A Better World community
- May 9, 2019

Carolina Jews for Justice

Updated: Jun 18

Using the Torah's guiding principles, CJJ works to influence local and state polices and encourage individuals and Jewish institutions to take a stand on important community issues - to bring about social justice for the individual and society - to create positive change related to the environment, voting rights, tolerance and respect for diversity, public education, etc. "We build relationships where people help each other because individuals have a profound responsibility for the well-being of the whole."

Guests: Judy Leavitt, CJJ Board President, and Frank Goldsmith, Board Member, from Carolina Jews for Justice West.

Expand for podcast transcript

McNair Ezzard 0:16

This is WPVM 103.7 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hello and welcome to A Better World on WPVM. My name is McNair Ezzard and I'm your host for today's show. Each week, we take an in depth look at the people and organizations locally, nationally and internationally, who are working to create a world that works for everyone. And let's meet our guests for today. Today we have with us Judy Levitt, board president, and Frank Goldsmith, board member, from Carolina Jews for Justice. Welcome to the show.

Judy Levitt 0:49

Thank you.

Frank Goldsmith 0:49

Thanks very much.

McNair Ezzard 0:50

I do appreciate you folks coming in today. So let's, Judy, why don't you tell us, what is Carolina Jews for Justice.

Judy Levitt 0:58

We are the only progressive social justice, Jewish social justice organization in North Carolina. We started about five years ago, as part of Reverend barbers Moral Monday movement in the Raleigh Durham area. We had a number of Jewish people who were very involved, who were trying to speak to legislators about the issues that Reverend Barber was was speaking about, and many of whom were jailed, as many other people were. And there was a feeling when Reverend Barber started that he was not-, he assumed-, I think his audience and his-, the folks that were working with him, were very much like he was there. The Jews who were involved realized that they were completely committed, but they were invisible in terms of Reverend Barber's perspective. And so they met with him, said, we, we are with you, 100%. We are Jews and we want to be acknowledged that way. And the group got together for a variety of reasons and said, we need to have some identification and came up with the name Carolina Jews for Justice. About three months later, Reverend Barber came to Asheville, in Pack Square, for the first Mountain Moral Monday. And some of us were preparing to go with our temple banner. And I was head of the social justice committee at that, at our temple, Beth HaTephila, and was told that there was not approval from the board to carry our banner down. I think that was reflective of a difference of opinion on the board, which is understandable. And it was suggested that maybe what I needed to do was form a group of people who, who were Jews who were interested in these issues, but didn't have to go through some of the politics, that one has to go through within an established organization to get approval and sign off. And that's exactly what I did. And our first meeting, we had over 60 people come and we said, Okay, we're Carolina Jews for Justice West, and we were the first spin off of the Triangle group. And right now, we are the largest group in the state. And we are involved in a number of social justice issues.

McNair Ezzard 3:28

Could you say a little bit more about, you mentioned that you weren't on the radar, really, for Reverend Barber from his perspective? What do you mean by that?

Judy Levitt 3:36

Well, I think that Reverend Barber came from a very Baptist perspective in terms of his motivation and his commitment, and was speaking in a very Christian way, as far as the people he was he was bringing along, without necessarily realizing that there was a diverse group, not only Jews, but I'm sure many other groups that wanted to be part of the incredible movement that he started. And I think that some of us as we have watched, Reverend Barber, seen his evolution, have been just incredibly impressed, and appreciative of how inclusive he has become about all groups. That I think in the beginning, was not something that that probably he even thought about and probably did not have a lot of interaction with as diverse groups, as he certainly does now, in many capacities.

McNair Ezzard 4:34

As you're talking, the past history of Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition comes to mind in terms of the different numbers of people who joined together.

Judy Levitt 4:44

And wanted to be part of that group as well. Yeah.

McNair Ezzard 4:46

So is there-, there's just a state organization, or is there-, are you part of a national movement as well?

Judy Levitt 4:51

We are an affiliate of a national organization with pretty much the same agenda called Bend The Arc, and Bend The Arc actually evolved from a group in California, a Jewish social justice group that was looking at issues around prison reform and some other issues, particular to California. That group formed, I don't know, maybe about seven years ago, and we are the North Carolina affiliate.

McNair Ezzard 5:27

So what, Frank, what exactly is the mission?

