'Jews must come first': Now is the time to prioritize Jewish survival - opinion

I never thought, after sitting on Associated Federation Community Boards of Directors in Baltimore for 29 consecutive years, I would write this: The October 7 massacre changed me and it should change how our federations and Jewish communal organizations deal with tikkun olam.

Tikkun olam has always been part of my holistic Jewish being, my Jewish lens, and my essence. My parents were Holocaust survivors. Although my parents sent me to a yeshiva from kindergarten through 12th grade, they had to work on Shabbat and I grew up within their friend’s non-religious Holocaust survivor culture. My parents worked many hours in their corner grocery store; Mae Hedgpeth, a kind and gentle southern Black housekeeper, was there every day after school for me and my brother – my “surrogate” mom.

As I grew older, I passionately desired to lead an Orthodox life but I yearned to be a part of the “other” Jewish community, the one I grew up in, around all those who were not Jewish, always seeking to build bridges. Kiruv, or changing people, was never my goal. I believed in tikkun olam before it became in vogue decades ago.

THEN, OUR Jewish lives changed, for this generation, as the Holocaust did for my parent’s generation. Jews need to understand why the October 7 massacre by Hamas must change our view of tikkun olam. As tikkun olam grew dramatically over the decades in Jewish communal organizations, too many Jewish leaders allowed it to take on a life of its own. In too many cases, being Jewish was no longer the top priority.

'Jews must come first' mentality

Being proud and unafraid to show and express being Jewish, and why we do so, got lost within the overarching desire to practice tikkun olam.

Raising funds in any way possible to sustain the needs of the Jewish community, putting forward political stances, and making partnerships without building in the most important part of the fabric of “Jews must come first,” must stop. We must now come to a moment of reckoning: What worked and felt good within the framework of tikkun olam was changed by the October 7 massacre in Israel by Hamas terrorists.

Jewish communal organizations can no longer feel good simply by defining themselves as Jewish. In all interactions outside the Jewish community, when we speak of social justice and equity (today’s tikkun olam), we mean it but without any fear. We must always add the disclaimer that we are Jewish first and foremost. We are not equal – we are #1 to our own survival and proud of it. I recently made aliyah and my Jewishness being #1 is no longer a question for me.

I still yearn for tikkun olam and my old communal colleagues. But tikkun olam is merely a damaging slogan if we must show our Jewishness through transparency forced upon our politics and desires for partnerships.

It is time for the Jewish essence to once again reemerge front and center within tikkun olam. I have seen your messaging, and you are still playing by the same communal play-book prior to October 7. Our history repeats itself and here we are.

If not now, when... and the “when” has passed.

The writer was a Jewish communal leader for almost 30 years in Baltimore, Maryland and made aliyah to Efrat four months ago.