A Wish List for the Day After Hanukkah

Now that Hanukkah has concluded, and we have put away our Menorahs and the awkward holiday greetings for our Gentile friends and neighbors until next year, there is still some unfinished business for us to consider. Before it’s too late, let’s distribute one last round of presents on what we’ll call the ninth day of the Festival of Lights:

For Jewish and pro-Israel college students: a safer and more welcoming campus environment than most universities provide for them. In the likely circumstance that such a gift is not deliverable, the next best present would be a more effective and much better-coordinated support system that helps these young people confront the enormous challenge they face every day. While the rest of us can retreat to the safety of our homes, our offices and our country clubs, we send these teenagers and twenty-somethings onto the front lines to stand up to a highly professionalized and lavishly funded group of anti-Zionists and anti-Semites. We can do better.

For Bibi Netanyahu and his supporters: a sustainable coalition government that includes Israeli centrists like former allies Benny Gantz, Gideon Sa’ar and other members of their National Unity Party. Netanyahu’s current alliance with the Religious Zionist Party and other ultra-conservative leaders will be a precarious arrangement for its entire existence, continuously vulnerable to extremist threats from within and to continued violence from the Palestinian territories and their supporters. How much better — and safer – for Netanyahu and the country he again leads to have a more stable foundation on which to build a government.

For Latinos, Blacks, Asian-Pacific Islanders, evangelicals, Persians and other communities whose concerns are overshadowed in American politics: a  stronger partnership with the American Jewish community. There was a time when Jews played an integral role in this nation’s civil rights movement, but over the last several decades those relationships have largely withered. While the rising numbers of anti-Semitic incidents is a cause for justified alarm and requires a powerful response, our community is not large enough to succeed as a unilateral force. The current outreach efforts are piecemeal and insufficient: one or more of the national Jewish organizations must make such bridge-building into a much higher priority.

For the women of Iran, the Uyghurs of China and other oppressed voices around the world: much more visible and forceful support from American Jews and the state of Israel. It is a mystery that the international #MeToo movement has not embraced the cause of the brave women of Iran. It is unsurprising but extremely discouraging that the Arab world has abandoned their fellow Muslims in the northwest Xinjiang region of China in exchange for the financial largesse of the Chinese government. Most of all, it’s difficult to understand why the Jewish people, who have faced such persecution over the millennia are not willing to stand with others who find themselves facing such ugly bigotry and discrimination.

For the many American Jews who commendably involve themselves in our nation’s politics: a reminder that effectively fighting anti-Semitism requires a willingness to confront our own partisan allies. Partisan politics is fueled by selective outrage: we’re much more inclined to overlook unacceptable behavior when it comes from a member of our own political party. But virulent anti-Zionism from the left and equally lethal blood-and-soil nationalism from the right represent equally grave threats, and the willingness of both Democratic and Republican leaders to either minimize or deny anti-Semitism from within their ranks is becoming even more dangerous. We must stop justifying such behavior – on either side of the aisle.

For Israelis who are unaware that many diaspora Jews have adopted different religious and cultural customs in their own countries, a lesson in compassion and empathy that will help them understand that Israel is a homeland for all Jews no matter where we live.

And for diaspora Jews who have forgotten the dangers that the people of Israel face on a daily basis, a corresponding lesson in compassion and empathy that will allow help us understand the steps that Israelis must take to protect themselves, their families, and our homeland.