Frank Goldsmith 5:32

Well, the mission is, it's pretty broad. But basically, as Judy has said, we are a progressive social justice organization. We approach social justice from a Jewish perspective. We don't exclude people who are not Jewish in that work. We work a lot in partnerships and coalition's and here in the West, we focused on five primary areas. We have focused on racial justice, we are a founding member of the Racial Justice Coalition here in Asheville and Buncombe County. We focus on economic justice. So we partner for example, with Just Economics to advocate for a living wage, for an expansion of affordable housing, for public transportation, other economic justice issues, Medicaid expansion, and so on. We work on voter engagement, especially in election years trying to get people registered and get them to the polls, advocating for fair redistricting. So that category of work is ours. Immigration, and immigrants rights has been another focus of ours. And then there's a sort of catch all category that we call inclusivity. It's trying to create an inclusive community. And by that we mean advocating against anti-semitism, against Islamophobia, against homophobia, working for an expansion of recognition of diverse peoples and the diverse community that we live in. And so in summary, that's those are the areas that we engage in here in the West and the rest of the state engages in similar issues, some with more of a focus on on particular issues than others. For example, Charlotte is greatly involved in affordable housing.

McNair Ezzard 7:22

Have you been involved from the beginning?

Frank Goldsmith 7:24

I have. I, as Judy said, when we were formed, we arose out of the Mountain Moral Monday event. And Judy, is that really the one who got us started after Reverend Barber came and she formed our Carolina Jews for Justice West chapter. And I was part of the initial steering committee that she put together, and I'm grateful for that.

McNair Ezzard 7:47

So tell me about your-, Frank, you go first, what might tell me about your background?

Frank Goldsmith 7:52

My background, do you mean, in social justice work? Or-.

McNair Ezzard 7:55

Yeah, how you, how you came to get involved with Jews for Justice?

Frank Goldsmith 7:59

Yeah, you know, that's an interesting question, because for me, Carolina Jews for Justice has enabled me to meld two passions that I've had in my life. I, my background, first of all, is as a civil rights lawyer. So I've, I've worked in social justice professionally, for all of my professional career, and in various ways representing disadvantaged people and people who've been discriminated against and all that kind of work. And I, you know, I'm a child of the 60s. So I'm familiar with demonstrations, and anti war movements, and all of those kinds of things. But all of that was really, really separate and apart from my Jewish identity. And I feel very passionate about my Judaism as well. And Carolina Jews for Justice has really enabled me to combine those two passions, and try to work for social justice from a particularly Jewish perspective.

McNair Ezzard 8:59

What about you, Judy, what's your background?

Judy Levitt 9:00

My background is, I am a nurse, I taught for most of my career, not only in nursing, but health policy. So I also was very involved even growing up in social justice, I came from a family that was very committed to social justice in many, many different avenues. So it was part of who I was. But again, as with Frank, I didn't necessarily connect it with my Judaism. It was nothing that was evident to me in terms of-, I mean, I knew that, that social justice was a part of Judaism, but in terms of my motivation was not necessarily related to my Judaism and that's one of the things that we've tried to develop through Carolina Jews for Justice. We often start our programs with some connection to our text either in the Torah or rabbinical text and and see the connection and kind of the mandate to do what we are committed to do.

McNair Ezzard 10:06

I was going to ask you later on, but since you went back to your childhood, were there any particular events, as you grew up or later on as an adult that were influential in moving you to get involved in social justice? You said your parents were very much that way. Would you say that's the main reason?

Judy Levitt 10:23

I think-. My father was a pediatrician, and he was someone very early on who was taking-, was concerned about poverty and the impact on child development and, and even healthy birth, births and growing up of kids. But my whole family was involved. I mean, I had members of my family who were involved in the labor movement, I had members of my family who were legal scholars, but we're providing free legal care to people who couldn't do it, who couldn't pay for their care. So that was, it was kind of expected that this was something that I would do. I also, I was a pre 60s person. So I was-, I happened to go to the University of Pennsylvania and helped organize the SNCC [Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee] chapter that was sending people to the south to to be involved in what was happening in terms of the civil rights movement. So I stayed involved all my life, and much of my work was involved in with health care. I mean, most of my focus was healthcare later on, because that was something that I was doing. So it was just a natural evolution. And now when I retired and moved to Asheville, I had the time to really devote to a broader involvement in in social justice.

