Standing up to injustice
Friends,
I want to begin with a note of gratitude for our community. Over the past two months we have engaged in the sacred work of helping others, worshiping together, making positive change in society, and also ensuring the future of our own community. Our Board of Trustees has been led by our president Sarah Greenblatt through a major rabbinic transition and a pandemic. Through it all Sarah has guided us with a steady hand, compassion, and thoughtfulness. I hope that you will join our community on Sunday, June 7th at 10am for our Annual Meeting as we celebrate our past year, thank Sarah and other outgoing board members for their service to CMI, and embrace the challenges of the future together.
Coupled with my gratitude for our community is an overwhelming sense of sadness that we have failed to fix our broken systems that for centuries have subjugated, separated and marginalized our black and brown neighbors, including Jews of Color and members of Mishkan Israel. Like the pictures of hospitals at capacity during the early days of COVID, the scenes we witness across the country of people protesting are the symptom of an epidemic that has been festering in our country since before its founding, the epidemic of systemic racism.
While we must search for a vaccine for COVID, we have the vaccine for racism if we choose to use it – love, compassion, and righteous action. Yet many of us, myself included, often retreat into our safe spaces made possible by white privilege. White privilege is another symptom of systemic racism that allows white people to achieve greater prosperity and security easier than people of color. For those of us who are white, we can use that privilege for good as well by emerging and standing with our black and brown neighbors in person or virtually. We can use our power to dismantle the structures that intentionally or unintentionally oppress people of color.
CMI has a long legacy of standing up to hatred and bigotry going back many decades. As Dr. King said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” I encourage you to lift up your voice and speak out against the injustices toward people of color. There are many ways in which we can act right now. We can join local protests by foot or by car including this Sunday in Hamden. We can educate ourselves about White Fragility, How Jews Became White, or How to Be an Anti Racist by reading these books or others. We can declare loudly and proudly that Black Lives Matter! We can engage in dialogue with people of all colors about racism and how we must work to create a better future. Some of our members are working now on additional ways for CMI to engage our community in this work and we will keep you updated.
However daunting it seems, Judaism teaches us that we must take action. “Lo alecha hamlacha ligmor, v’lo atah ben chorim libatel mimena – it is not up to you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it. (Pirkei Avot 2:16)”
May we have the courage to act for the betterment of our society, our community, and ourselves.
L’shalom, to peace,
Rabbi Brian Immerman