Memo to the Anti-Defamation League: These Jews Don’t Share Your Position

Dear Mr. Foxman, Last week the New York Times reported on the Anti-Defamation League’s decision to oppose the building of the Islamic Community Center, the Cordoba House, near Ground Zero. You were quoted comparing the anguish of the 9/11 victims’ families to that of Holocaust survivors and their relatives. “Their anguish entitles them to positions that others would categorize as irrational or bigoted,” you said. We can relate to these “irrational” feelings. We are a diverse group of Jews, many of us from New York. Many of our families lost members to the Holocaust. Some of us are lucky enough to still be able to spend time with parents, grandparents, uncles or aunts who made it through the Nazi death camps. We remember how uneasy many Jews felt about the Christian crosses placed at Auschwitz-Birkenau, a situation with many parallels to that of the Cordoba House. And yet we believe that your position on the Cordoba House is wrong and that it goes against the ADL’s description of itself as an organization that fights “all forms of bigotry.” Cordoba House is not a mosque, it is an Islamic Community Center, similar to a Jewish Community Center, with a board comprised of members of different faiths. The center is not “at” Ground Zero, as certain politicians looking to exploit this divisive situation have stated. It is well-documented that the Cordoba initiative and its head, Imam Faisal Abdul Raouf, have done much to promote tolerance and interfaith relations. This, we feel, is something to celebrate. Seeking transparency from it is fine and right, but saying, as the ADL does, that “questions have been raised” about its sources of funding or its ideology is a form of scaremongering that obscures the issue. We should welcome a Muslim leader who has worked hard to overcome hatred. There are other reasons not to oppose the project. We agree with you that some victims of 9/11 are entitled to “irrational” feelings as a result of their loss. But being less tolerant will not help us heal, and it is not wise for America to alienate millions of its own citizens,let alone the hundreds of millions of Muslims in countries that Americans visit around the world. Remember, there were Muslim victims on9/11, too, Muslims that worked in the World Trade Center, or were part of the rescue crews that bravely entered the buildings that day. Previously, the ADL has won respect for its historical defence of the freedoms of others, and helped make more widely known the Jewish commitment to tikkun olam. We fear that your position on the Cordoba House project will tarnish that reputation. This issue is emotional and complex. No matter what happens with the Cordoba House now, feelings are going to be hurt. But a fundamental principle of tolerance is at stake – one we look to the ADL to uphold. Tolerance for one means tolerance for all, or else we slip down a dangerous slope.

We urge the ADL to change its position, and we urge everyone who agrees with us to sign the online petition that was started by J Street.

Endorsed by,

Sandi DuBowski, filmmaker

Eli Pariser, organizer

Nicola Behrman, writer

Robert Russell, artist

Francine Hermelin, author/entrepreneur & resident of Lower Manhattan

Julie Hermelin, filmmaker

Tarah Malhotra Feinberg, creative director

Elisha Levin, publicist

Douglas Rushkoff, author

Maya Benton, art curator

Jen Cohen, cantor

Ethan Sandler, writer/performer/producer

Rabbi David Adelson, East End Temple, New York

Michaela Watkins, performer/writer (and cousin of WTC victim)

Rachel Sklar, writer/social entrepreneur

Scott Belsky, author, entrepreneur

Adi Cohen, human rights activist

Mark Hanis, human rights activist

Kristopher Brown, attorney

Simon Glickman, writer/editor

Charles London, author

Juliet Simmons, creative director

Gideon Lichfield, journalist

Molly Rosen, writer

Stephen Elliott, author

Scott Goodstein, writer & activist

Rebecca Goldfarb, artist

Adam Werbach, environmental activist

Stacy Horne, producer

Davy Rothbart, writer/filmmaker

Jessica Tully, artist

Alan Light, writer/editor

Alana Klein, law professor

Adam Dorn, musician

Ari Wallach, social agenda strategist

Gillian Laub, photographer

Rachel Weinstein, activist and educator

Aaron Davidman, playwright

Audra Lehman, M.D.

