https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpmyW8OHAUo
Jane Eisner is The Future of Pro-Israel
J-Street Conference 2012 Mar 26, 2012
Transcript
hi my name is Rachel Cohen and I'm the
0:15
president of j street you at Johns
0:16
Hopkins University
0:23
salam fayyad occupy Judaism the Israeli
0:28
social justice movement in equality and
0:30
pay for men and women in Jewish
0:32
organizations Marwan Barghouti these are
0:36
just some of the topics the Jane Eisner
0:38
has written about recently in her role
0:40
as the editor of the Jewish daily
0:42
forward in doing so she explores and
0:45
engages some of the most important
0:47
questions facing all of us my generation
0:49
especially as we look to the future of
0:52
Israel its neighbors and the role of the
0:55
American Jewish community here as a
0:58
young woman i am especially honored to
1:00
introduce Jane Eisner tonight five years
1:03
ago in 10th Grade I read her book taking
1:05
back the vote which played a truly
1:06
influential role in helping me to
1:08
realize the necessity of political
1:10
participation in enacting meaningful
1:12
social change she is one of the most
1:15
important voices in our community
1:17
highlighting the distance that remains
1:18
in ensuring that the American Jewish
1:20
community is fair and equal and
1:23
continues to raise up women's leadership
1:24
I'm honored to introduce Jane Eisner
1:40
Thank You Rachel it is always a special
1:44
privilege and a pleasure to hear rabbi
1:47
Hartman speak and I thank him for his
1:50
inspirational words of Torah and the
1:52
Zionism that he embodies I am here for a
1:56
different reason as head of a news
1:59
organization that covers J Street and
2:01
the many fascinating aspects of the
2:04
contemporary American Jewish story what
2:07
I can contribute I hope are a few words
2:10
not of texts but of context that's what
2:14
we journalists do we tell stories and we
2:18
try to tell you what they mean the story
2:22
happening here and around America is one
2:25
of a Jewish community at a historic
2:27
turning point we face challenges that we
2:31
might not have even imagined a
2:33
generation or two ago challenges brought
2:36
by our prosperity our transition from a
2:40
victimized minority to a group with
2:43
extraordinary wealth social status and
2:46
political power and alongside the
2:50
challenges that come with power that is
2:53
first and foremost to use it well we
2:58
have an unprecedented opportunity to
3:00
bring our religious values and our faith
3:02
commitment into the public square so how
3:07
will we do that there's an old saying
3:11
that good journalism is all about
3:13
comforting the afflicted and afflict
3:15
income fir tible we Jews are for the
3:19
most part the comfortable in 21st
3:22
century America and we need to recognize
3:25
that to absorb that to allow it to shape
3:29
our public behavior or religious
3:32
expression and our pro-israel advocacy
3:36
to illustrate how quickly this change
3:39
has happened and how very American it is
3:42
I'll start with a brief story
3:45
some years ago I was named the London
3:48
correspondent for the Philadelphia
3:50
Enquirer before moving there I went to
3:53
look for a place to live and since my
3:56
visit was during sukkot a friend from
3:58
our acara in Philadelphia put me in
4:01
touch with an English family and they
4:04
offered to host me for a meal so there I
4:07
am sitting at their table I'm trying to
4:09
sort of build a kind of connection with
4:11
them and so I thought I'd relay some
4:13
news about our mutual friend I told my
4:17
English hosts about our kuvira's
4:19
celebration of Simplot hora the previous
4:22
year we brought the Torah's from the
4:25
place where we had dhavan into
4:27
Rittenhouse Square in center city
4:29
philadelphia we danced out in the open
4:32
and invited others to join in our mutual
4:36
friend who was a rabbi took great
4:38
delight in standing in the middle of the
4:41
street leading to the square his arms
4:44
stretched out like this stopping traffic
4:47
for us to cross so i joyfully recounted
4:51
how wonderful it was to see our friend
4:53
dressed in a white kittle holding up
4:56
cars and bicycles as if he was Moses
4:59
crossing the Red Sea all of this in
5:01
public in the fanciest square in
5:04
Philadelphia well this did not go over
5:09
as I had planned rather than delight in
5:12
my story my hosts were stunned silent
5:17
they were too polite to say what I
5:19
realized afterwards they were probably
5:21
thinking which is that American Jews are
5:24
crazy to be so demonstrative in public
5:27
to literally bring their religious zeal
5:30
into the public square and maybe we were
5:34
then but we no longer are now let's
5:39
fast-forward to October 2011 another
5:43
group of young engaged Jews wearing
5:46
white kittles are leading a prayer
5:48
service outdoors but this time it's yom
5:51
kippur the holiest day of the year and
5:55
the place is not a small fancy square
5:58
in Philadelphia but a large encampment
6:01
just steps from Wall Street the center
6:05
of finance in the richest country on the
6:07
planet instead of a few dozen people
6:11
dancing with Toras the kolnari service
6:14
