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Amid the many tents already dotting Frank Ogawa Plaza, a Jewish tent went up this week in support of the Occupy Oakland movement.

A group calling itself the Occupy Oakland Jewish Contingent placed a canopy in the plaza Nov. 2 to guarantee a Jewish presence in the ongoing protest.

“Jews have been a part of [Occupy Oakland] from the beginning,” said Daniella Salzman, one of the organizers of the group. “We are open to all people who identify as Jewish, whether affiliated with a synagogue or whatever their level of observance. We are setting up a tent for an open and visible Jewish space to invite [Jews] to join in dialogue.”

The canopy went up in the plaza near the intersection of 14th Street and Broadway the same day that Occupy organizers called for a general strike in Oakland. About 1,000 demonstrators gathered in the plaza the morning of Nov. 2 to march on nearby banks, corporations and utilities; other marches were scheduled for later in the day.

Jews joined in, but first they prayed in the tent.

Rabbi David Cooper (left) interacts with Elana Levy, Daniella Salzman and Ray MacLachlan. photo/dan pine

Rabbi David Cooper of Kehilla Community Synagogue led a Shachrit service for about 20 people. Their chanting competed with the cacophony of megaphones and music blaring from huge speakers near the tent.

“There’s a mandate from the prophets,” Cooper said. “You have to go out and demand justice. We’re now at a point where 99 percent of the population is working under a  sense of vulnerability.”

Salzman is a board member at Chochmat HaLev, a Jewish Renewal congregation in Berkeley. Members of her synagogue, along with people from Kehilla in Piedmont and Beyt Tikkun and the Aquarian Minyan in Berkeley, form the core of the Occupy Oakland Jewish Contingent.

A group of Jews built a sukkah on the plaza last month during Sukkot. Built by Kehilla and the East Bay group Jewish Youth for Community Action, the “Peace and Justice Sukkah,” as they called it, was “destroyed” when Oakland police cleared out the encampment in the early morning hours of Oct. 25, said Talia Cooper, JYCA director.

Organizers want the new tent to stay up as long as the movement continues, and they also hope more Jews will join them in the tent in coming days and weeks.

“So far, we have a message that talks about how working for social justice is deeply rooted in our tradition,” Salzman said, adding that the contingent has also formed a working group to reach out to the broader Jewish community.

Occupy Oakland became ground zero for the worldwide Occupy movement after Oakland police cleared out the encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza on Oct. 25, and later that day used tear gas and other weapons against protesters.

Cooper says the Occupy movement differs from the more conservative tea party in one fundamental way.

“The Occupy movement says it’s not government but corporate power that jeopardizes American democracy and the ability for people to have control,” he said. “People have been waiting to hear something like that.”

However, nonviolence is a key strategy for Occupy organizers, including members of the Jewish contingent. So is freeing the movement from a predictable liberal vs. conservative frame.

“I see the movement as something outside of binary left-right, us-them thinking,” Salzman said. “People I know who would be considered right wing have shown up and see themselves as part of this movement, who support its values and mission.”

After the morning service concluded with Kaddish, Cooper and the rest of the Jewish contingent fell in with those leaving the plaza and marching.

“Where it’s going, I don’t know,” he said of the Occupy movement. “So many of our young people are taking leadership roles. It behooves me to follow their leadership and see where they want to go. They are creating a new way of organizing.”