On One Foot
century, Jews had attained a great level of confidence and security in diaspora society, and Jewish groups were advocating for Jewish values in larger society. This began with liberal commu- nities and social welfare/ tikun olam advocacy; the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism was found- ed in 1959. Eventually, Or- thodox groups developed the confidence to follow suit (the Orthodox Union founded their Institute for Public Affairs in the 1980s)
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz PRESIDENT AND DEAN, VALLEY BEIT MIDRASH
— especially if they feel that the existing voices on a top- ic are misrepresenting what they feel Judaism actually says. Canadians will be head- ing to the polls to vote in a federal election sometime this year. Should we be pre- senting and advocating for our values in public? Are there benefits? Limitations? Should we be taking our Ju- daism into account when considering issues such as abortion or immigration?
ONE THING that’s clear to me from the last year is that my love for the Jewish people has reshaped my social justice ac- tivism in that as much as I may care about racial justice or im- migrant rights or climate change or reproductive rights, I won’t work with groups that are an- ti-Israel or who are antisemitic. I kind of think of it as: halakhah doesn’t tell me what to do on this, but it does give some red lines, some broader parameters. Within those red lines, what’s going to guide me then is a sense of what’s reasonable, and a general sense of empathy. I find it to be problematic for one’s Ju- daism to be in any way perfectly overlapping with partisan pol- itics. I think that, from Jewish sources, we have a thrust in a certain direction [on many is- sues]. How that gets concret- ized is where it gets subjective.
1 HERE WE SEE HIRSCH, a leading rabbi of nineteenth century Germany, making a strong defence of modernism — in stark contrast to much of the isolationism that the burgeoning Hassidic movement was bringing to Juda- ism at the time. 2 PERHAPS THE MOST FAMOUS Jewish legal authority of the twentieth century, it’s notable that Feinstein isn’t advocating for bringing your Jew- ish values into the polling booth here. You could either interpret this as be- ing because it was obvious to him that you should do so, or as evidence that Jewish values aren’t relevant when you decide how to vote. Here as always, the text becomes a mirror for your own ideas. 3 A LATER MIDRASHIC COLLECTION, this was clearly written in a context where Jews were governing themselves. It is nevertheless instructive here for its bias towards action, and participating in social issues. One might imag- ine that the author would be inclined to extend this exhortation to argue for justice in the general social sphere as well as the Jewish one.
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