Rabbi Daniel Feldman of Teaneck’s Congregation Ohr Sadyah in Teaneck posed a question referencing the meraglim story from the parsha: two against 10, yet we know the two were correct. As we celebrated July 4th last week, the birth of the world’s greatest democracy, where we believe the majority rules, one might ask: Is the majority not always right?
Diverging from Rabbi Feldman’s discussion to make my point, the founders of our country realized that the majority isn’t always right. But what do you do when the majority votes for a certain issue? That’s why we have checks and balances, three branches of government—executive, legislative and judicial. The court system can challenge both the other branches when the law is being misinterpreted or misapplied.
We live in a time when antisemitism is appearing all over – on the subways and college campuses, at synagogues and supermarkets, everywhere. The police often don’t know what they can or can’t do and therefore stand back as Jewish institutions and individuals are attacked. Many people who are influenced by misinformation are attacking Jews.
Fortunately, the legal system addresses these violations of the law and Jewish attorneys are mobilizing to hold antisemitic perpetrators responsible. One organization at the forefront of this effort is the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC), headed by Mark Goldfeder. He has been instrumental in instituting many lawsuits dealing with antisemitism. The NJAC has coordinated the filing of lawsuits against UNRWA, Students for Justice in Palestine, Binance (after they gave funds to Hamas) and many others. He has assisted numerous municipalities in defining antisemitism, including guidance he gave to our community as we advocated on this issue in New Jersey recently.
To learn more about the current efforts of the organization and how you can assist both as an attorney volunteer and or with a financial gift, please visit the NJAC at
https://Jewishadvocacycenter.org/
