More Than 45 Prominent Jewish Leaders Sign Letter in Support of Jessie Sander
On Jan. 25, Jessie Sander filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Westchester County, against Westchester Reform Temple (“WRT”), two of its rabbis and its executive director, for wrongful discharge pursuant to Section 201-d of the New York State Labor Law.
As set forth in the complaint, Ms. Sander started work in early July 2021 as a secular Jewish educator in WRT’s school, the Jewish Learning Lab (“JLL”). She was hired to teach and tutor the Hebrew language and to assist and support the development of social, cultural and community service programs for WRT teens. Nothing in the job or job description required any adherence to any particular point of view about Israel or its policies toward the Palestinians.
Nevertheless, WRT fired Ms. Sander after less than three weeks on the job, not for any teaching deficiencies or criticisms she received, but allegedly solely because of a blog post she and a friend had written months before her WRT employment began that severely criticized the State of Israel for its May 2021 bombardment of Gaza. In that post, Ms. Sander affirmed her passion for Judaism, her investment in building Jewish community, and her commitment to fight for justice for all Jews; and identified herself as an anti-Zionist opposed to what she believed to be a legalized apartheid regime in Israel at odds with Judaism or any other religion.
After reading the blog post, the Rabbi who had hired her and who directs the JLL met with Ms. Sander, engaged in a frank discussion of their respective views, and told her that he and WRT’s school embraced a “wrestling with Israel” position and welcomed diverse thinkers and that she should never work at a place that would fire her for her beliefs, 90% of which he agreed with. Immediately after that meeting, the Rabbi wrote an email to the Senior Rabbi and to the WRT president – which he shared with Ms. Sander — summarizing the meeting, expressing complete confidence in Jessie as an educator, and stating that she would be a good role model for WRT’s students.
One week later, however, that same Rabbi called Ms. Sander to another meeting, this time with the WRT executive director, where the Rabbi fired her. When she asked why, the executive director told her that “it’s just not a good fit.”
The facts set forth in the complaint make clear that Ms. Sander was fired solely because of the blog post she co-authored. The Labor Law makes it unlawful for “any employer” to ‘discharge from employment” any “individual” because of her “legal recreational activities,” “outside work hours, off of the employer’s premises and without use of the employer’s equipment or other property.” Such recreational activities include “any lawful, leisure-time activity, for which the employee receives no compensation and which is generally engaged in for recreational purposes, including but not limited” to “hobbies.” Ms. Sander, like many Americans and Jewish Americans, blogged as a hobby, without compensation, and this particular blog post was authored and published months before she began work at WRT.
More than 45 prominent Jewish Americans, including rabbis, scholars, and educators, have signed an Open Letter to
WRT, urging the Temple to reinstate Ms. Sander. The letter states, in part, “If, as appears to be the case, Ms. Sander was fired because someone objected to her blog post, we urge you to reconsider your decision. You are surely aware that Ms. Sander’s views are shared by a growing segment of the Jewish community, who understand or are grappling with the role of Zionism in the dispossession of the Palestinian people from their homes and land. Their commitment to Palestinian justice is fully consistent with the Jewish values of, and commitment to, pursuing justice that they learned in Hebrew school and from their families. We are certain that there are many educators within the Reform movement with views similar to those expressed by Ms. Sander. The Reform Jewish community – and all Jewish communities – need educators with the passion and moral compass of people such as Jessie Sander. You surely understood that when you hired her. We urge you to reinstate her.”
Sander co-founded a website titled makingmensches.com, whose mission is to educate and learn with fellow white Jews to build more welcoming communities. On the website is a blog, and the blog post in question, which can be found at the following link, https://makingmensches.medium.com/israel-wont-save-us-moving-towards-liberation-d0590cf41561, is a tough criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people, and the 2021 bombing of Gaza.
Sander writes with co-founder Elana Lipkin, “As co-founders of an American Jewish organization seeking to confront the Jewish community’s racist practices and beliefs, we must speak out against israel’s most recent attack on Gaza….We believe our role as white American Jews is to resist the American-israeli military-industrial complex and the ways in which American Jewish support for israel has enabled the genocide in Palestine to continue. Making Mensches believes in the right of Palestinian self-determination and rejects the Zionist claim to the land of Palestine.”
But at the end of the post, they write, “Our anti-Zionist journeys, while difficult, have been nothing short of essential to strengthening our passion for Judaism. Being anti-Zionist has made us even more invested in building Jewish community and fighting for justice for all Jews.”
A simple search of Sander’s works and writings by WRT could have, and should have been done prior to her hiring. And her comments about Israel and Palestine have the support of many American Jews, including the 45 (and counting) prominent members of the American-Jewish community.
