Hanukkah Cholent Day 1: Things We Got Right
Predictions that came (mostly) true
The Cholent started in early 2021. It was a crazy time, remember? We were still mostly locked in our homes, watching the country reel from protests and violence. As Jews, we found ourselves at the precipice of change in our status as Americans. Could we continue to use our values and our success to work for justice equality, or would we have to compromise our identities? Worse, would we be held partially responsible for America’s perceived injustices?
The DEI establishment collapsed as quickly as it rose. Leaders of this movement have fallen or at least stumbled into embarrassing situations, like accusations of plagiarism and financial mismanagement. Companies have rolled back their DEI policies, recognizing that they have not helped or even made things worse. Jewish organizations mostly seem to have watched, wringing their hands over their willingness to operate in their historic capacity of advocate, while wriggling uncomfortably over the demands made on their allegiance to Israel and unimaginable accusations of their own complicity in white supremacy.
Now, post-October 7th, there is little patience for the DEI worldview, which has basically shrugged off Jewish claims of discrimination, right down to the evidence of rape and torture of Jewish/Israeli victims.
I could save this story for tomorrow’s “what we got wrong” recap, but in terms of how these movements would play out for us, I think The Cholent got it pretty right.
We must be committed to full equality and opposed to discrimination. We always have been, and we should be proud of the work we’ve done to help and continue to help so many disenfranchised Americans. At the same time, the new social justice is speeding down a track that does not fully allow for questions or alternative paths.
This leaves our community organizations in a tough position. If the choice is between anti-racism and racism, obviously we want to choose the former. But this work comes with highly loaded binaries and activist agendas that may be more harmful than helpful.
Here’s the sequel.
“It’s when groups start using terms like ‘equity’ in ways that aren’t clear, or use the Ibram X. Kendi definition, they end up stepping on these ideological landmines. Before we use language like ‘America is white supremacist,’ is that what we mean? Those discussions are cut short.”
Tragically, much of what we saw on October 8th and afterward is on the same family tree as DEI.
Supporters of Palestinian “resistance” didn’t even wait for the blood to dry. The swiftness of justification was, to me, even more surprising than the attack.
Support for terror is due to many things, but I want to focus on one aspect in particular: the way we have been gaslit into believing lies because some of the smartest people among us have convinced us that words we know have different meanings. They have rearranged reality and we, hoping to stay at the cool kids’ table, have gone along with this stupidity.
And it’s becoming clearer by the day that “justice” will come at the expense of Jews in their mythologized form as enemies of all things good and peaceful.
The glue holding these activists together is not really Gaza, but the opportunity the war in Gaza provides for toppling “imperialism” and creating a new society that violently throws off the yoke of capitalism and unites the working class in a new shared society.
So, what’s next? I think we’re looking toward a realignment, a slow refocusing of our organizations on our own survival, and new alliances.
A new Iranian partnership might be the most promising one.
“At the end of the day I have to say, what did I do today? Did I put a smile on somebody’s face? I’m not Jewish, I’m Muslim, but religion to me is very personal and I respect all my friends and I do the same thing now that I’m 67 years old. I still respect every one of them. There’s no difference between me and you. I don’t see a difference between us. Maybe my skin is a little darker than yours, but it doesn’t matter, our blood is red.”
Cover photo by Nick Fewings/Unsplash