McNair Ezzard 11:49

And what about you, Frank? You said, you're a child of the 60s, but was there anything in your formative years that kind of made you sit back and think?

Frank Goldsmith 11:58

Well, my story is exactly the opposite of Judy's. I had parents who were politically very conservative, they were wonderful people, they were highly ethical people. I think they instilled good values in me. But they, you know, they were politically conservative. They were true Southerners. And so my development into social activism came as a result, not a familial inspiration, necessarily, or at least not directly, but more from reading and educating myself and becoming involved in student organizations. You know, for example, I founded a chapter-, sort of like Judy did of SNCC, I founded a chapter at my college, Davidson College, of the Southern Student Organizing Committee, which was a southern equivalent of SDS [Students for a Democratic Society], we picketed for labor unions, we demonstrated against the war. We, you know, we advocated for racial justice. And so college was pretty formative for me in that respect. And out of that grew a desire to do more, and it led me to law school, into doing the work that I did.

McNair Ezzard 13:10

You know, in the 1960s-, as I was preparing for the interview, I came across something that said American Jews made up a large percentage of the white Americans that participated in the civil rights movement. But, but did the evolution of Jewish involvement and social justice issues, did it start before then? Or is that kind of a pivotal time?

Judy Levitt 13:33

It started way before then. It's, I mean, there are stories in the Torah, in rabbinic stories, about our commitment to take care of the poor, the widowed, the sick, the child. So I think probably Jews were always involved to some extent. But I think that in terms of the US, and particularly as Jews came to the US from Eastern Europe and had to leave the oppression of those countries, were very involved in the labor movement. The early labor movement in New York in some of the other cities was-, many of the leaders, by far the majority of leaders were people who were Jewish. And then I think that evolved even more so as the civil rights movement became broader and more involved, I think, but there was also a lot of disagreement during the Civil Rights Movement. I, as I said, I came from a very liberal family, but there was not always appreciation of Martin Luther King. There was not always appreciation of Jesse Jackson, there was not always appreciation of some of the leaders. So there I think there was a probably a generational difference then as I think there is now to some extent.

McNair Ezzard 14:54

What kind of segment of Judaism are you in your faith? I mean, I understand there's four branches of Judaism. But could you talk a bit about those four different movements? And which of those is more likely to lend itself to getting involved in social justice issues?

Frank Goldsmith 15:14

Sure, I'll take a stab at that. So the four branches that are generally recognized are Orthodoxy, and then, in historical sequence, I guess it would be fair to say this Orthodoxy, Reformed Judaism, conservative Judaism, and Reconstructionist Judaism. And without getting into all the differences among them, and why they are different, and what the differences in perhaps theology and practice are, I think it's fair to say that the Reformed, Conservative - and by conservative, we don't mean politically conservative, we mean, there's an effort to try to conserve more of the traditional Jewish practice in modes of worship. That's what the conservative refers to. So conservative Judaism, Reformed Judaism, and Reconstructionist Judaism are all quite involved in social justice. In latter years, I think it's a growing aspect of Judaism, of the more progressive denominations of Judaism. Most synagogues now have active social justice committees or social action committees. They're called by different names. And I think more and more we're seeing a recognition that we, because of, what Judy referred to, are the textual background that guides us in the principles of Judaism that we we can talk more about. Those impel us to pursue justice and to see that justice is done. So our, our movement, Carolina Jews for Justice, makes no distinction among all-, any of those branches, we welcome people from all of them. There are some who are Orthodox who are involved in Bend The Arc, for example, our national movement, there may be in Carolina Jews for Justice, I'm not sure about that. But here locally, in Asheville, and Carolina Jews for Justice West, we have members not only who are affiliated with the conservative and Reformed synagogues that we have here. But there is also a large secular Jewish community, the Jewish secular community of Asheville, and we have members from that branch of Judaism as well. And then we have some who who just simply are none of the above. They're just they identify as Jewish, but they're not affiliated with a Jewish institution of any kind, even the secular Jewish movement.

McNair Ezzard 17:36

So Judy, is your membership, just Jewish people?

Judy Levitt 17:39

No, and I'm glad you asked me that I was just about to say it is not-, we, first of all, we don't right now have a formal membership. What we have, we function primarily through email and social media, in terms of informing people of what is happening and trying-, and getting people involved in different areas that-, the focus areas Frank spoke about, we we have a broad cross section of interests, and we invite people-, and for some people, this is their Jewish home, they might identify as Jewish by birth, they may not practice traditional Judaism. And we have many people who participate who are of other faiths or of no faiths. We have expanded our steering committee, which is our kind of oversight group. We have now a person, a Christian person, on our steering committee, we have a person of color. And we see that as part of our work, people who have wanted to be identified with Carolina Jews for Justice, even though they themselves are not Jewish, but believe in the work.

McNair Ezzard 18:58

So any, anyone can join. And so if people have a different political stripe, I mean, imagine you're a progressive type organization. Do you welcome people that tend to be more religious right, or would they even want to be involved?

Frank Goldsmith 19:14

Well, first of all, it's important to say that we're a nonpartisan organization, we're a 501c3. That said, we certainly identify as a progressive social justice organization. And if someone of whatever political orientation felt comfortable being part of our work, and wanting to work for a living wage for all, for racial harmony, or for immigrants rights, or whatever our work is, we welcome them. We welcome anybody to join us in that work.

McNair Ezzard 19:43

So talk to me about the four core principles that you base your work on. I think the principles originate in the Torah and there's-.

Frank Goldsmith 19:51

They do. So on our-

McNair Ezzard 19:54

-I've got 'em written down if you don't remember.

Frank Goldsmith 19:55

[Laughing] You know, sometimes we do need reminding. In fact, we often, I would say, need reminding-

McNair Ezzard 20:01

-Not that I'm saying you'd forget. If it were me, I would.

Frank Goldsmith 20:04

[Laughing] Yeah, well, so we-. Our first principles-, these are principles that we state on our website, there are others, I mean, the Torah and the rabbinic texts that Judy referred to, are replete with references to social justice. But we start out with the belief that all human beings are created - in Hebrew, it's "B'tzelem Elohim" - in the image of God, and so that everyone is created in God's image, by which we take it to mean that we're all we're all the same, no matter what the color of our skin, no matter the profession of our faith, no matter any characteristic that might otherwise divide us. We're all fundamentally we're human beings, and we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. And so that's one of our guiding principles. Another one, and I'm not sure of the order of these on the website, so you can tell me if I stray [laughing] but there is a passage in Leviticus that says, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I'll spare you the Hebrew in my accent of the Hebrew. But that that is a fundamental principle that we must love our neighbor as ourselves, and not only our neighbor. The Torah goes on to say that you shall love the stranger as yourself, and that that commandment is repeated 36 times in the book of Leviticus, that you must treat this-, you were strangers in the land of Egypt, we are taught, we're constantly reminded of that. And that we are taught that we know the soul of a stranger, we understand the strangers plight. And so that causes us to work for others who are not like ourselves, it's pretty easy to love your neighbor who is likely to look like you and act like you and be like you. It is quite a different thing if you broaden this principle of strangerness, to love the one who is not like you, who may not at all look like you. And so that is part of our principle as well. We are taught the principle of, what the rabbinic texts refer to as Tikkun Olam, and we usually translate that as "the repair of the world". So it's our mission to go out and try to make the world a better place. And that's one of our guiding principles. The fourth one identified on our website is Kehilla. Kehilla is "community". And so we do this work in community, we don't try to do it in isolation. We do it in partnership with other Jews, and we do it in partnership and coalition's with other organizations, as we've mentioned, you know, and then beyond that there, I would say one of the fundamental principles is the commandment in Deuteronomy, "justice, justice shall you pursue", and the justice is repeated for a reason the rabbi has told us and it's we are impelled to try to do justice. So we could go on, but those are the some at least I think of the more important guiding principles that that really command us to try to do the work that we do to make the world a better place.

McNair Ezzard 23:04

And speaking of the work that you do, Judy, how I mean, there's lots of issues out there to address and one of you spoke about that at the beginning of the show about what you're involved in, in Western North Carolina. What do you think is the greatest social justice issue we face in this country at the present time?

