, I saw people from diverse places having mini-sessions with each other. It was symbolic that the conference began in cold weather, with thunder and pouring rain, and ended in beautiful close-to-eighty-degree weather.
Tim led the first half of the conference and demonstrated his deep understanding of RC and how to discharge our earliest hurts. He gave us a strong foundation for the work later in the week on the specific issues of Jewish liberation.
Our organizers, led by Noa Rosenfelder, and the whole Israeli delegation welcomed us thoughtfully and lovingly. And Noa and her team did an outstanding job of organizing a very complex conference.
Before I share more in this report, I want to acknowledge the latest synagogue shooting. At Passover, when we repeat the ten plagues, we dip our finger into the juice to spill out a little, reminding ourselves that our joy of liberation is lessened by the loss of Egyptian life. As we come home to report on the joy and victories of this conference, I want to acknowledge the heartbreak, once again, of the spilling of Jewish life at yet another synagogue in the United States. May all that we did at the conference, and will continue to do, strengthen us to continue to fight the anti-Semitism that is showing up on both the right and the left.
Here are a few highlights from the conference:
- We had excellent topic groups and meal tables on some of the key issues for Jewish liberation: sexism and male domination, Jews and climate work, Jewish work on class, Jews and “mental health” liberation, LGBQT Jews.
- I set out four goals for us to work on:
1) Breaking through the divisions that keep us separate and divided. I wanted us to reach for unity and fight against what keeps us divided. I said, “We Jews internalize the distress recording that says there is something so bad about us, we shouldn’t exist—and then we turn around and treat certain groups of Jews like they don’t exist.” The four groups I chose to demonstrate this with were Global Majority Jews, raised-poor and working-class Jews, young Jews, and disabled Jews.
2) Reaching for understanding and honest heart-to-heart communication between Israeli and U.S. Jews. I wanted to bust through the patterned ways that Israeli and U.S. Jews can stay apart from and be misunderstood by each other. I set up a “fishbowl”—with four Israeli Jews and four U.S. Jews in a small circle in the center of the room and the rest of the hundred and thirty of us around that center of eight, listening in to their conversation. Each of the eight spoke to what they loved and cherished about the four from the other country, and then to where they felt misunderstood and yearned for the others to know about their experience as an Israeli Jew or a U.S. Jew. They spoke personally and from their hearts. The U.S. Jews spoke about the impact of the McCarthy period, feeling obliterated, and having to work every day in an all-Gentile world and then come home and try to create a Jewish home. The Israelis spoke about hearing the cries of one’s mother after an older brother has been killed in combat and knowing that Netanyahu’s [the current Israeli prime minister’s] mother lost a son and made those same cries, and wishing U.S. Jews would not think about Israel only in terms of the Occupation but realize that there are so many other life issues they struggle with.
3) Combatting anti-Semitism. We had a moving panel in which a person from each of the seven countries represented at the conference shared a personal story of experiencing anti-Semitism. We also heard brief reports from the Jewish leaders of the Jews and Allies United to End Anti-Semitism projects.
4) Being for both peoples in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Everyone participated in a topic group on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We had eighteen groups, each led by an Israeli Jew assisted by a Diaspora Jewish leader. People discharged and then reached for fresh thinking on next steps to move forward the work between Israeli Jews and Palestinians, and the role of RC in that work. (I was surprised at how much everyone seemed to love being in these groups.) On the last morning of the workshop I put out a direction that in this next period we all need to discharge on what gets in our way of being fully for both peoples. In my experience, most of us feel a stronger alignment with one side or the other, and we’re going to need to model that a key to ending the conflict is being for both peoples.
We did important work on racism throughout the conference. One early morning session was on discharging on the racism aimed at Global Majority Jews. Another was on discharging on the racism targeting Palestinians (with Diaspora Ashkenazim, Israeli Ashkenazim, Diaspora Global Majority Jews, and Israeli Mizrachim working on it in separate groups). At one point, all of the Global Majority Jews were together in front of the workshop sharing something about their specific heritage as a Jew, and we got a bigger picture of the fullness of who we are as a people.
I was beautifully thought about and backed [supported] by so many, and I faced a level of terror I don’t always get to—particularly in a “counsel the leader” session in front of the workshop, with Tim as my counselor. I noticed in a new way that I am not alone—I am loved, thought about, and cherished.
My heart is full from all the work we did. I especially want to acknowledge the strength of the Israeli RC Community, led by Merchi Shukroon Lior, the Regional Reference Person for Israel. Merchi partnered with me to insure solid thinking about the Israelis, and it was a joy to be with all the Israelis at the conference. I also want to honor the courage of so many of us in taking seriously Tim’s challenge to face our heaviest early distress.
Mazel Tov! [Congratulations!] Yesher Koach. [From strength to strength.] RC Jewish liberation is alive and moving forward.
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail
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