Wednesday was a day of protest. Well, every day these days is a day of protest, but the final day of November was special. Throughout that day, Jews came together under the banner of #JewishResistance to protest Steve Bannon’s appointment and call for his immediate termination as chief strategist. Again, this has been happening since he got the job, but what made November 30 special was its breadth. There were over thirty actions in all, all across the United States, plus a solidarity event in London.

The organizer of this initiative was If Not Now, a grassroots organization of mostly young Jews focused on anti-Occupation work, started in reaction to Operation Protective Edge in 2014. It explicitly calls for an end to American Jewish institutional support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. So it might seem odd that a group so focused on international affairs has pivoted so neatly to tackle anti-Semitism at home, but on their website, If Not Now explicitly recognizes and stands against anti-Semitism, and notes that even if as few as three of their members recognize a need, they will swarm to meet it. Clearly, they recognized this domestic need, and have organized spectacularly in response.

Rain along the east coast dampened turnout, but New York City carried on. First a small number of activists gathered outside the Birthright headquarters (Birthright is largely funded by Trump donor Sheldon Adelson), and using blue yarn to be reminiscent of the tzitzit, drew a symbolic line.

Which side are you on? This is the question put to our Jewish establishments, who to our chagrin and their shame, continue to either remain silent on Bannon or outright support him, emboldening the white nationalists who harass Jews, Muslims, and People of Color across the nation.

Later that evening, a larger group, about 35 people, gathered at Brooklyn Bridge. No yarn here, but chanting, signs, and singing in Hebrew and English dominated this space. “Which side are you on?,” sang the activists as we all linked hands and stretched out along the pedestrian walkway. We didn’t have the numbers to span the bridge, but we took up space, and made our voices heard.

Jewish protests are a bit different than the others I’ve been to. Singing takes a much greater precedence. Shouting common slogans will occur (“Show me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!”), but so will songs like Olam Hesed Yibaneh (“Build This World from Love”). Symbolism is common in our culture and religion, and this is just as true in our civic activities— whether it’s blue yarn, or the use of a shofar or gragger (Boo Nazis!).

The police seem to understand that most Jewish protests tend to be low key, or at least the smaller ones do. There were only a handful to watch us gather and then take the bridge, and their body language remained relaxed. The police officers by the bridge were explicit in wishing us well, telling us what to do to avoid traffic issues, and being generally warm towards the group – something that I have not seen be the case for larger protest groups, especially when those groups are majority People of Color. It was surreal, if heartening to see explicit police support. “Good luck out there!”

I don’t know if anyone else saw us— the rain kept many indoors. But we were one protest of many, and this is just the beginning of something much bigger. We’re picking up speed, and hitting the public eye:

Fight the Neo-Nazi Alt Right. Check out @IfNotNowOrg: the faces of the #JewishResistance https://t.co/J86J6uvQ3x

— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) December 1, 2016

See you at the next protest.

Photo Credit B. Lana Guggenheim.

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For hours on Monday night after the announcement that Darren Wilson would not be indicted, I stared at my computer screen feeling as though no language could be adequate. My heart was and still is with the expressions of grief, shock, outrage and solidarity. Each post in my Facebook feed offered something of that ilk: a poem by Langston Hughes, clips of Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden urging “positive change,” quotes from Atticus Finch and James Baldwin. Simple expressions of sadness hit hardest.

Every so often, disagreement would flash across comment threads—but it seemed designed to provoke, usually to troll.

I tried to imagine those who were unsure, who didn’t live in an echo chamber of either ilk, not getting constant reinforcement from either script, that “black lives matter” or that the a police officer had lawfully killed a violent thug.

Twenty hours remained before I was due to board my flight home to Cleveland for the Thanksgiving holiday. I knew that I was bound to encounter someone just that unsure—maybe a cousin, a high school acquaintance, or a neighbor. I knew we’d be even more likely to talk about the deaths of black people at the hands of police, with a family member on staff at the school that was attended by Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy shot and killed by the Cleveland police after waving a toy gun.

That’s the Thanksgiving trope: gathered around a picturesque table laden with food and beatific expressions of gratitude, somehow all the fissures and disagreements, personal and political, that lurk beneath the familiar façade find a way to leach into the dinner talk. Were we going to shout our slogans, condemn loved ones’ inadvertent condoning of racism and targeted police violence? What happens after we demand that our less social-justice-oriented family members adopt our frame of mind, and then they disappoint us with their ambivalence? Some awkward passing of the Ocean Spray cranberry sauce and a desultory goodbye kiss on the cheek?

I thought about the Passover seder, how, while the wise child and the rebellious child are having it out over their strongly-formed opinions, Jews are still obligated to make space for the simple child, who asks only, “what is this?” and for the one who does not even know how to ask a question. What follows is the best response I could brainstorm (originally posted on Facebook).

