When the church where Chadeish Yameinu, Santa Cruz’s Jewish Renewal community, meets decided to host a boycott, divestment and sanctions conference, we were blindsided. But in the tradition of Jewish Renewal, the whole congregation soul-searched and vigorously debated over how to respond.
Our conclusion: Jews have no place in this church, and we must move.
For several years, we have rented space at Peace United Church of Christ in Santa Cruz. The two congregations have participated together in social justice and interfaith work, as well as supporting our LGBTQ community. Much of this work also includes Temple Beth El, a Reform congregation in nearby Aptos. Beth El and the church have led joint dual-narrative tours of Israel and the West Bank to help congregants better understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Given this close relationship, the decision to host the BDS conference surprised and alarmed both Jewish congregations. Although the conference was a year in planning, we didn’t find out about it until February, when it was announced in the church newsletter. Congregants’ immediate reactions ranged from betrayal and dismay to acceptance of the church’s right to free speech. There are also a few members who support BDS. Both congregations tried to dissuade the church from holding the conference — or at least relocate it from church property — but we failed. Karen Stiller at the Jewish Community Relations Council provided invaluable support to both congregations in understanding the aims of the BDS movement, and gave essential advice to those of us attending the conference.
Then on April 29-30, the BDS conference took place. Each presenter portrayed Palestinians as innocent victims oppressed by colonialist, apartheid, racist Israel, and demanded all territory “stolen” from the Palestinians be relinquished. Speakers tried to link the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the struggle of all oppressed black and brown people everywhere. They repeatedly referred to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians as ethnic cleansing, but they would not say what would happen to Israelis once all the Palestinians returned. Someone made an analogy between the separation barrier and Donald Trump’s proposal for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Few of the estimated 250 attendees were from the local community. Only about 35 of the church’s members attended. Most of the others were BDS supporters from elsewhere in the Bay Area, with a significant contingent wearing “Free Palestine” T-shirts or kaffiyehs.
Among the 25 or so Jewish attendees, reactions ranged from disgust to enjoyment. I found it disturbing. The event was more of a rally in support of BDS than a real conference because no alternative viewpoints were presented. Although many statements were virulently anti-Israel, they were not overtly anti-Semitic. Nonetheless, the implications were anti-Semitic and intentionally crafted to stir up anti-Semitism.
I was horrified by the sight of most attendees applauding any denunciation of Israel, and giving a standing ovation to the demand for the “right of return for all Palestinians to the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean.” That this took place in the sanctuary where Chadeish Yameinu held its beautiful and inspiring High Holy Day services and in which we attended many uplifting interfaith services was just sickening. While I had never felt great affinity for Israel, I could not stand hearing it demonized as the sole cause of all evil in the Middle East.
What did the conference achieve beyond rallying support for BDS? For the Santa Cruz Jewish community, it has been a disruption, leaving our beloved rabbis and many congregants distressed. It has been our main topic of conversation, even in my Hebrew lessons. After hearing from church leadership that they did not understand Jews’ attachment to the State of Israel, some of us have resolved to increase interfaith outreach efforts to promote such understanding.
On the plus side, members of Chadeish Yameinu have been able to debate diametrically opposed positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and BDS in a respectful and open-minded manner, and this dialogue will continue. But the joint dual-narrative tours of Israel and the West Bank that Beth El held with the church will not happen again, nor will the temple sponsor joint activities.
My upcoming trip to Israel will be on my own, with a few days in the West Bank touring refugee camps and settlements so I can see for myself whether it is really the “open-air prison for Palestinians” described by one of the BDS speakers.
Certainly, some of us would have supported symbolic peace efforts such as working with Palestinians to replant olive trees uprooted by settlers. The trust and mutual esteem between our congregations and the church has been shattered, and Jews in my community may retreat from any discourse aimed at encouraging Israel and the Palestinians to come to a just resolution of the dismal situation.
Rose Ashford is a retired aerospace engineer who recently moved from the Peninsula to the Santa Cruz area. She is a proud member of both Chadeish Yameinu and Temple Beth El.