associated with Occupy Wall Street last
6:16
year drew hundreds of Jews and probably
6:20
some non-jews who repeated ancient
6:23
prayers and beat their breasts in
6:25
repentance under the bright lights of
6:28
lower Manhattan this was an
6:31
extraordinary assertion of power and
6:33
identity a sign of a rival for Jews and
6:37
incense a return to the historic place
6:41
that religion has played played in the
6:44
public face of progressive activism in
6:46
America at the time it seemed kind of
6:50
new and gutsy because for at least the
6:53
past three decades religious expression
6:56
in the political sphere has been
6:59
dominated by evangelical conservatives a
7:02
trend that we are seeing in dismaying
7:04
detail in this current Republican
7:07
presidential primary but the right has
7:10
not always had a monopoly on the
7:13
expression of faith in the public square
7:15
in a sense the Jews who chanted Kol
7:19
Nidre were upholding a tradition that
7:22
began in the revolutionary war continued
7:25
through the anti-slavery and civil
7:28
rights movements and even was manifested
7:31
in the protest against the Vietnam War a
7:34
weaving together of faith tradition and
7:38
progressive politics there was a time
7:42
not very long ago when rabbis like
7:44
Abraham Joshua Heschel marched for civil
7:47
rights and Arthur wasps Kyle created a
7:50
freedom Seder and Catholic priests and
7:53
nuns were instrumental in anti-war
7:56
agitation their actions propelled by a
7:59
fervent religiosity and expressed in
8:02
liturgical terms rooted in this
8:05
progressive past this new form of what
8:09
some of us have been calling occupied
8:11
Judea
8:11
ism is very much a creature of the
8:14
moment it could not have come together
8:16
without the extensive use of social
8:19
media by savvy organizers who didn't
8:23
need or seek the blessings of communal
8:26
leadership like the social justice
8:29
protests that swept Israel last year it
8:32
is bottom up not top down in both its
8:36
political and its religious character
8:38
and to be successful and sustainable
8:42
this style of activism requires more
8:46
than just a motivation for change it's
8:49
not just that the organizers of Occupy
8:52
Judaism didn't depend on a hexer from
8:55
the Jewish establishment they were
8:57
knowledgeable enough and skilled enough
9:00
to conduct a service on their own this I
9:04
think is an important point if we are as
9:08
Jews going to bring about a new
9:10
relationship of faith in the public
9:12
square we have to know what our faith
9:15
tradition believes and what it asks of
9:18
us the foundation for this new
9:21
relationship can't be built on some
9:24
squishy iteration of tikkun olam or
9:26
other sorts of bland universal
9:29
sentiments if we're going to be more
9:32
public Jews we have to know what Judaism
9:34
requires of us and similarly if you're
9:38
going to be effective advocates for
9:41
Israel you have to be informed learn
9:44
more visit debate engage we also have to
9:50
recognize that a religious tradition as
9:53
old and is which as ours omits several
9:57
and sometimes competing strains of
10:00
values and narratives we can't be so
10:03
arrogant as to say that the true Judaism
10:06
is only a progressive one an even
10:11
greater challenge is to incorporate a
10:13
realistic appraisal of who we are in
10:16
this society into our public role it
10:19
seems to me that most of the
10:22
establishment Jewish organizations
10:25
operate under the assumptions of the
10:27
last century that Jews are vulnerable
10:30
and this close to another disaster and
10:34
that the best people to lead those
10:36
organizations are white men of a certain
10:39
age and experience I understand where
10:44
that comes from I understand where that
10:49
comes from our history is littered with
10:51
examples of Jews attaining great wealth
10:54
and status think of Spain in the 14th
10:57
century or Germany a century ago only to
11:03
have that privilege crumble under the
11:05
oppressive weight of an inquisition or a
11:07
Holocaust I understand the fear that
11:11
good moments will evaporate in an
11:14
instant hey I'm a Jewish mother guilt
11:18
and anxiety are my constant companions
11:22
but those episodes in history didn't
11:25
happen in America which I believe has a
11:28
far more tolerant DNA and despite our
11:32
sometimes ugly past has a far better
11:35
chance of guaranteeing the rights of
11:37
minorities than any other place on earth
11:46
nevermind the fact that Americans love
11:50
us here they really do Robert Putnam in
11:54
his recent seminal work Amazing Grace
11:57
how religion divides us and unites us
12:00
asserts that we Jews are the most
12:03
popular religious group in America and
12:06
he offers the data to back it up this
12:10
very fact I know does create a kind of
12:13
cognitive dissonance with some Jews I
12:15
actually spoke to Putnam about this and
12:18
he told me that when he lectured at his
12:20
own reform synagogue just outside Boston
12:24
about this topic and here I'm quoting he
12:26
said people said you're wrong they do
12:29
hate us and he replied to them best as I
12:32
can tell they don't they don't so as you
12:38
chart the future of pro-israel advocacy