Presumably the grand jury deliberated on evidence, conflicting accounts, information presented on all sides as “the facts.” In fact, reports show they may have been provided with an overabundance of evidence, an unusually voluminous document dump of the type usually reserved for trials.

There must be, I can only assume, legally compelling reasons for not indicting this officer. “The jurors had to consider whether Officer Wilson acted within the limits of the lethal-force law,” according to the New York Times, and evidently they did.

But there were legally compelling reasons to acquit George Zimmerman, and the officers who beat Rodney King. We have yet to find out what actions if any will be taken against the officers who killed Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, or Ezell Ford. With Darren Wilson, the decision to decline indictment is tantamount to saying Mike Brown’s death, along with others, did not require any retribution or response.

The arguments that every one of these acts, to say nothing of hundreds more, were done in self-defense implies that, black men always represent potential criminality and lethal threat—even when they are found (too late) to be unarmed. When, each time, the law condones use of lethal force against black men, when there are no consequences for actions that result in death, the message to those who kill is: “You did the right thing.”

The result: black men are 21 times more likely to be killed by police than white ones.

If you are confused or intimidated by people’s outrage, anger and sadness: we are not “making” race an issue. We are naming the central role that race plays in civilian deaths at the hands of police officers. Deaths that represent lives so insignificant that their loss does not warrant a trial—these deaths only happen to black men.

To insist on examining each of these strictly on a case-by-case basis only illustrates a larger point: that there are a seemingly inexhaustible number of legal rationales for killing a black man.

Every time our juries, our police forces, our judges and our media, paid for by our taxes and our consumerism—condone the notion that some people’s lives really are just that insignificant, we bring ourselves closer to that same judgment. This matters for you. Black Lives Matter FOR. YOU.

When speaking to Jewish family, I recalled a sermon from Rosh Hashanah called Ferguson/Fargesn, about the mandate for Jews to remember that it was us who were “stopped and frisked” –

“If anyone could identify with young men magically deemed pathologically criminal for no other reason save their ethnicity, it would be Jews… Now we are not the ram in the story of Isaac’s sacrifice. We can be the angels, who are not afraid, who speak for God – “don’t put a hand on the boy!”

Amy Schiller writes about politics, feminism, philanthropy, and pop culture. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Salon, The Daily Beast, and The American Prospect. Her website is amybessschiller.com. Follow her on Twitter here.

(Image: Scott Olson/Getty)

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The Mark Chagall murals and crystal chandeliers hanging in the Metropolitan Opera were visible from the barricades on Columbus Avenue and 65th Street, where hundreds of protesters gathered yesterday to denounce the season premiere of John Adams’ controversial opera, The Death of Klinghoffer. The protest drew a varied crowd, ranging from young children accompanied by their families, to college students, to the elderly. Some had arrived as early as noon.

Signs that read “Cancel racist opera, insult to arts” and “Gelb, are you taking terror $$$” were held high during the demonstration. Long after the start of the premiere, cries of “shame, shame, shame”—often led by some of the guest speakers—boomed across Lincoln Center. Notable attendees included former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Congressman Peter King, who both addressed the crowd. “If you listen,” said Giuliani, “you will see that the emotional context of the opera truly romanticizes the terrorists.”

The Death of Klinghoffer, with music by John Adams and a libretto by Alice Goodman, has incited fury since the Met decided added it to its performance schedule in February. The opera is based on the assassination of Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound American Jew who was shot and thrown overboard an Italian cruise ship by PLF terrorists in 1985.

Reactions to the opera tend to fall into two opposing camps: those who defend free speech and ‘art for art’s sake,’ and those who claim that the libretto perpetuates anti-Semitism and glorifies terrorists. Most of the people interviewed had not seen the opera or read the entire libretto.

“It’s a chance for us to physically voice our opinions and show our unhappiness—and disappointment—with the Metropolitan opera,” said 19-year-old Rosie Lenoff, who studies psychology at Stern College. “They are saying it’s freedom of expression, freedom of speech, but if it [the opera] was about any other group of people, they wouldn’t be able to get away with it.”

Approximately thirty students aged 14-17 from Rambam Mesivta, located in Lawrence, N.Y., arrived at the rally on a private bus. Students from the school had attended the September 22nd rally as well. “The Met is putting on an opera that they call art, but it’s really glorifying terrorism,” said senior Gabe Motechin, who helped to organize the delegation.

“The problem is that in this historical event there was no conflict—it was a one-sided thing,” said 14-year-old Gidon Kaminer, a student the Heschel School in Manhattan, who was with a group that included his mother and a friend. “A man was shot in the head for no reason and pushed off a boat, so that wouldn’t make for a very interesting opera. In order to create this interesting opera, they have to draw a parallel—they have to create a conflict—they have to humanize them [the terrorists].”

