What do we mean by diasporism?
Our choice of the word diasporism is meant to convey three core messages:
We will explore, uplift, and celebrate the wealth of histories, languages, and cultures of Jewish lineages from across the world. We will de-center the modern nation-state of Israel from Jewish identity-building, while holding that half of global Jewry lives there, including many of our family and extended community members.
1
In the diasporist traditions of “Doykeit” (a celebration of “hereness”) of the Jewish Labor Bund and the “Convivencia” of the medieval Middle Eastern Jewish diaspora, we will invest in our roles as residents, neighbors, and community members of Greater Boston, building people-power to create change within our Jewish spaces and as Jews working in solidarity with other communities.
2
Our teaching around Israel/Palestine will not adopt ethnonationalism as a pathway to Jewish safety and well being. Instead, we will lead with an embodied understanding that our future is inextricably bound to the future of all people.
3
“Diasporism embraces diaspora, offers a place where we might join with others who value this history of dispersion; others who stand in opposition to nationalism and the nation state.”
— Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz