Jewish Library Letter

8/2/2019 Jewish Library Letter

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March 28, 2012

Howard Freedman, DirectorBJE Jewish Community Library

1835 Ellis Street

San Francisco, California 94115

Dear Howard Freedman and Library Staff:

We are writing to express our deep dismay at the recent cancellation of our panel event,

Reclaiming Jewish Activism: Re-discovering Voices of Our Ancestors, organized by

members of Workmens Circle and Progressive Jewish Alliance and originally scheduledto be held at the Jewish Community Library on May 24th.

While we have, in fact, succeeded in rescheduling this event at a more welcoming Jewish

venue in San Francisco, we find it particularly troubling that an act of censorship hasoccurred at the Library -- an institution that is supposed to be a symbol of open thought and

learning in the Jewish community.

Our goal for the event has remained the same -- from our early discussions with the Library

last year, through the cancellation in late February, to the present:to discuss work of earlier Jewish activists who continue to inspire the social justice

activism of our three women panelists.

Julie Gilgoff, author ofA Granddaughters Rite of Passage: Tales from the McCarthy Era,will discuss Red Diaper babies and their experience of their parents persecution during the

McCarthy era; shell pay tribute to her grandfather, Max Gilgoff, who organized to stoppolice violence against African Americans in his community, and died of a heart attackwhile being interrogated for his political activism.

Elaine Elinson, co-author ofWherever Theres a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists,Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California (winner of a 2010

Gold Medal California Book Award), will elaborate on the books profile of Jewish

suffragist Selina Solomons, who organized working women in San Francisco in 1911, and

how Solomons inspired Elaines own advocacy for voting rights and other civil libertiesissues today.

Rae Abileah, contributing author to several books includingBeyond Tribal Loyalties:Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists, will speak about her great uncle, Joseph

Abileah, a Haifa musician who became a pacifist during the formation of the State of Israel.

His lifes mission -- reconciliation between Arabs and Jews is documented in a JewishCommunity Library holding,Israeli Pacifist: The Life of Joseph Abileah.


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When originally scheduled, this event was considered a good fit for the Library, with its

three short presentations anchored in writings that connect progressive voices from the past

with a contemporary generation of Jewish activists.

Your cancellation of our panel had a special sting this month as we just received your

Spring-Summer 2012 brochure in the mail, where our panel was supposed to be listed. Atone point, you must have felt that we would have added to your vibrant, provocative line-

up of programs from exploring the lives of Jews in Cuba to a tribute to the late Yiddish

vocal music performer and cultural activist, Adrienne Cooper. We are now at a loss tounderstand why you have canceled us based on narrow-minded, divisive guidelines from

the Federation.

From our discussions, we understand that the event was cancelled by the JewishCommunity Library, in consultation with its parent organization, the Bureau of Jewish

Education (BJE), and with the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), consultant-

advisor to the local Jewish Community Federation Endowment. Federation funds support

many BJE programs. The Federations 2010 revised funding guidelines, which prohibitgrant recipients from associating with organizations and individuals who oppose its strong

support for Israel, apparently triggered the cancellation.

Of specific concern was panelist Rae Abileahs work with an organization that opposes

occupation profiteering and supports the boycott of products made in illegal Israelisettlements. Ms. Abileah is not officially representing her organization but speaking about

the work of her great-uncle, a spiritual Zionist nominated by fellow musician Yehudi

Menuhin for numerous peace awards.

Six decades after McCarthyisms assault on progressives and their values, we reassert that

censorship by association is dangerous and unconscionable: that it subverts truth, unity, and

democracy.

Need we point out the chilling effect of the Federations exclusionary funding guidelines --

adopted in response to criticism of its support for the 2010 Jewish Film Festival, afterscreening of a documentary about Rachel Corrie -- on dialogue about Israel within our

community?

The intent and ambiguity of these guidelines, and the threat of arbitrary enforcement,brings predictable even if unintentional -- consequences. Attempting to block civil public

discourse on Israeli militarism in Federation-funded venues here occurs at a time when the

issue is foremost in world consciousness; excluding dialogue that might promote healingwithin our community feeds polarization by demonizing those whose dovish political

opinions support ethical Jewish values different from the Federation's.

The Federations threat to decrease funding support which one observer noted would ban

all major Israeli writers from such Jewish venues also interferes with our Jewish

institutions responsibility to engage all segments of a widely diverse community.


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These guidelines would prohibit us, as Jews, from hearing, debating, and engaging with

opinions perceived as too dovish. We join with the large local and national group of

Jewish leaders opposing the exclusionary guidelines including 72 Bay Area rabbis,

intellectuals, artists and other leaders and reiterate their warning (Open Letter in

The Forward, 4/10/10):

In the interest of human rights and civil liberties for all people, we strongly advocate for

unfettered freedom of speech, open-minded public education, respectful discussion, and

willingness to engage in that time-honored Jewish tradition of fruitful debate andmeaningful dialogue. The Jewish community is riven by a fateful debate over the future of

Israeli democracy and the occupation of Palestinian lands. Attempting to curtail that

debate will only drive it into the shadows, where it will become ever more extreme. Theremedy for controversial speech is not silencing. The remedy is more speech.

The cancellation by the Library of our event -- an inter-generational forum on

enduring Jewish activist values -- confirms that Federation funding guidelines do not

unite but rather divide us; by attempting to silence dissent and dialogue related to theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict, they make that conflict the litmus test for any Jewish

discussion.

We decry this censorship, and we feel compelled to expose it within the Bay Area Jewish

community and nationally. We hope you understand that our critique primarily targets thedestructive policies of the San Franciscos Jewish Federation, instigated at the insistence of

several of its larger contributors, rather than the Jewish Community Library itself, or the

Bureau of Jewish Education.

We seek to make clear that Federation policies, designed to foster the appearance of Jewish

solidarity by shutting down the vital exchange of ideas in the Jewish community, are

divisive and intolerable. They are also ultimately ineffective in suppressing dissent, and,paradoxically, undermine the values and mission of some of our most cherished Jewish

institutions.

Sincerely,

Rae Abileah, Panelist

Elaine Elinson, PanelistJulie Gilgoff, Panelist

Diana Scott, Event Organizer and Member, Workmens Circle/Arbeter Ring of No. CA*

*for identification purposes only

To contact organizers and panelists, e-mail:

cc: David Waksberg, CEO, Bureau of Jewish Education

Rabbi Douglas Kahn, Executive Director, Jewish Community Relations Council

Jennifer Gorovitz, CEO, Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund

Documents

Jewish Library Letter