Klinghoffer’s daughters, Lisa and Ilsa, aided by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), requested that the opera not be simulcast or broadcast on the radio as was previously planned. In a statement which will be included in the Met’s playbills, they wrote: “It presents false moral equivalencies without context and offers no real insight into the historical reality and the senseless murder of an American Jew. It rationalizes, romanticizes, and legitimizes the terrorist murder of our father.”

While Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, has defended the inclusion of the opera in this year’s concert schedule, he yielded to the joint request of the Klinghoffer family and the ADL.

Hyman Silverglad, an attorney and resident of the Lower East Side, says he knew the Klinghoffers long before the controversy. He denounced the opera for “stimulating anti-Semitism throughout the world,” and took great offense at the argument that censorship is a violation of first amendment rights. He was pleased to see a young presence at the demonstration. He said “it was a sight for sore eyes to finally see young Jewish people taking part in these issues,” many of whom, have “turned off” Jewish affairs due to assimilation.

The Death of Klinghoffer premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1991, only six years after the events that it depicts. Many, including former New York Governor George Pataki, have blasted the title alone, which critics say undermines and trivializes Klinghoffer’s brutal murder. O­peras give dramatic weight to both the protagonists and antagonists, a compositional technique employed by canonical composers like Mozart and Verdi, and The Death of Klinghoffer is no exception. Protesters say they are not enraged over the fact that the terrorists have arias, but rather that they sing lyrics many regard as anti-Semitic. (For example, “whenever poor men are gathered they can find Jews getting fat.”)

Siblings Sam and Shayna Schochet, aged 24 and 19 respectively, took issue with the how the opera frames the politics of Klinghoffer’s murder, arguing that it portrays the hijackers as “freedom fighters.”

“From my own estimation, I conclude that they are sympathizing with the Palestinian terrorists,” said Sam.

Shana added, “they’re humanizing the terrorist… At the end of the day, [Klinghoffer] was a helpless Jewish man who went on a cruise with his wife. He was killed. That’s not [the actions of] a freedom fighter; that’s a terrorist.”

(Image: A protester holds up a sign outside the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center on opening night of the opera, ‘The Death of Klinghoffer’ on October 20. Credit: Bryan Thomas/Getty)

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On July 24 in New York City, adults, teenagers, and children participated in an “art vigil” organized by the not-for-profit Israel advocacy organization, Artists 4 Israel.

Just north of Washington Square Park, one group of participants created drawings with oil crayons and reflected on a vigil, consisting of art and electric candles, set up to honor those suffering on both sides of the conflict. Across the street, beneath the Washington Square arch, dozens of men and women—many with Israeli flags draped across their shoulders—held hands and danced as they sang “Am Yisrael Chai.” Interspersed were participants holding signs that read “Free Palestine is Code for Kill the Jews,” and “Hamas Ruins the Lives of Innocent Children.”

These juxtaposing responses to the Gaza conflict—one group focusing on solidarity and politics, the other more meditative—reflect the range in attitudes of American Jews towards the current conflagration. (In fact, The Times of Israel reports that the art vigil combined with a “concurrent” but seemingly unrelated pro-Israel demonstration.) But between these factions was there was a common thread of feeling: support for Israel, and a desire to see Hamas’s terror capabilities extinguished.

Participants at the event expressed concern at the rising fatalities—now at 1,650 Palestinian civilian deaths, 63 Israeli military deaths, and three Israeli civilian deaths—and appreciated the ability to have a place to create, pray, and express support for Israel.

Artists 4 Israel was formed in 2009 during Operation Cast Lead, in response to the growing number of international artists boycotting Israel and refusing to perform in the country. Its aim is to refute “misconceptions that the arts community does not support Israel” as well as “beautify the landscape and strengthen the spirit of the people of Israel and the Middle East.”

“This is a first of a kind art vigil and the idea is paint and prayer—whichever people connect with and it’s in support of Israel,” said Lance Laytner, public relations officer for Artists 4 Israel. “The hope of the art exhibit is it does something that only art can do.”

Ariel Maron, who is raising funds through an Indiegogo campaign to purchase equipment for soldiers in the IDF, said he had come to “cheer on Israel, show support for all the Jews in Israel, and promote other countries to do the same.”

“It’s unfortunate what’s happening in Europe, in Turkey, and Paris with the burning of the synagogues and hopefully we’ll have more non-violent rallies,” he continued. “We love Muslims, we love Arabs; we don’t like terror.”

Several vigil participants expressed concern about the fact that Hamas is using children as human shields.

