Letter from the Chair

By Jerry Brodsky, FJMC International Inclusion Initiative

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I’m intrigued by the arguments pro and con with respect to DEI practices – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We know as a members of the human race we identify differently in so many ways; we are diverse. We know as fellow residents of the planet that treating people fairly and with dignity is universally appropriate; but fair and equal sometimes mean different things. And we know that including people, providing the opportunity for people to feel welcomed into our lives, our synagogues, our programs, is important; providing a sense of belonging.

Pro arguments simply expound on the above. But what are the con arguments? Rabbi Lappe at our recent convention provided us with some answers and challenges in this regard. Her article is included in this edition of Pride & Prejudice, but in short, she explained that we live by our master story, our expectations regarding relationships, what’s right and what’s wrong. And when our master story is disrupted (which she calls a Crash and asserts we’re in one now) we do one of three things:

(1) we deny the disruption and stick with our understanding of our world;
(2) we throw out our master story, leave it and find one that we like better, or
(3) we adjust our master story, our expectations about our relationships, and recognize our religion, our family, our world, are forever changing. Our lives today would have been unrecognizable to our great-grandparents, and the world of our great-grandchildren will be unrecognizable to us.

Encouraging us to make Option 3 decisions, adjust our lives to post-Crash modernity, Rabbi Lappe acknowledged we sometimes find ourselves taking Option 1 and hold very strongly to our beliefs despite that it might reject people close to us, or Option 2, seek and find a different master story in a different religion or community, for instance. The choice is ours, but the decisions have consequences.

We don’t have to agree on everything, but it was made clear in the breakout sessions that we have varied views of inclusivity, a deep desire to treat people fairly, a rich and challenging set of stories among us, and most importantly an organization, FJMC International, with an amazingly sensitive, supportive, and loving group of men.

Feel free to submit your comments for future editions of Pride & Prejudice by emailing them to jbrodsky@fjmc.org

Warmest Regards,
Jerry Brodsky
FJMC International Inclusion Initiative