Open any newspaper, or click on any online news site, and, virtually every day, you will find descriptions of “DEI” as an extremely harmful phenomenon. DEI is seen by some as the source of destructive and divisive perspectives on education, on American society, and on American history. For some, DEI seems to threaten the American dream and is the enemy of thoughtful Americans. Some Jewish communities believe that DEI practitioners often fail to understand the complexities of American Jewish identity. More on that concern later.
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, I offer a brief sampling of Martin Luther King’s words on the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion. I invite us to contemplate why these ideas have such an honored tradition in American history. I will also include Jewish texts that speak to the Jewish values that underlie each of these words.
Diversity
MLK on Diversity
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
“Life’s piano can only produce melodies of brotherhood when it is recognized that the black keys are as basic, necessary and beautiful as the white keys.”
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
“The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men [humans] human and, therefore, brothers [siblings].”
Jewish Texts on Diversity
“God created humankind in God’s own image, in the image of God did God create them; male and female God created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
“A human being mints many coins from the same mold, and they are all identical. But the Holy One, Blessed be God, strikes us all from the mold of the first human [Adam], and yet each one of us is unique.” (MishnahA collection of rabbinic teachings edited in Israel around 225 CE. Organized in six sedaraim by subject matter and dealing with both ritual and civil law. Both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud are expansive discussions of the Mishnah. Read more Sanhedrin 4:5)
“Great is human dignity (Kavod HaBriyot), as it supersedes a negative commandment in the TorahRefers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, also called the Five Books of Moses, Pentateuch or the Hebrew equivalent, Humash. This is also called the Written Torah. The term may also refer to teachings that expound on Jewish tradition. Read more.” (Berachot 19b)
Summary: In Martin Luther King’s writings and in Jewish sources, we find diversity as evidence of a powerful and loving God. God intentionally created people of different races, ethnicities, genders and convictions. Dr. King’s dream is for us to discover our shared humanity and unite to create a “Beloved Community.”
Equity (addressing the reality of historic wrongs)
MLK on Equity
“It is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.”
“A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for him.”
“God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty.”
“Justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
Jewish Texts on Equity
“You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You [communal leaders] shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me.” (Exodus 22:20-22)
“You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 23:9).
“There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.” (Exodus 12:49).
“The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love them as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:34)
Summary: These texts are powerful exhortations to care for the stranger, the marginalized, and the disadvantaged. Society must offer special attention, care, and reparative action toward those who have suffered prejudice and othering.
Inclusion
MLK on Inclusion
“Desegregation alone will only produce a society where men [people] are physically desegregated and spiritually segregated, where elbows are together and hearts apart.”
“We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls ‘enemy,’ for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers and sisters.”
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
“We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.”
Jewish Texts on Inclusion/Hospitality
“Welcoming guests is greater than welcoming the presence of ShechinahLiterally translated as “Presence,” while rabbinically, it is a term referring to God’s presence in the world. Its feminine form gave rise to the mystical expression of God’s feminine attributes. Read more (God’s presence).” (Shabbat 127a)
“Rav Huna said, ‘Anyone who needs, let them come.’ When Rav Huna would eat bread, he would open the doors, saying: ‘Whoever is in need, let them come and eat.’” (Ta’anit 20b and the Passover Haggadah)
“Abraham made a lodge for travelers and opened its doors to all winds (directions), and he received passersby and returnees.” (MidrashThis word is used in two ways, as both a concept and a literature. As a concept, midrash is the expansive interpretation of biblical texts. The term is used to describe the practice of rabbinic interpretation. As a text, it refers to specific collections of interpretations, particularly from the third to ninth centuries in the Land of Israel and Babylonia. Plural: Midrashim
Read more Tehillim 110:1)
Summary: These texts paint lyrical pictures of the possibility of sitting together “at the table of brotherhood.” They describe the practice of opening one’s doors and one’s heart to “the other” as sacred work.
Conclusion
DEI programming has been swept into polarized political rhetoric and culture wars. The designation “DEI” in contemporary discourse has become entirely disconnected from the values and humanistic philosophy that underlie it. And it is clear that some facilitators of DEI training have failed to understand the complexities of Jewish identity. Such facilitators have spoken of a binary construction of social identities in America. They juxtapose the privileged (white people) to the oppressed (people of color). But this binary fails to capture Jewish realities. Not all Jews are white, and even Jews who are white suffer discrimination and danger due to our identity. Jewish leaders can and should partner with DEI trainers to include the American-Jewish experience of discrimination and othering in discussions about DEI.
But the essential truth is that diversity and equity and inclusion are deeply honored value concepts in the work of Martin Luther King and in our own Jewish sources. We can use Martin Luther King Day as an opportunity to remember and reaffirm the lofty dreams that inspired Dr. King and the principles that are so central to our own tradition.