Judy Levitt 23:22

I think-, it's hard to say what's the greatest, there are so many. One of the areas that we feel uniquely, I guess, mandated to pursue is the whole issue of antisemitism. And certainly with what has happened over the last year, the increasing number of attacks against people who are different, be they religiously, color their skin, how they're identified. We see these oppressions as probably the the most important work that we must do, and we have been just in the last few months beginning to formulate, how do we do this work? It is so complex. We don't-. I mean, obviously, there are multiple issues surrounding it in terms of guns, availability of weapons, kind of the sense of disenfranchised, being disenfranchised, that many, many people feel and therefore susceptible to some of the ways in which people get consumed by far right rhetoric and missions. So this is work that we are really going to be doing more and more of, we've done some around antisemitism with a community, with individuals, with groups, but it's an area that we intend to pursue more conscientiously.

McNair Ezzard 23:22

Okay, I want to ask you about one of the pervasive problems that we hear a lot about in the news these days, is the disparity between the haves and the have nots. And that seems to me that it feeds into so many other types of issues. What are your thoughts, Judy, and Frank, about about that issue?

Judy Levitt 25:18

I think you had asked the question about people who are different, who may feel differently than we, we do and are they involved in Carolina Jews for Justice. I think one of our issues now is realizing how to communicate with people who feel differently, some of the people you're referring to, and we are going to be starting work with groups that we have not traditionally interacted with. We're hoping to start to make some connections with groups that represent some of the very people that we're talking about who have-, who feel disenfranchised, who feel disconnected, and who may and who often see Jews as, as being privileged, white people. And I mean, it's in many ways, we are privileged white people. But we also that does not mean that we can't perhaps use our resources and our caring and see the similarity of ways in which we all want the same for our lives, for our children, for our families, and and begin to find how we can make those connections.

McNair Ezzard 26:32

Is there ever an opportunity, Frank to connect and work with other religious groups, for instance, people of the Islamic faith?

Frank Goldsmith 26:41

Sure, there is and there should be and there should be more efforts to do that. We have certainly been engaged in those efforts. Not simply limited to the Islamic faith here locally, although we have gone to the mosque when they felt that they were being threatened. And we have prayed with them, been with them while they prayed and showed up to support them and tried to have their backs. The other thing I would say in terms of the greatest challenge, I mean, this really hits upon I think part of what our work is about. It's not-, we're certainly-, we work against antisemitism. But increasingly with the mood of hateful rhetoric that is prevalent in this country now. I think more and more progressive organizations from all faiths are seeing the need to have each other's back. And so we try to work together when Muslims are attacked in Christchurch, New Zealand, when Christians are attacked in Sri Lanka, when Jews are attacked, wherever they're attacked. There is more of a recognition that we have to stand up for each other. And we're seeing that happen. On the interfaith front, we were instrumental in forming the Interfaith Initiative on Social Justice, Education and Advocacy, which is a mouthful, but we just call it the Interfaith Initiative now [IISJ]. One of our members has been really great and instrumental in working to set that up. We work with Faith For Justice, which is another interfaith coalition here in Asheville. And so you know, we we try to work with our faith partners as much as we can. Because we all really fundamentally want the same thing. We want a better society for all. We want to love and respect each other. And we work to that end.

McNair Ezzard 28:34

Okay, if you just joined us, you're listening to a conversation with Judy Levitt and Frank Goldsmith from Carolina Jews for Justice. And you're listening to us on A Better World at 103.7 WPVM. And we'll return with Frank and Judy in just a few minutes after this break.

[Musical Interlude]

This is McNair Ezzard and each week on A Better World, we take an in depth look at the people and organizations locally, nationally and internationally, who are working to create a world that works for everyone. And today we're talking about social justice activism specifically with the Carolina Jews for Justice, and representing the Carolina Jews for Justice are Judy Levitt. She's the board president and Frank Goldsmith who is also a board member. They're in the studio today and we're talking about their work. To start off the second half, I wanted to ask you if I could, Judy, about something related to many of the tragedies we've witnessed in the recent past or so, we have the attack on worshippers at the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh last October, the Charleston church shooting in, I think it was June 2015. The attack on Muslims at the mosque in Christchurch, and then the Christians were attacked in Sri Lanka. What does this say about humanity's inability to tolerate other people or other people's faiths? And is this the new normal?

