Rabbinic Reflection: Rabbi Yael Splansky

My Week with Two Deborahs

Last Wednesday, thanks to the leadership of our Advocacy Committee, Holy Blossom Temple welcomed Deborah Lyons. This Wednesday, thanks to the leadership at the Miles Nadel JCC, I joined a roundtable discussion with Deborah Lipstadt. Deborah Lyons is Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt is the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. I wish we didn’t need them, but we do.

If you didn’t make it to hear Deborah Lyons’ interview with Tom Friedland, the link can be found if you scroll down to the Advocacy section of this issue of Life@HBT.   

She spoke with urgency about the roll-out of the new Canadian Handbook on the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) Working Definition of Antisemitism. https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/canada-holocaust/antisemitism/handbook-definition-antisemitism.html Special Envoy Lyons made a point of the fact that this document was not simply produced by her office, but is an initiative of the Government of Canada. It is a non-binding government directive and a practical resource to empower people across the country to understand what antisemitism is, why it is dangerous, and what must be done to confront it. 

I was pleased to be among the 150 consultants, charged with reading a working draft of the handbook and suggesting ways to strengthen it further. You can now be a part of its implementation. Bring the handbook to the attention of the leadership of your workplaces and your children’s schools and universities. It is a resource and a tool to support administrators and HR professionals in their work. Some say: “It’s hard to define antisemitism, but you know it when you see it.” That’s not true for everyone everywhere, so this handbook names what antisemitism is and what it isn’t and puts the responsibility of confronting it squarely on the shoulders of every Canadian in a position of leadership. 

Because her mandate includes addressing antisemitism on the international stage, Ambassador Lipstadt came to hear what life is like for Canadian Jewry today and how it is distinct from the American Jewish experience. Lyons and Lipstadt work closely together, but they approach their work uniquely. Lyons is a seasoned diplomat. Lipstadt is an accomplished historian. She teaches that antisemitism is not solely a human rights concern, it is a threat to democracy. She speaks of the “instrumentalization of antisemitism,” that it is a tool used strategically by bad actors on the far right and the far left to destabilize societies. “Antisemitism,” Professor Lipstadt says, “is the yellow flashing light that comes before the red light.” 

This is the message I bring to elected officials whenever I am given the chance. They often approach the rising antisemitism as a concern for a Canadian minority, in need of protection. They feel duty-bound to secure our safety and our physical well-being, but they often miss the fact of history that antisemitism is a symptom of a greater threat against society as a whole than it is against the Jews. I remind them that rising antisemitism poses even more daunting questions to elected officials and people in positions of responsibility for shaping civic society: “What will our country stand for? And what will it not stand for?” How we answer these questions – which more often than not are not simple to navigate – will determine what Canada will become. 

The first Deborah was a prophet and the fourth judge of ancient Israel. Her leadership is described in the biblical Book of Judges, first in prose in chapter 4 and again in poetic form in chapter 5.  She is described as being a “woman of Lapidot.” Biblical scholars debate if Lapidot is the name of her husband, her geographical place of origin, or a description of her character of leadership. A ‘lapid’ is a torch that is held high to shed greater light and to help others find their own way out of the darkness. The two Deborahs — Lyons and Lipstadt — are torchbearers of our time, bravely bringing greater light and clarity in the midst of the darkness that threatens our world. May their voices be amplified and the works of their hands take hold.