We as a Jewish people are taught things from our tradition about "tikkun olam" and "b'tzelem elohim" Tikkun olam means to repairing the world. A central tenant of Judaism is to leave the world a better place than we found it. In one of our ancient texts, Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Tarfon taught: "It is not your responsibility to finish the work [of perfecting the world], but you are not free to desist from it either." How can we as Jews embark on this work without first looking into our own community and fixing it. In the Talmud there are a list of things a father is supposed to teach their children. They are required to teach their children Torah, a trade, to swim, and to find them a wife, among a few other things. One literal interpretation of this is that your child needs to get married, read Torah, swim, and support themselves. However I believe that this is actually a commandment that is saying we must teach our children about how to be productive members of society. That we are to teach them love, respect, dignity, and honor.
As it is said in our Shabbat morning prayers, "for the study of Torah is equal to them all." Studying Torah isn't about sitting and reading ancient texts anymore, it's about the way you live your life. Sitting in your conference room or lecture hall having a "riveting, thought provoking" conversation is NOT action. Rabbi Yishmael said: “One who learns in order to teach is enabled to learn and to teach; one who learns in order to act is enabled to learn, to teach, and to act.” (Pirkei Avot 4:5) Action is going out and interacting with those persons and communities that need your help and learning from them directly. Action is about acknowledging your own biases and privileges and working to create justice in the field. Action is about not usurping the space from those that are being oppressed and speaking on their behalf.
In the Torah, it says that we are all created b'tzelem elohim. This is a great theory, and we Jews love to refer to that to promote unity and talk about the greatness that comes from being a people. However if people actually believed this to be true then we would not have to have conversations about race, power, and privilege. Even in our tradition we can see examples of heterosexism, sexism, and many other systemic examples of privilege and power that need to be torn down. Many of which have been torn down over the years. However we need to do more.
In order to fully embrace this concept of all creatures being created in G-d's image we need to first believe it ourselves. We need to stop dividing our community into true Jewish observers and those that we are hoping will finally come to see the light. We need to accept that the face and nature of Judaism is changing. We must be on the front lines in nurturing people who may not look "Jewish" or live a "traditional Jewish life". We need to change the culture so that the first thing we think when a person of color, or someone who may not fit our definition of traditional gender roles, enters our Jewish establishment is not "is this person Jewish?" but rather "I hope that I make them feel welcome today!"
The Jews for so long have felt like the "other" in many circles. For some this feeling is gone. For others of us this feeling is still here. Instead of saying that you are standing in solidarity with me, try to actually stand with me. Witness my experience. Learn from that and then see where you can actively make a difference in your own life, in your community. It is time for this feeling of being the other to disappear from our society. Let us finally be the united people that we struggled to be for so long and unite around accepting each other.
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