My DEI Story By Rachel Feinstein

I am afraid to share my DEI story about being Jewish. Many people like me are receiving increasing threats on social media due to misinformation and Jewish communities have seen a significant rise in physical attacks in the last week alone. I thought my DEI story would focus on my struggles with ADHD in college and management in the workplace, but I realized that wasn’t really my true DEI story (although it is a big part of my life). In light of recent world events and with May being Jewish American Heritage Month, this is a very timely blog post.

I am one of the world’s 14 million Jews, 0.2% of the global population. About half of the world’s Jewish population (7.1 million people) live in the United States. In fact, New York City’s 1.1 million Jews makeup the largest Jewish community outside of Israel; out of the 9.1 million citizens of Israel, 6.7 million are Jews. But my story starts in southern New Jersey.

I became interested in government affairs and advocacy because I wanted to help give people a voice with their elected officials. I have never personally felt like someone has stood up for me or for Jewish people and I don’t want others to feel that way. This post on Instagram still strikes me hard: “First they came for LGBTQ, and I stood up, because love is love. Then they came for immigrants and I stood up, because families belong together. Then they came for the Black community and I stood up, because Black lives matter. Then they came for me, but I stood alone, because I am a Jew” (@livingjewishly, Instagram, July 8, 2020).

For thousands of years, Jews have been ostracized and persecuted. Many Jewish Americans came to be in America because their ancestors were driven out of Eastern Europe by pogroms, government-sanctioned attacks on Jewish villages (shtetls) by local non-Jewish populations. The most devastating persecution occurred in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s when Nazi Germany and collaborators systematically murdered six million Jews and millions of other “undesirables.” As a means of self-protection in the United States, many Jews tried to assimilate. Several Jewish celebrities and Jewish historical figures in America have changed their names to appear less Jewish. Erik Weisz became Harry Houdini, David Kotkin became David Copperfield, Issur Danielovitch Demsky became Kirk Douglas, Winona Horowitz became Winona Ryder, Natalie Hershlag became Natalie Portman.

It is common for many Jewish people to feel a sense of otherness or of not belonging if they didn’t grow up in a tight knit Jewish community. In Moorestown, NJ where my mother grew up, Jews were not allowed to join the local Moorestown Field Club until the early 1980s. How did the country club know if you were Jewish or not? They asked around.

Growing up in Bridgeton, NJ and Pittsgrove, NJ, I was one of maybe 8 Jewish kids in my elementary school. I had a good childhood, but I always felt like an outsider. The other kids got to celebrate Christmas and Easter. While elementary school experiences were mostly benign and well-meaning, I encountered increasing occurrences of outright antisemitism in middle school. Other kids asked questions like, “Why did you and your people kill Jesus?” “Are you too good to eat bacon? Is it beneath you?” “Why don’t you believe in Jesus Christ? He sacrificed himself to save us.” “What’s the difference between a Jew and a pizza? Pizzas don’t scream in the oven.” One Friday night while driving home from Shabbat services, someone threw tomatoes at our car. I remember my father stopping, getting out to look for the perpetrators, but they had already vanished.

Today, you predominantly see two different kinds of antisemitism. One is more “traditional” and more embodied by the extreme right, focusing on Jews having “killed Jesus” and/or Jews controlling the world (apparently we’ve added “space lasers” to our arsenal). The other kind of antisemitism, typically seen in more liberal circles, is a bit more subversive and relates to race and white privilege. The recent escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza has sparked another kind of war on social media, a war of misinformation. The majority of people are accusing Israel of “being an apartheid state,” or of being “colonizers” or “oppressors.” I do not agree with the methods of the Israeli government, but Jews have a right to live in our indigenous homeland, peacefully, along with Palestinians. When I got my 23andMe DNA test results back it did not say I was Ukrainian, it said I was Ashkenazi Jewish and had more DNA in common with Southern European and Western Asian populations than with Central and Eastern European populations. The topic of whiteness and Jewish people is one of great debate.

Although there are many Jews of color, most of the Jews living in America and Europe are white-functioning. However, white-functioning Jews find themselves both looking white while also being a major target of white supremacists, being “othered,” attacked by anti-Israel groups, online harassment, and school curriculums. Telling a Jewish person antisemitism isn’t a problem because they can “hide that they’re Jewish” is just you asking them to not be themselves to make the antisemitic world more comfortable. According to Bari Weiss in How to Fight Anti-Semitism, “American Jews are fighting two fears at the same time, one from without and one from within: Being shot by white-supremacists, and being made out to be them.”

Being Jewish has encouraged me to learn more about other cultures and religions. I know what it feels like to not have a voice in the larger national debate and what it feels like to have your holidays be ignored. That's why I say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Happy Hanukkah” at the checkout counter in December. As government affairs professionals, we are constantly looking for different angles to tell a story and communicate different perspectives to lawmakers. I encourage you to make use of that skill and learn more about a different culture or religion. To start, below are a few resources about Judaism and Jewish history:

Article: Black-Jewish Relations in America

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington

J Street: The key points of contention that must be resolved for Israelis and Palestinians to achieve peace

Jewish American Heritage Month

The Shoah Foundation

The WGR “My DEI Story” Blogs are featured monthly, highlighting the story of a DEI Committee Member or supporting ally. These blogs are designed to shine a light on the amazing diversity that exists within our community, and to recognize that EVERYONE has a DEI Story. Interested in having your story featured?  Please send an email to dei.wgr@gmail.com.