07/31/2025
Standing for What Matters – Together
This weekend we commemorate Tisha B’Av (the 9th day of the month of Av). This day is when many of the very worst things happened to the Jewish people, including the fall of the Second Temple. We are reminded each year of the danger of hatred – and that our world (the Temple) was destroyed because of baseless hatred (sinat chinam).
While our people continue to face baseless hatred, our world is different today. Very different.
It used to be that some things could go without saying. “Children starving is never acceptable” or “Civilians shouldn’t be taken hostage” would be two examples. “Politically or religiously motivated violence cannot be justified” would be another, as would “Civilians receiving humanitarian aid – as well as those delivering it – should not be put in harm’s way.” Israel’s right to exist and its right to defend itself are also things that should be a given.
Not today. Today, if you don’t state what should be a given, it is assumed that you don’t care or are complicit with whatever is perceived as the “other side” of the issue. And if you do speak out, your words are often weaponized by both those who agree and disagree with what you’ve said in order to justify their actions.
For our diverse community, this is a no-win situation.
And for an organization like your Federation, this is an acutely difficult reality in which to operate. Our role as a consensus-driven community organization is to help knit together various segments of Jewish Cleveland to ensure the needs of everyone are properly served – from human services to education, from security to advocacy, from Cleveland to Israel and around the world.
We are guided by our core values and principles:
- Traditional Jewish values of justice (tzedek), repair of the world (tikkun olam), acts of loving kindness (gemilut hesed), and Jewish peoplehood (klal yisrael)
- Individual and communal responsibility for the well-being of the members of our community
- Respect for the individual and for different expressions of Judaism and Jewish life
- Commitment to Israel and its people
- Commitment to Jewish learning and education
- Importance of collective action
This is not to say that these values and principles are expressed uniformly, nor is it to say individual leaders associated with the Federation – both board members and professionals – don’t have passionate, personal feelings and thoughts on a given matter. But in order to uphold our communal responsibilities properly, Federation’s “organizational stance” cannot allow one particular point of view to negate all others.
So, in a time when the information we consume no longer provides insight but only serves to incite, we must challenge ourselves and each other to find different ways to express our opinions in a way that doesn’t simply feed into the politics that sadly affect every aspect of our daily lives.
So, what can we do?
First and foremost, we listen to one another and not merely wait for our turn to speak. No matter how much our views seem to differ, we do not turn our backs on one another – especially in this time when our people are facing near-historic levels of hate. Those who seek to destroy us want to divide us. We must not allow that to happen.
Second, we take action. We refuse to look the other way – we bear witness and support those in need through volunteering and tzedakah. We write to our elected officials and hold the media accountable for the bias in their reporting. We show up when needed and refuse to allow hatred of Jews to be normalized.
Third, we teach. We teach our children to be proud of their heritage and the values that have underpinned our faith for centuries. We teach them about the resilience of our people and instill that same resilience in them today.
And, finally, we pray. We pray for peace. We pray for our hostages to come home. We pray that humanitarian aid reaches the civilians most in need. We pray for the day when neighbors can live side by side without fear. We pray for the strength to help fix our world and leave it stronger and safer for the generations to follow. We pray that Israel’s founding Declaration of Independence, as proclaimed by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 14, 1948, be fully realized:
The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books …
The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions …
We extend our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East ...
We appeal to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream – the redemption of Israel …
May it be so … and go without saying.
Shabbat Shalom. Am Yisrael Chai.
Jeffrey J. Wild, board chair
Erika B. Rudin-Luria, president
