By Rabbi Bernie Fox, Head of School Northwest Yeshiva High School,
In a recent letter to the JTNews titled “Double standards” (June 26), the writer suggested that Federation should limit its allocations for those organizations that serve and welcome the entire community. This criterion would exclude Orthodox schools from funding as these schools limit their enrollment to students who are deemed to be Jewish by Orthodox standards.
I was moved by the letter because I agree with the basic premise of the author. We are a small and often embattled people. Our community has enormous needs that are especially difficult to meet in the current economic environment. We need to strive for unity by focusing on the values and traditions that we share and we must avoid those issues that are divisive and stimulate discord.
However, although I embrace these sentiments, my conclusions are different than the author’s. I do not believe that the objective of promoting community unity is furthered by judging each other’s religious perspectives or attempting to arbitrate which of those perspectives are correct and which we should disown. Instead, we further community unity through mutual respect and acknowledgment of the differences that express the diversity of Jewish perspectives.
I am proud that Northwest Yeshiva High School has created a student community composed of young people from virtually every major congregation in our community — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or other. Our students truly recognize that the values that they share are more significant than their differences. I believe that our children have created a community of mutual respect and love — free of prejudice and animosity — that we, their parents, should all strive to emulate.