Many in our community have been concerned by the recent tensions surrounding equality of access to the Western Wall for women. Indeed many of the confrontations have been ugly. JFNA (Jewish Federations of North America) has been working quietly to achieve a political solution that secures the rights of everyone to pray at that site in a manner that respects the widest range of religious approaches. At its most recent Board of Trustees and Delegate Assembly, JFNA reaffirmed its commitment to reach a pluralistic agreement. The issues of this flashpoint connect to broader issues of religious inclusion of women in Israel. One overview is presented in this article from Ha’aretz.
These issues are particularly important to many members of the American Jewish Community, who, given their longstanding financial support of Israel, are asking how they can effect positive change and support these efforts towards pluralism. One provocative posting was this by Rabbi Andy Bachman (with thanks to Rabbi Carnie Rose for calling the article to my attention). Bachman’s idea: unless the Israeli government enforces gender equality in these matters American Jewish communities should threaten to choke off our dollars.
I do not agree with Bachman’s call to suspend funding. However I do appreciate the motive of using economic policies to respond to perceived injustice. Jews have had a proud history of supporting boycotts in support of social justice whether during the Civil Rights movement in the United States, to protest Apartheid in South Africa, or now to pressure Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. As a child I remember my family refusing to purchase Iceberg lettuce to support immigrant workers.
So why not support Bachman’s call? In this case, I think that a boycott of Federation funding to support women’s equality in Israel is seriously misguided in large part because the dollars we spend as a Federation support social services for women, the economically distressed, and new immigrants. Using Federated support this way forces political change on the backs of those least able to influence policy and most at risk for basic social service needs. In my view, Bachman’s proposal is not a responsible boycott.
Of course we can and should continue to look for ways to support the rights of all people to secure a strong democratic Jewish state of Israel. Here our global partners JDC and JAFI are in the process of putting together a proposal to deepen pluralism and Civil Society. An outgrowth of JFNA’s Global Planning Table that is reassessing how we allocate our global dollars, this proposal has the potential to continue Israel’s status as a strong, stable and mature modern democratic society in which the equal rights of all people are respected and honored in all domains. I am grateful for the leadership that Greg Siwak and Barry Rosenberg have shown over the past 18 months as participants in this process, and I look forward now to working with Greg as we move these initiatives forward.