12:41
I urge you to do that in the context of
12:44
this new reality we are a vulnerable
12:47
people in many places in the world the
12:50
tragic events last week in Toulouse are
12:53
just only the latest reminder but right
12:56
now here in America we are in a
13:00
fundamentally different place and we are
13:03
a fundamentally different people we
13:06
should never forget that power is always
13:09
a privilege that it can corrupt those
13:12
who wield it and that it comes with its
13:15
own sense of demands and
13:17
responsibilities as we become more
13:20
assertive in the public square we should
13:22
also be mindful to support and maintain
13:25
the constitutional separation of
13:28
religion and state that I believe has
13:31
enabled us to function as such a free
13:34
religious minority and ethnic group here
13:37
in this country
13:44
when I was researching an essay on
13:47
occupied Judaism last fall I had a
13:49
wonderful conversation with Alan wolf a
13:52
political scientist at Boston College
13:54
and he offered an astute observation by
13:58
linking public prayer with protest he
14:01
told me quote it says that the protest
14:04
has an element of the sacred associated
14:08
with it invoking holiness in the public
14:12
square implying that such work is
14:15
divinely inspired can make us
14:18
uncomfortable because it can't smack of
14:21
the kind of arrogance and certainty that
14:24
becomes dangerous and intolerant but
14:28
thinking of this as sacred work can also
14:30
be viewed in another way it can
14:33
encourage humility you can embrace a new
14:37
vibrant role for Jewish faith and
14:39
progressive activism that is also
14:42
respectful of the past and untell intend
14:45
on upholding that legacy for me this
14:49
balance is beautifully enunciated by
14:52
Martin Luther King in his letter from a
14:54
Birmingham jail and I can't help but
14:57
quote that in my closing we must come to
15:01
see that human progress never rolls in
15:04
on wheels and inevitability it comes
15:08
through the tireless efforts and
15:10
persistent work of men willing to be
15:13
co-workers with God thank hi my name is Rachel Cohen and I'm the
0:15
president of j street you at Johns
0:16
Hopkins University
0:23
salam fayyad occupy Judaism the Israeli
0:28
social justice movement in equality and
0:30
pay for men and women in Jewish
0:32
organizations Marwan Barghouti these are
0:36
just some of the topics the Jane Eisner
0:38
has written about recently in her role
0:40
as the editor of the Jewish daily
0:42
forward in doing so she explores and
0:45
engages some of the most important
0:47
questions facing all of us my generation
0:49
especially as we look to the future of
0:52
Israel its neighbors and the role of the
0:55
American Jewish community here as a
0:58
young woman i am especially honored to
1:00
introduce Jane Eisner tonight five years
1:03
ago in 10th Grade I read her book taking
1:05
back the vote which played a truly
1:06
influential role in helping me to
1:08
realize the necessity of political
1:10
participation in enacting meaningful
1:12
social change she is one of the most
1:15
important voices in our community
1:17
highlighting the distance that remains
1:18
in ensuring that the American Jewish
1:20
community is fair and equal and
1:23
continues to raise up women's leadership
1:24
I'm honored to introduce Jane Eisner
1:40
Thank You Rachel it is always a special
1:44
privilege and a pleasure to hear rabbi
1:47
Hartman speak and I thank him for his
1:50
inspirational words of Torah and the
1:52
Zionism that he embodies I am here for a
1:56
different reason as head of a news
1:59
organization that covers J Street and
2:01
the many fascinating aspects of the
2:04
contemporary American Jewish story what
2:07
I can contribute I hope are a few words
2:10
not of texts but of context that's what
2:14
we journalists do we tell stories and we
2:18
try to tell you what they mean the story
2:22
happening here and around America is one
2:25
of a Jewish community at a historic
2:27
turning point we face challenges that we
2:31
might not have even imagined a
2:33
generation or two ago challenges brought
2:36
by our prosperity our transition from a
2:40
victimized minority to a group with
2:43
extraordinary wealth social status and
2:46
political power and alongside the
2:50
challenges that come with power that is
2:53
first and foremost to use it well we
2:58
have an unprecedented opportunity to
3:00
bring our religious values and our faith
3:02
commitment into the public square so how
3:07
will we do that there's an old saying
3:11
that good journalism is all about
3:13
comforting the afflicted and afflict
3:15
income fir tible we Jews are for the
3:19
most part the comfortable in 21st
3:22
century America and we need to recognize
3:25
that to absorb that to allow it to shape
3:29
our public behavior or religious
3:32
expression and our pro-israel advocacy
3:36
to illustrate how quickly this change
3:39
has happened and how very American it is
3:42
I'll start with a brief story
3:45
some years ago I was named the London
3:48
correspondent for the Philadelphia
3:50
Enquirer before moving there I went to
3:53
look for a place to live and since my
