The Project on Allyship to Combat Antisemitism is funded by The Schechter/Levine Program in Public Ethics and the Sid B. Levine Service Learning Program
American Jewish University (AJU) recognizes the evolving challenges facing North American Jewry. To address these challenges, AJU is pioneering a new kind of research institution for the twenty-first century. Instead of investing in physical infrastructure, the focus is on creating a dynamic space for intellectual discourse, leveraging technology, and fostering flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Traditional research institutions excelled in academic brilliance but often lacked efficient exploration of societal problems for public dissemination. AJU aims to change this by establishing a workshop model devoid of fixed facilities, encouraging dynamic scholar interactions, and focusing on real-time issues without duplicating existing efforts.
The Project: Allyship Against Antisemitism
Allyship has been fundamental in the fight against antisemitism in the United States since the founding of the Anti-Defamation League more than a century ago. However, in recent years, as antisemitism increased, there had been a growing refrain that the allies the Jewish community thought they had were not showing up. After the Hamas attack on October 7th, these concerns grew exponentially, as the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust was seemingly met with indifference by many and a mass mobilization against Israel. Now, many in the Jewish community want to rethink, or even abandon outright, the strategy in light of what they see as systematic betrayal by their putative allies.
To systematically examine the dynamics of future of allyship, American Jewish University (AJU) convened a group of scholars who had studied the Asian-American, Christian, Indigenous, Jewish immigrant, Latino, LGBTQ+, and Muslim communities and their relations with Jews. President of AJU Dr. Jeffrey Herbst also has written a concluding paper on the dynamics of allyship given what was learned in the project. Critically, most of these authors were not themselves “Jewish studies” scholars but rather had been deeply immersed in (and sometimes identified with) the communities they wrote about but had also, at least for a portion of their career, focused on inter-group relations with Jews. This allowed them to look at the issue of coalitions against hate from the perspectives of the prospective allies, not, as traditionally done, from the Jewish community looking outward.
The resulting collection of papers is an unprecedented and systematic examination of allyship and the prospects for coalitions to oppose antisemitism and bigotry.
The authors met on Zoom and for an in-person meeting in Los Angeles in November 2023. The papers were completed between March and June 2024.
Papers on Allyship
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On Allyship
Dr. Jeffrey Herbst’s paper discusses the general dynamics of allyship based on a review of all the papers contributed to the project. He discusses the future of allyship for the Jewish community given the inherent difficulties of building communities against hate. He concludes that, “[T]he plaintive cry of ‘where are our allies’ must be replaced with the more unsentimental ‘what are we going to do to garner the allies who are available?’”
Read the paper: On Allyship.pdf
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Allyship Between Jewish Americans and Asian Americans
Dr. Helen Kim’s paper examines allyship between Jewish American and Asian Americans. She notes, “With significant increases simultaneously in antisemitism and anti-Asian hate, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, alliances between these two groups to combat discrimination would seem logical yet, perhaps, unexpected given what many might see as stark differences between these populations.”
Read the paper: Allyship Between Jewish Americans and Asian Americans.pdf
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Allyship Between the Jewish and LGBTQ Communities: An Action Plan
Dr. Corinne Blackmer’s paper presents an overview of the LGBTQ communities and develops an action plan to forge allyships with the Jewish Community. Her paper highlights the competing factions within the queer community and implications for allyship strategies.
Read the paper: Allyship Between the Jewish and LGBTQ Communities An Action Plan.pdf
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American Jewish Indigenous Allyship Prospects and Barriers
Dr. David Koffman’s paper examines the rarely studied Jewish-Indigenous relationship to understand possibilities of establishing coalitions against hatred. Among other conclusions, he argues, “Allyship here in North America can persist even in the face of disagreement about how Zionism and Israel are to be understood.”
Read the paper: American Jewish Indigenous Allyship Prospects and Barriers.pdf
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Latino and Jews at the Dinner Table
Dr. Bridget Kevane’s paper uses the metaphor of the dinner table metaphor as a “useful and imaginative point of departure to discuss Latino Jewish allyship.” She asks “how we can get a seat at someone’s dinner table or how, through allyship, we can impact the conversations families and friends have at their dinner table.”
Read the paper here: Latino and Jews at the Dinner Table.pdf
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Navigating Allyship: Insights from Historical Jewish Immigration Advocacy
Dr. Robbie Totten’s paper draws from historical Jewish immigration advocacy to provide insights on navigating allyship amid contemporary challenges such as antisemitism. He argues that “the historical experiences of Jewish immigration reformers underscore the importance of collaboration, strategic flexibility, emphasizing shared values, and adapting to geopolitical changes for effective advocacy.”
Read the paper: Navigating Allyship Insights from Historical Jewish Immigration Advocacy.pdf
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Sustaining Muslim-Jewish Relationship Building in America at a Time of Unprecedented Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Sabeeha Rehman and Walter Ruby’s paper argues that “Contrary to the perception that American Muslims and Jews have been and remain distant and hostile to each other, sustained efforts to build ties of communication and cooperation at the leadership and grass-roots levels have been underway for two decades or more.” It examines that history and reviews prospects for allyship between the communities in light of October 7th.
Read the paper: Sustaining Muslim-Jewish Relationship Building in America at a Time of Unprecedented Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.pdf
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The Case for Christian Allyship in an Era of Antisemitism on the Right and Left
Dr. Joel Lohr’s paper develops the case for Christian allyship with Jews given his own background and a review of the Christian landscape. He argues, “Jews and Christians have deep and abiding connections that should lead to fruitful allyship, even when they disagree — and they will — about peoplehood, modern politics, or who the messiah of Israel really is, to name a few areas.”
Read the paper: The Case for Christian Allyship in an Era of Antisemitism on the Right and Left.pdf