We Keep Us Safe

This email from Rabbi Salem Pearce and Abby Lublin went out to our entire email list on January 18, 2022.

As CJJ’s outgoing and incoming executive directors, we are writing together to address the horrifying events that took place this past Shabbat at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Like you, we are thankful today to be saying a blessing for the release of captives, matir asurim.

We are also thankful to have CJJ, an organization founded, in part, to find each other.

Our strengths and solutions are in kehillah, community, one of CJJ’s guiding principles, and the relationships we build outside of and within our organization are and will continue to be our priorities. In crisis, we remain grounded in our people’s tradition of resilience. And in this climate of increased antisemitism, division, fear, and hatred, we hold fast to our deep love of each other, and the fact that we are not alone.

Our beloved CJJ community, we invite you to share with us:

What are you feeling? What do you need? Reach out to CJJ staff for 1:1 conversations.

Whether we hear from you directly or not, now or later, please know that we remain committed to our organizing towards a more just, fair, and compassionate North Carolina.

After his hours-long hostage experience, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker shared that he had received many messages of care from nearby non-Jewish communities. We know that the overwhelming support was the result of years of building relationships. As a Beth Israel congregant said, “Charlie is an organizer. He sincerely wants to make this world a better place. He is always out there trying to get all of us involved in a project. When he’s been organizing in interfaith, he’s been telling us what he’s doing and it’s an inspiration for us to get involved in the same way.”

We don’t have all of the answers, but we know that building Jewish community through solidarity is a long-term strategy. CJJ’s commitment is to be with you as we all “love and live the questions,” in the words of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke.

Our job is to develop a community that has the tools to navigate through and to thrive in uncertainty, as we also work towards a world in which Jews, and all people, can live and work and play and pray in safety.

We will do that together.