3:56
visit was during sukkot a friend from
3:58
our acara in Philadelphia put me in
4:01
touch with an English family and they
4:04
offered to host me for a meal so there I
4:07
am sitting at their table I'm trying to
4:09
sort of build a kind of connection with
4:11
them and so I thought I'd relay some
4:13
news about our mutual friend I told my
4:17
English hosts about our kuvira's
4:19
celebration of Simplot hora the previous
4:22
year we brought the Torah's from the
4:25
place where we had dhavan into
4:27
Rittenhouse Square in center city
4:29
philadelphia we danced out in the open
4:32
and invited others to join in our mutual
4:36
friend who was a rabbi took great
4:38
delight in standing in the middle of the
4:41
street leading to the square his arms
4:44
stretched out like this stopping traffic
4:47
for us to cross so i joyfully recounted
4:51
how wonderful it was to see our friend
4:53
dressed in a white kittle holding up
4:56
cars and bicycles as if he was Moses
4:59
crossing the Red Sea all of this in
5:01
public in the fanciest square in
5:04
Philadelphia well this did not go over
5:09
as I had planned rather than delight in
5:12
my story my hosts were stunned silent
5:17
they were too polite to say what I
5:19
realized afterwards they were probably
5:21
thinking which is that American Jews are
5:24
crazy to be so demonstrative in public
5:27
to literally bring their religious zeal
5:30
into the public square and maybe we were
5:34
then but we no longer are now let's
5:39
fast-forward to October 2011 another
5:43
group of young engaged Jews wearing
5:46
white kittles are leading a prayer
5:48
service outdoors but this time it's yom
5:51
kippur the holiest day of the year and
5:55
the place is not a small fancy square
5:58
in Philadelphia but a large encampment
6:01
just steps from Wall Street the center
6:05
of finance in the richest country on the
6:07
planet instead of a few dozen people
6:11
dancing with Toras the kolnari service
6:14
associated with Occupy Wall Street last
6:16
year drew hundreds of Jews and probably
6:20
some non-jews who repeated ancient
6:23
prayers and beat their breasts in
6:25
repentance under the bright lights of
6:28
lower Manhattan this was an
6:31
extraordinary assertion of power and
6:33
identity a sign of a rival for Jews and
6:37
incense a return to the historic place
6:41
that religion has played played in the
6:44
public face of progressive activism in
6:46
America at the time it seemed kind of
6:50
new and gutsy because for at least the
6:53
past three decades religious expression
6:56
in the political sphere has been
6:59
dominated by evangelical conservatives a
7:02
trend that we are seeing in dismaying
7:04
detail in this current Republican
7:07
presidential primary but the right has
7:10
not always had a monopoly on the
7:13
expression of faith in the public square
7:15
in a sense the Jews who chanted Kol
7:19
Nidre were upholding a tradition that
7:22
began in the revolutionary war continued
7:25
through the anti-slavery and civil
7:28
rights movements and even was manifested
7:31
in the protest against the Vietnam War a
7:34
weaving together of faith tradition and
7:38
progressive politics there was a time
7:42
not very long ago when rabbis like
7:44
Abraham Joshua Heschel marched for civil
7:47
rights and Arthur wasps Kyle created a
7:50
freedom Seder and Catholic priests and
7:53
nuns were instrumental in anti-war
7:56
agitation their actions propelled by a
7:59
fervent religiosity and expressed in
8:02
liturgical terms rooted in this
8:05
progressive past this new form of what
8:09
some of us have been calling occupied
8:11
Judea
8:11
ism is very much a creature of the
8:14
moment it could not have come together
8:16
without the extensive use of social
8:19
media by savvy organizers who didn't
8:23
need or seek the blessings of communal
8:26
leadership like the social justice
8:29
protests that swept Israel last year it
8:32
is bottom up not top down in both its
8:36
political and its religious character
8:38
and to be successful and sustainable
8:42
this style of activism requires more
8:46
than just a motivation for change it's
8:49
not just that the organizers of Occupy
8:52
Judaism didn't depend on a hexer from
8:55
the Jewish establishment they were
8:57
knowledgeable enough and skilled enough
9:00
to conduct a service on their own this I
9:04
think is an important point if we are as
9:08
Jews going to bring about a new
9:10
relationship of faith in the public
9:12
square we have to know what our faith
9:15
tradition believes and what it asks of
9:18
us the foundation for this new
9:21
relationship can't be built on some
9:24
squishy iteration of tikkun olam or
9:26
other sorts of bland universal
9:29
sentiments if we're going to be more
9:32
public Jews we have to know what Judaism
9:34
requires of us and similarly if you're
9:38
going to be effective advocates for
9:41
Israel you have to be informed learn
9:44
more visit debate engage we also have to
9:50
recognize that a religious tradition as
9:53
old and is which as ours omits several
9:57
and sometimes competing strains of
10:00
values and narratives we can't be so
10:03
arrogant as to say that the true Judaism
10:06