Judy Levitt 30:35

Oh, God, I wish I I wish I had a simple answer. I wish I knew the answer. I think it it speaks to what we were talking about the isolation that people feel, and particularly people who themselves are struggling, see everybody else as having chances that they don't have and the commonality of all of these shootings and bombings, are against people who are seen as different. And the common oppressions, antisemitism, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, are related to people not feeling good about themselves. And I don't think we have an answer. I think what we have to keep working on is listening. And it's very easy to shut down. And it's very easy to talk with, like minded people, which most of us do, as do folks who think differently than we do. And bridging those gaps is, I wish I had the answer. I think most of us wish we had the answer. But I think we have to start someplace. What we know from research is that when people have connections with folks who are different than themselves, they tend to be more tolerant. And part of the answer is finding ways to bring people who are different together.

McNair Ezzard 32:11

So what was there any kind of local outpouring when the Tree of Life congregation was attacked, was there for, where your synagogue?

Judy Levitt 32:20

There, there was the most incredible outpouring in this community. I just get teared up even thinking about it. We, within I think an hour, Rabbi Goldstein, who was the the one who was here from congregation, Beth Israel, sent out a notice that he was going to hold a time for people to get together at the synagogue on Murdoch Street. Anybody. I think he just he put it on Facebook, he put it to, I don't even know. One hours notice. And there were probably well over 100 people that came, of many faiths, of many perspectives, people with no faith, but people who wanted to come together and show support. And that was just the beginning from there. There was a service. I don't remember was it that night or the next night and then there was a huge outpouring amongst faith leaders, who then brought their congregations to Pack Square and I mean, there was, I don't even know there was a difference of how many people were there. I think the police had one number and, and the newspaper had a number another and I think we figured somewhere between 3000 and 4000 people, within just like 36 hours.

Frank Goldsmith 33:42

Yeah, it was a it was an immediate outpouring. I was there. I was at the rally at Pack Square, Justin and Rabbi Goldstein really organized that. One of the things he did that I think struck everyone who was there. I mean, it was at City County Plaza. There were lots of people there. At the end, he called for all ordained clergy of whatever denomination to please join him on the stage. And it was so impressive the number of people that stepped down and came forward that that stood in solidarity with the Jewish community on that occasion. And I will say this, too, that after the Pittsburgh shootings, the Muslim community in Pittsburgh rallied and raised funds to support them. And after the Christchurch shootings, the Jewish community in Pittsburgh rallied and raised funds for those victims and expressed support for them. So while it seems like a dark time, and there are certainly extremely dark moments of extremism and hatred, I think we have to also retain sight of the fact that people do work together they strive together, they strive to overcome these differences and to have each other's back.

McNair Ezzard 34:56

And of course, we live in a country who has a president who, many think, tends to fan these flames of dissension and separation between between people. And I wanted to ask you, he, he always seems to be at odds with people in groups like your your own who are working for social justice in this country. And as an organization working for social justice, how do you go about working in this environment with someone like this at the helm?

Judy Levitt 35:25

It's obvious. First of all, I will repeat what Frank said, we are a nonpartisan group. So we don't take political stance in terms of, of support or not support for individuals, we certainly can support or not support policies, which we do. And I think that we are looking for ways to overcome that, as I said, getting to know people who are different opening doors, creating relationships, looking at our commonalities, and and trying to make connections with people who are different, and have them make connections with us, particularly here we are we there. I mean, I lived in Mississippi before I came to North Carolina, coming from, as a Yankee, as they would remind me all the time. And I had certain expectations of Mississippi. And I clearly after a period of time realize how inaccurate my my perceptions were, and how much more open people could be. And particularly when they met me. I mean, there were many people that I worked with, who had never met anyone who were who was Jewish, and had certain perceptions of me until they got to know me. And it's the same way with knowing anybody who's different. I think that we have to just keep looking for ways to do that.

McNair Ezzard 36:54

So on the activism level, I understand that Carolina Jews for Justice is involved working at the local and state levels. Could you talk about how does-, what does that involve? How does it take shape?

Judy Levitt 37:07

We have five, five chapters right now throughout the state, we're trying to form some more. We have two staff people in the Raleigh Durham area who were involved in a number of coalition's and we are part of planning events with these coalition's advocacy events, obviously, with raising the minimum wage and the Fight For 15 to move wages to a higher level we're working within coalition's both here in the west and across the state. So it's it's an issue of trying to mobilize people to speak to their representatives about these issues. We're working in around the issues of certainly immigration and the Sheriffs bill right now, in terms of sheriffs who were cooperating with ICE, we have worked actively against that to is do what our sheriff is doing here in Buncombe County.

