Jews are the only minority asked to prove, repeatedly, that they are indeed a minority.
By EMILY SCHRADERUpdated: DECEMBER 21, 2020 22:01THE INABILITY to empathize and understand the struggles of others almost always comes from those with less societal obstacles to success. Pictured: Ethiopians demonstrate last year in Jerusalem against police violence and discrimination following the death of Solomon Tekah. (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
As identity politics continues to dominate discussions both inside and outside the Jewish world, it must be said that acknowledging additional challenges some groups of Jews face – notably women, Mizrahim, blacks and LGBTQ – doesn’t require us to be divided or pitted against one another.To put it more bluntly, Jewish unity in the fight against antisemitism doesn’t necessitate sticking our heads in the sand about privilege within our own communities. Refusing to recognize inequalities, whether historical or present-day, will only enable oppressive trends to continue. We cannot grow and improve as a community, as a country, by sweeping shortcomings under the rug.Today’s Jewish community has an extremely diverse and rich history. Together, we have faced persecution on nearly every corner of the earth, at the hands of all the major world religions, and under the rule of Europeans, Arabs and beyond. We have a shared collective trauma as the Jewish people, but we also have different experiences. That is not to say one is better than the other, but these differences should be recognized.Today, we again face an onslaught of antisemitism of various forms, ranging from the online sphere to terrorism to the far Left to the far Right. Yet in response to some of this antisemitism, too many activists are whitewashing our unique stories in the name of “fighting antisemitism” together. We aren’t stronger when we erase the trauma or challenges of Jews of color, Jewish women, or LGBTQ Jews. We are stronger when we acknowledge them and fight for genuine equality.To pretend as though the minorities within a minority (Jews) have the same opportunities and experiences in society is disingenuous and hypocritical when at the same time we demand that the world recognize how antisemitism impacts the experiences Jews have in society.Of course, it’s a fact that a British Jew faces challenges and concerns that a British Christian does not even have to think about. But it’s also a fact that a Jewish Ashkenazi man in Israel who comes from a family with two working professional parents has an inherent upper hand over a Jewish Mizrahi woman in Israel who was raised by a single mother. That is not to say that the Jewish Mizrahi woman cannot be immensely successful – more so even than the Ashkenazi man – but acknowledging the systematic disadvantage that one faces and the other does not makes a difference. It allows us to be honest about where we are as a society, as a people and as a nation.When we tell Jews to stop talking about the inequalities they face as black Jews, as Jewish women, as LGBTQ Jews, as Mizrahim – when we say, “Why can’t we just be united? We’re all Jews” – it is really no different from others responding to antisemitism by saying “Why can’t we stop talking about our differences? We’re all Americans!” It is an excuse not to face a painful reality – that we still have a lot of work to do as a society.The inability to empathize and understand the struggles of others almost always comes from those with less societal obstacles to success, which is all the more reason for us to continue the discussions and educate one another about the challenges various Jewish groups face and have faced.As a historically oppressed minority (Jews) which contains many additional minorities, it is understandable why so many Jews feel the need to promote unity, but it cannot come at the expense of erasing the experiences of other Jewish minorities.IN RECENT years, left-wing anti-Israel activists and antisemites have intentionally excluded Jews from intersectional discussions on shared struggles as minority groups by incorrectly labeling Jews as “white” – the latest catchall term which essentially refers to maximum “privilege” in society: skin color, education, health, money and more.
This move is, in and of itself, antisemitic, as it attempts to portray Jews as a part of a group that has actually oppressed them. Ironically, Jews are the only minority that is consistently pushed out of these intersectional discussions, and the only minority that is forced to prove, time and time again, that it is in fact a minority – even while facing bigotry from intersectional thought leaders as part of the identity politics game, which is fraught with inconsistencies and intellectual dishonesty to begin with.In response, many Jews are quick to point out that Jews are not in fact white at all by today’s politically correct definition, even if they are “white-passing.” After all, Jews have been persecuted for centuries – Ashkenazim and Sephardim alike – for not being white enough. When being “white” was desirable in society, Jews were not white. Now that being “white” is undesirable, as it represents “privilege,” Jews are suddenly “white” despite Middle Eastern roots.In the fight against such blatant ignorance, all of us are together.However, unlike what occurs with Jews in the global discussion of identity politics, recognizing internal biases in the Jewish community isn’t about suppressing voices that are born with more privilege. It’s about acknowledging levels of privilege in our own society in order to improve and be aware of the trends that occur.We can fight antisemitism as one people while also recognizing that there has been historical oppression of certain groups of Jews, sometimes even at the hands of other Jews, and that it impacts the opportunities these groups have today. When we respect each other’s history, we are better able to stand united as Israelis, as Jews, in the face of antisemitism. But when we silence each other and cover up incidents of misogyny, homophobia or racism, we are weakening our community from within.The writer is the CEO of Social Lite Creative LLC and a research fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute.