“I think people need to understand and know that there is terrorism going on right now in the Middle East. What I’m the most upset about—as is my organization—is that children are being used as human shields by Hamas,” said Hillary Markowitz of Mothers Against Terrorism. “Hamas is telling people, ‘put your children here’.”

The exhibit also featured a Bomb Shelter Museum, a structure constructed with the same dimensions and thickness as the shelters used in Sderot, Israel. Inside the shelter, a screen played footage of families running from rockets fired by Hamas.

On July 22, Artists 4 Israel set up the Bomb Shelter Museum in the Upper Senate Park, near the capital building in Washington, D.C., inviting President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, and all congress members. But achieving the turnout they desired was described as “a challenge” in their press release.

“There has been a lot of advice from U.S. officials and even some unexpectedly snide comments—from Secretary Kerry in particular—about how Israel should handle the current crisis,” said Artists 4 Israel Executive Director Craig Dershowitz in a statement about the Washington exhibit. “But those same officials have never had to experience grabbing their children and running for their lives. They say you cannot understand a person’s decisions until you have walked a mile in their shoes. We’re not asking a mile, just as many steps as you can take in 15 seconds.”

Pastors, rabbis, and an imam from the NYU Islamic Center, Khalid Latiff, were invited to participate in the Washington Square Park vigil. Imam Latiff lent his support, but was unable to attend because it was the last night of Ramadan. Pastor Dan Quagliata of The Bridge Church and Rabbi Scott Matous of the New Synagogue both attended, and jointly led a prayer session at the end of the event. “We’re for peace in Israel. We’re for peace in the Middle East. We’re for peace in all the communities—and to try to show from a faith-based perspective that everybody’s welcome,” said Rabbi Matous.

Elisa, a 19-year-old woman whose brother is a lone soldier in the Israeli Defense Force and who is getting ready to make Aliyah herself, drew the emblem of the IDF inside the star of David. Her mother drew two small caricatures to represent an Israeli soldier helping a Palestinian child. “A lot of people find peace, find love with connecting with other human beings, and art is a form to do that in,” said Elisa.

As part of the outreach aims of the organization, the drawings made at the event will be distributed to bomb shelters located in schools and daycare centers throughout Israel.

Yvonne Marie Juris is a second year student in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. She writes about religion and the arts. Follow her on Twitter at @fancifemini.

(Image: Seth Wolfson, Artists 4 Israel)

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Before the day technically started (Pre-waking up, shower, coffee) I liked Michael Ian Black.  After reading about how he handled a heckler who compared Obama to Hitler(“He killed six million of my people, which is six million more than Obama has killed.  You’re a fucking idiot”) I liked him more, and bothered him with four questions.

Do you really feel bad? He heckled you, didn’t he deserve it?

I do feel bad. Not because he didn’t deserve a response, but because he didn’t deserve the response he got, which was more or less an inarticulate string of profanities. It was easy and cheap, and I could have found a way to make the incident funnier instead of just upping the vitriol. To be fair to myself, after I screamed at him, I did ask him if there was anything he wanted to say to defend himself, but by that point he was gone. (I couldn’t see him because, as I said in my piece, he was shrouded in darkness.)

Is this an example of “Jewish guilt”?

No. My guilt has more to do with being an American. I’m the first person to bitch when people start screaming past each other over political/social/religious disagreements in this country, and yet what do I do when presented with an opportunity to lose my shit? I lose my shit. Not good. I definitely don’t want to come off sounding all high and mighty, but I don’t like what’s going on in my country, and I don’t want to make it worse.

Is this just a new routine for you? Are you going to plant people in the audience to ask moronic questions like this so you can become an “angry comedian”?

I should ask that guy to go on the road with me. That’s a great idea. Before this happened, I was thinking about developing a long piece about the nature of being offended. What does it mean to say “I’m offended?” Why are people so offended all the time? This incident made me think I should try to figure that piece out because I think there’s something worth talking about there.

If the same situation happened, except it was on “Celebrity Poker Showdown”, and Hank Azaria (also a Jew) said Obama was like Hitler, would you tear into him?

It would never happen. I mean, I would have to believe a Jewish comedian saying that would be saying it as a comment on people who say stupid shit like that. However, if I pressed, and it turned out that person was actually expressing that sentiment, I would zero problem tearing into him, even if that celebrity was as ripped as Hank. I would just try to do a better job at it.

That’s nice…

Incidentally, although I love Obama, I hope my reaction would have been as vehement if the heckler had said the same thing about W, who I did not care for. Here’s something I believe that nobody else seems to believe: people are doing the best they can. They’re trying to make good decisions, and instead of seeing everybody who disagrees with us as the enemy, we should first take it at face value that they are doing their best. Even when we think they’re fucking morons.

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