McNair Ezzard 38:10

Do you find the local government here responsive to issues that you bring before them?

Judy Levitt 38:15

Very much so. We are-, we have-, keep open relationships with all of our representatives, local government, as well as state representatives, they are always willing to see us, eager to hear what we have to say, may not always agree with us, which of course is that they shouldn't always agree with us. But we feel that we are recognized as an important advocacy group for many of the issues that they care about.

McNair Ezzard 38:45

Frank, we were talking before the show about this issue a little bit and I wanted to kind of get your thoughts, a little more detailed about it. One of the major international unresolved issues and the source of much ongoing suffering for many people is the Palestinian-Israeli relationship. Does Carolina Jews for Justice take a position on that?

Frank Goldsmith 39:08

We do not. And I'll explain why we don't it. It is, unfortunately, a very volatile issue both within the Jewish community and beyond. We want our work to be focused on where we live, which is North Carolina. And so we focus on issues of social justice that affect North Carolinians locally and at the state level. And we want to be inclusive, we would like, as I said before, anybody no matter of their-, what their political affiliation may be, no matter their beliefs on anything, if they're-, if they want to work with us on our issues on social justice issues, we welcome them. So to be inclusive like that means that we have decided to abstain from becoming involved in any international issues. And that includes the Israel-Palestine issue.

McNair Ezzard 40:01

Do you ever get called out for not taking a position?

Frank Goldsmith 40:04

You bet. We get called out for not taking a position, we would get called out I'm sure if we took a position. There are some people-, we've been, we've tabled for example, at Mountain Moral Monday or some other rally, and people will see our sign, Oh, Carolina Jews for Justice, you must be about justice for the Palestinians or justice for Israel, whatever. And we have to explain that, No, that that's not what we're about. And we we define our work as Judy and I have defined it here today.

McNair Ezzard 40:37

So how many people are involved on an ongoing basis with Jews for Justice?

Judy Levitt 40:43

It's hard to say because people are involved in different ways. So we have-, we communicate with close to 500 people. In terms of events, we have some events where we've, we've done with other groups like the ACLU, where we've done some events, the film that we did on the 13th, [right] we were-, after 150 people, we were turning them away. [the movie '13th'], the movie '13th'. We. So it's more about what work we're doing. And people's interest in that work that you had mentioned before we went on the air about the issue of the environment and climate change. It's one of the issues we started out working on when we were formed. In fact, it rose to the top when we asked people what they were interested in. But it has now gone to the bottom not because it is not an absolutely crucial issue. But because in terms of what we can do, and and the ability that we have people to work in the area, what's happening, and what we suggest is that people work with groups that are really focused on climate change, because we can't do everything. So we often will refer people to an organization that is specifically working on something that we're not. So again, in terms of trying to give numbers it's very hard because it's it's more related to the particular programs or work we're doing.

Frank Goldsmith 42:23

Let me add something when we talk about the numbers of people that we communicate with, I think the figure Judy gave was in the West here, I think statewide on our email list the people that regularly receive our communications, it's more like between 1,500 and 2,000, I would say, but we have, as Judy said, we're the largest chapter and so we have a disproportionate number of those here, I'd say at least 500, perhaps more.

McNair Ezzard 42:48

So what's been the receptivity of the larger Jewish community to the work you do?

Judy Levitt 42:54

I think it's been incredibly positive. I mean, in many ways, just my telling the story of how we got started, it has made it easier for congregations, not to have to deal with some of the advocacy issues that may be contentious within congregations. And people feel comfortable saying you can work with Carolina Jews for Justice, because it doesn't get into the politics of a particular congregation, particularly if you have a broad perspective of of opinions about issues. So we have-, I mean, we are sought out. We have had groups come to us and say, we want to do something for you, non-Jewish groups, so for instance, we're going to be having an event in December, with a group of artists in the RAD, in the River Arts District, who came to us and said we pick-, we select a social justice organization every year, and we do-, we paint around a theme. And then then the organization that we support, gets a certain percentage of the proceeds, actually a considerable percentage of the proceeds. And that's happened about an event that we're going-, we're involved with that's taking place June the 1st at, excuse me, Thomas Wolfe auditorium, a production of what is called the Defiant Requiem, which was the performance of Verdi's Requiem done in a concentration camp in Terézin [Czech Republic], it's going to-, that performances coming here on June the 1st, and it is going to be monumental and talk-, the conductor who comes and does this all over the world, who is coming here. The program involves pictures and and speaking by Holocaust survivors from the concentration camp and and we were approached to be involved in that and any any net benefits from that will come to Carolina Jews for Justice. So I think it's a long way of answering your question, how are we perceived, but I think we are perceived as an important group that people see making, perhaps we hope, some little difference in our community.

