idana goldberg
In the portion from the book of Numbers that Jewish communities around the world will read this week, Balak, the Moabite King, launches a communications offensive against the Israelites. Having heard of their military might and fearful that a traditional assault will fail, Balak hires the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites – an ancient version of the slander and disinformation campaigns that are all too familiar today. God intervenes and, despite several attempts, Balaam appears unable to utter the damaging curses he’s been hired to deliver. Instead, he pronounces enigmatic descriptions of the Israelite nation, blurring the lines between oracle, blessing, and curse. In one attempt, Balaam describes the Israelites as “hen am l’badad yishkon, u vagoyim lo yitchashev,” translated as, “there is a people that dwells alone not reckoned among the nations.” Is this a blessing, depicting the solidarity and unity of the Israelites, or did Bilaam succeed in slipping in a curse?
In conversations with family, friends, and colleagues in Israel and across the Jewish community, I hear the same refrain: how disappointed, devastated, alone, and abandoned the Jewish community currently feels. I don’t think it’s overly dramatic to experience the isolation of the Jewish people and the Jewish state as a fulfillment of Balaam’s utterance, taken in today’s context to be a prophetic curse.
And yet, even if taken as prophecy, I believe Balaam’s words do not have to be destiny. We cannot accept that it is the existential fate of the Jewish people to be alone and abandon efforts at connection and collaboration with others. The onslaught of antisemitism and virulent anti-Israel rhetoric and actions we’re seeing makes it even more crucial to seek those connections and collaborations.
We cannot accept that it is the existential fate of the Jewish people to be alone and abandon efforts at connection and collaboration with others.
In early April, I was invited to participate in a convening hosted by The Pew Charitable Trusts. exploring the impact and effectiveness of inter-religious bridge building. Representatives from more than a dozen foundations discussed challenges such as defining common terminology, identifying shared goals and short-term objectives, and how to extrapolate from identity-based contact theory to religious pluralism. An important insight was that, because of the complex intersection of religion and identity, antisemitism confounds some of the findings about the effectiveness of bridge-building. Being with national philanthropic leaders who understand that combatting religiously motivated hate of all kinds – including antisemitism – is critical to addressing the crises of polarization and threats to American democracy was a reassuring reminder that antisemitism is not a problem for only the Jewish people to solve.
Perhaps there is nowhere in more glaring or urgent need of effective bridge-building than college and university campuses, still reeling from months of protests that were often marked by violence and overt antisemitism. On full display was the demise of students’ and faculty members’ abilities to engage in constructive discourse across differences, leading administrators to seek outside help in shifting the culture of their campuses.
Interfaith America (IA) has been a model of engaging across difference on campus for decades and, in the aftermath of October 7th, Eboo Patel has been a strong voice calling on universities to engage a model of pluralism, rather than typical DEI frameworks, which too often stoke division through binary thinking around race and oppression.
Interfaith America has refined its Bridging the Gap program to help college and university administrators become more adept at listening, pursuing common ground, and collaborating with others across deep differences. They guide campus leaders in adopting systemic approaches to integrating those skills among their staff, faculty, and students. The Russell Berrie Foundation, in partnership with the Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation, is pleased to support six colleges and universities in New Jersey to take part in IA’s summer summit on bridge-building and engage in a year-long effort to become a pluralistic campus.
Our understanding that antisemitism cannot only be a Jewish problem – just as homophobia is not the responsibility of only the LGBTQ community or racism a problem for people of color to address – also led us to support Amy Spitalnik and her team at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs to convene more than 150 Jewish Community Relations Council professionals for a communal summit on coalition- and bridge-building after October 7th. Jewish and non-Jewish leaders gathered across faith and identity lines to talk about their efforts to remain in a relationship and solve problems together despite the heightened difficulties of today’s landscape. We must keep these lines of communication and relationship open so that the Jewish community is not rendered vulnerable and isolated and so that all forms of hate become the priority of society as a whole, dispelled when people who are different from each other come together.
As much as we’ve heard about how alone Jews feel, we also know that Jews who never felt strongly tied to their religious identity are now seeking Jewish spaces, recognizing the comfort and belonging of community. While connection across difference remains critical, it must coexist with investments in peoplehood and meaning-making for those in search of it.
And yet, another way to see Balaam’s utterance is indeed as prophecy, foretelling the essential unity of the Jewish people. As much as we’ve heard about how alone Jews feel, we also know that Jews who never felt strongly tied to their religious identity are now seeking Jewish spaces, recognizing the comfort and belonging of community. While connection across difference remains critical, it must coexist with investments in peoplehood and meaning-making for those in search of it. Here too, the Foundation is investing resources to meet this demand. Our funding of Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation was awarded before October 7th, but it has proven prescient in its emphasis on strengthening the skills of local Bergen County rabbis to build relationships and welcome those under-engaged seekers into their synagogues.
Similarly, we’ve recognized that the infrastructure for Jewish teens in Northern New Jersey is insufficient and have invited several local organizations to work together on a vision for a new center for teen engagement that would provide young people with innovative, diverse on-ramps toward meaningful Jewish connection. Finally, we’re pleased to announce that the Foundation is prepared to make a significant investment in local Jewish leadership in our home region. Building on the success of the Northern New Jersey Berrie Fellows leadership program, we are partnering with the Wexner Foundation to launch a new cohort of the Wexner Heritage Program that gives the next generation of Jewish lay leaders the knowledge and skills to lead through these tumultuous times. Stay tuned for more information later this summer on the Wexner initiative and how to nominate promising young leaders.
Like all good prophecy, Balaam’s proclamation is both blessing and curse depending on the lens through which one views it. As a portrayal of the curse of isolation, it can serve as a call for us to reject prophecy as destiny and build bridges of allyship and deep mutual commitment. As a depiction of the blessing of solidarity, it impels us to ensure there is a place in the Jewish community for all who seek it. We must embrace both interpretations to reinforce the pillars upon which strong bridges rest and the bonds that not only protect the Jewish people but all communities, now and in facing future perils.