Thanks ADL

More than a week has passed since the Anti-Defamation League made national news by coming out against the placement of a mosque and community center near ground zero in lower Manhattan. Since then, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9-0 to allow a building to be torn down so that the new center could be build. This was the last real procedural hurdle the project needed to overcome. Now it just needs to raise the $100 million it will take to put up the ambitious JCC-like building.

 

The ADL released their statement on a Friday, which is usually the time to make an announcement you feel you have to make but aren’t particularly proud of. If you are hoping for press coverage, just about any other day is better. 

 

But it doesn’t always work. If the ADL was hoping to quietly weigh in, without many people noticing, they failed spectacularly. Their statement was among the top stories in the days that followed. Opponents of the project were heartened to have the venerable ADL on their side, enjoying the credibility it provided to a campaign that was propelled significantly by anti-Muslim sentiment and political posturing for electoral gain. Supporters were… I think “outraged” captures their prevailing reaction.

 

It was heartening to know that many Jews were among the outraged. But was what perhaps more important was their acute need to express their outrage as Jews.

 

Because the ADL is one of the highest profile Jewish organizations in the United States, its decision to oppose the center near ground zero was seen by many as representing the views of American Jews. This was true despite the fact that many Jewish organizations, including the local chapter of the ADL, the JCRC, the JCC, had made public statements in support months earlier. Paul Krugman, Michael Bloomberg, Alan Dershowitz, Thomas Friedman, Jeffrey Goldberg, Peter Beinart, Jonathan Chait, and many others all weighed in knowing that their voices were even more urgent because they are Jews. Jewish organizations and communal leaders also felt pressure to make their views on the subject known once the ADL had weighed in. 

 

So we owe the ADL a small debt of gratitude. Too often

 

Yet there are many times when our voices – as Jews – can make a real difference. Like when Glenn Beck says progressivism leads to Nazism. Or when Tea Party activists claim our President is a Muslim who wasn’t born in the United States. Or even when the nannies who care for our kids are seeking the basic protections enjoyed by other workers.  We need to recognize these opportunities and take advantage of them. Take advantage, because they often allow us to have more influence than those who don’t have our particular kind of credibility, or access, or authority.

 

Religious freedom coupled with economic opportunity is what drew most Jews to the United States. Here at Jewish Funds for Justice we work on the latter but not the former. And yet, because of the ADL’s statement, we also feel like we cannot remain silent. 

 

And so tomorrow our President, Simon Greer, will appear with leaders from a range of faith traditions on a strong statement about the center and those who have exploited it for political gain. I'll be sure to post it here as well.