McNair Ezzard 45:17

Also, it's been my experience that the people that tend to be on the forefront of progressive change tend to be the young people. Are there any generational differences in how Jewish people approach social justice? [Well-] I mean, look at the Climate Change Initiative that's happening right now. It's mostly the young people that are leading the way.

Frank Goldsmith 45:39

You know, that is true. It's a phenomenon that we have noticed, although the funny thing about Carolina Jews for Justice is that our chapters are so different in that respect, here in Asheville, for whatever reason, the steering committee and the people who are most actively involved with us tend to be older. Whereas, for example, the Durham chapter has much a much younger leadership. We even formed at one point, what we called an intergenerational caucus. So that we got on Zoom calls, and we communicated with each other about how to communicate with each other, and what what language to use and different perceptions. And it's, it's been an eye opening and fascinating experience. So we try to reach across generational lines, I think you're right, that a lot of the activism, particularly around environmental issues, has been folk-, has come from the youth. But not necessarily here in Asheville, one of our-, some of our older members or affiliates, have been very vocal about that, and very engaged in advocacy.

McNair Ezzard 46:45

We've just got a few minutes left, but I wanted to ask both of you, what gives you hope, when it comes to working on issues of social justice?

Judy Levitt 46:55

What gives me hope is when I'm surrounded by people who haven't given up, who really are committed to the work, I mean, I'm, I'm in my later 70s. And I'm-, I sometimes I wonder how much fight do I have left in me, and all I have to do is be around people of any age who still have that fire in the belly, so to speak. And that gives me hope, I think there are enough of us out there, and maybe more in some ways that really want to make change and and haven't given up and we'll continue to do that.

Frank Goldsmith 47:37

I think similarly, what gives me hope, first of all, within the Jewish community is that when we were formed, really, people who had previously been very loosely affiliated with their Judaism, frankly, came out of the woodwork to join us and wanted to work with us. And we, I think we hit a spark in them, in which they could acknowledge their Jewish identity and work for social justice. And that gives me hope to see that. But then, beyond that, I think working in coalition's with faith communities and seeing how we support each other is just a positively energizing phenomenon to see whether it's the Muslim community, the Christian community, whatever the community, may be, we just realized that we're all in this together. And that gives me great hope.

McNair Ezzard 48:23

In addition to the June event, do you have any other upcoming events you wanted to tell us about?

Judy Levitt 48:28

We do. We have-, we're working with Pisgah Legal Services to do a program on Medicaid in Hendersonville, which is going to be on May the 23rd, from 6 to 7:30 at the Co-op in Hendersonville, 60 South Charleston Lane, that is probably the next event that we are involved with, and then there will be more coming up, some during the summer, but probably more in the fall that we're planning now.

McNair Ezzard 49:00

And do you have monthly meetings or you just get together by email when we need to?

Judy Levitt 49:05

The steering committee meets monthly, the-, and does a lot of the planning. And then we we don't have-, we have maybe twice a year an open meeting, not that people can't come to the steering committee, they can. But I think people don't like to go to meetings. They like to go to events or be involved in planning them. And that's what we're looking for.

Frank Goldsmith 49:28

And the focus groups have their own spin off meetings to plan particular events too, the ones we've mentioned.

McNair Ezzard 49:35

Well, it's been great having you folks here. If you just joined us. You're a little late, but you missed a good conversation with Judy Levitt and Frank Goldsmith, and they're from Carolina Jews for Justice. Thank you for all the work you do and thank you for coming on the show today. I appreciate it.

Judy Levitt 49:51

Thank you.

Frank Goldsmith 49:51

Thank you for inviting us.

McNair Ezzard 49:54

You've been listening to A Better World on 103.7 WPVM FM. Brought to you each Thursday afternoon from 5 to 6pm. This is McNair Ezzard. Thank you for joining us and hopefully we'll see you next time on A Better World.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai