whylorinda:I wore a tallit because I wanted to be there not just as a private citizen but also as a
whylorinda:I wore a tallit because I wanted to be there not just as a private citizen but also as a representative of Torah, to stand for and with a vision of religion in general, and of Judaism in particular, that insists upon the dignity of human beings even in a world in which human dignity is so often trodden and trampled upon. I wanted the stand we were taking to be about a vision of Torah and the ways it can bring healing rather than hatred into the world. I hope in some small way we contributed to that. Let’s focus on that.Only today did I fully come to understand why I felt it was so important to be there. A friend, an African-American, told me that when her young daughter saw a picture of Jill Jacobs and me at the protest, she said, “Mommy, they are not black. That is so nice of them.” I cannot describe how deeply this moves me and how profoundly it breaks my heart. We were there because we are human and wanted to make it clear that we see black Americans as every bit as human as we are. Let us dream of a world— let us build a world— in which my friend’s daughter can say, “Mommy, they are human, too, And that is their responsibility.” Let’s focus on that.—Shai Held https://www.facebook.com/shai.held/posts/10205434488407625?pnref=story(25 people were arrested last night at a solidarity action on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, amongst them Rabbis Jill Jacobs, Shai Held, and Sharon Kleinbaum, and Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers. For more information: http://forward.com/articles/210399/new-york-rabbis-arrested-at-eric-garner-police-bru/) -- source link
#nyc#police brutality#antiblackness#jewish