William Wimsatt, social entrepreneur

Jeremy Goldberg, digital media entrepreneur

Joanna Rudnick, documentary filmmaker

Justin Ruben, organizer

Mireille Silcoff, writer/editor

Jeremiah Lockwood, musician

Amichai Lau-Lavie, rabbi

Ilyse Hogue, organizer

Josh Kun, professor

Josh Spear, digital strategist

Joshuah Bearman, writer

Eric Heiman, Design professor, writer

Jason Turbow, author/journalist

Zach Arrick, banker

Alan Light, writer/editor

Eugene Mirman, comedian

Todd Barry, comedian

Rachel Levin, consultant

Heidi Lender, photographer

Heather Gold, comedian

Sonia Slutsky, producer

Jessica Mullens Engelman, publicist

Eva Kolodner independent film producer

Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket

If you’d like to add your name, please do so in the comments below.

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Wiesel went back to his time in Buchenwald as a prisoner, described watching his father die there, and wondered what he would say to him now: "What can I tell him? That the world has learned? I am not sure."

Said Wiesel: "Had the world learned, there would be no Cambodia, no Rwanda, no Darfur, no Bosnia. Will the world ever learn?"

Seeing Elie Wiesel there at Buchenwald, returning as one of the world’s great moral leaders to the place that forced him down that path, flanked on one side by Angela Merkel, the leader of the country that once put him there, and on the other by Obama, the first black U.S. President in a place representing the absolute worst evils of racism; that was an amazing moment. But moments must be followed up by more moments, and action.

"Mr. President, we have such high hopes for you… because you, with your moral vision of history, will be able and compelled to change this world into a better place." For his part, Obama said: "I will not forget what I have seen here."

Great. Awesome. Done. But now what? The Wiesel speech was all over the cable nets, and is burning up Twitter. The image of the kindly-faced elderly man with snowy-white hair blowing in the wind beside the solemn-faced U.S. President and German Chancellor was a great TV moment. But moments must be followed up by more moments, and action.

Hold that thought for a moment. Check this out, from the Elie Wiesel Foundation site:

To Our Friends:

We are deeply saddened and distressed that we, along with many others, have been the victims of what may be one of the largest investment frauds in history. We are writing to inform you that the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity had $15.2 million under management with Bernard Madoff Investment Securities. This represented substantially all of the Foundation’s assets.

The values we stand for are more needed than ever. We want to assure you that the Foundation remains committed to carrying on the lifelong work of our founder, Elie Wiesel. We shall not be deterred from our mission to combat indifference, intolerance, and injustice around the world.

At this difficult time, the Foundation wishes to express its profound gratitude for all your support.

The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity

"This represented substantially all of the Foundation’s assets." $15.2 million and 20 years of good works, of building something that not only makes a difference but stands for making a difference, every day — gone.

Well, actually, that’s not quite true – $15.2 million may be gone, but it doesn’t represent all the assets of the Elie Wiesel Foundation – not by a long shot. The asset of Wiesel himself, standing there beside President Obama at Buchenwald, a living reminder of a very bad memory – one that he refuses to allow the world to forget.

More broadly, there’s the asset of what Wiesel stands for: Fighting indifference to suffering worldwide – see above re: Bosnia, Darfur, Cambodia, Rwanda – and forcing people to pay attention. There’s the asset of tireless activism by Wiesel and his wife, Marion; the programs set in motion by the foundation, like Beit Tziporah and the Darfurian Refugee Program to provide education and recreation for child refugees; and the overall message of ethics and tolerance and humanitarianism and standing up for what’s right.

All of that was brought front and center today in an amazing, unforgettable moment. But when the moment fades, that’s when the action has to begin.

So – if you want to take action – then you can take a moment….and donate to the Elie Wisel Foundation. The sacred duty of memory starts here.

One more quote from Wiesel:

"The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference."

Don’t be indifferent. It just takes a moment.

Update: Full transcript of remarks by President Obama, Chancellor Merkel and Elie Wiesel at Buchenwald earlier today available here.

Update #2: The Elie Wiesel Foundation is now on Twitter! Follow them here: http://twitter.com/eliewieselfdn and here: http://twitter.com/eliewiesel.

This piece originally appeared on The Huffington Post and is reprinted with permission.

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