is only a progressive one an even
10:11
greater challenge is to incorporate a
10:13
realistic appraisal of who we are in
10:16
this society into our public role it
10:19
seems to me that most of the
10:22
establishment Jewish organizations
10:25
operate under the assumptions of the
10:27
last century that Jews are vulnerable
10:30
and this close to another disaster and
10:34
that the best people to lead those
10:36
organizations are white men of a certain
10:39
age and experience I understand where
10:44
that comes from I understand where that
10:49
comes from our history is littered with
10:51
examples of Jews attaining great wealth
10:54
and status think of Spain in the 14th
10:57
century or Germany a century ago only to
11:03
have that privilege crumble under the
11:05
oppressive weight of an inquisition or a
11:07
Holocaust I understand the fear that
11:11
good moments will evaporate in an
11:14
instant hey I'm a Jewish mother guilt
11:18
and anxiety are my constant companions
11:22
but those episodes in history didn't
11:25
happen in America which I believe has a
11:28
far more tolerant DNA and despite our
11:32
sometimes ugly past has a far better
11:35
chance of guaranteeing the rights of
11:37
minorities than any other place on earth
11:46
nevermind the fact that Americans love
11:50
us here they really do Robert Putnam in
11:54
his recent seminal work Amazing Grace
11:57
how religion divides us and unites us
12:00
asserts that we Jews are the most
12:03
popular religious group in America and
12:06
he offers the data to back it up this
12:10
very fact I know does create a kind of
12:13
cognitive dissonance with some Jews I
12:15
actually spoke to Putnam about this and
12:18
he told me that when he lectured at his
12:20
own reform synagogue just outside Boston
12:24
about this topic and here I'm quoting he
12:26
said people said you're wrong they do
12:29
hate us and he replied to them best as I
12:32
can tell they don't they don't so as you
12:38
chart the future of pro-israel advocacy
12:41
I urge you to do that in the context of
12:44
this new reality we are a vulnerable
12:47
people in many places in the world the
12:50
tragic events last week in Toulouse are
12:53
just only the latest reminder but right
12:56
now here in America we are in a
13:00
fundamentally different place and we are
13:03
a fundamentally different people we
13:06
should never forget that power is always
13:09
a privilege that it can corrupt those
13:12
who wield it and that it comes with its
13:15
own sense of demands and
13:17
responsibilities as we become more
13:20
assertive in the public square we should
13:22
also be mindful to support and maintain
13:25
the constitutional separation of
13:28
religion and state that I believe has
13:31
enabled us to function as such a free
13:34
religious minority and ethnic group here
13:37
in this country
13:44
when I was researching an essay on
13:47
occupied Judaism last fall I had a
13:49
wonderful conversation with Alan wolf a
13:52
political scientist at Boston College
13:54
and he offered an astute observation by
13:58
linking public prayer with protest he
14:01
told me quote it says that the protest
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has an element of the sacred associated
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with it invoking holiness in the public
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square implying that such work is
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divinely inspired can make us
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uncomfortable because it can't smack of
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the kind of arrogance and certainty that
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becomes dangerous and intolerant but
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thinking of this as sacred work can also
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be viewed in another way it can
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encourage humility you can embrace a new
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vibrant role for Jewish faith and
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progressive activism that is also
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respectful of the past and untell intend
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on upholding that legacy for me this
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balance is beautifully enunciated by
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Martin Luther King in his letter from a
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Birmingham jail and I can't help but
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quote that in my closing we must come to
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see that human progress never rolls in
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on wheels and inevitability it comes
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through the tireless efforts and
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persistent work of men willing to be
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co-workers with God thank
