The story of Chanukah is an inspirational reminder of the resilience of the Jewish people.  In 167 BCE, a small group of Jews, known as Maccabees, revolted against the Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The King had banned Jewish religious practices and defiled the Temple in Jerusalem – the center of Jewish spiritual life.  Upon their revolt, the Maccabees successfully fought off the much larger Seleucid army, gained their independence, and reclaimed the Temple in Jerusalem for Jewish worship. This would have been miraculous enough, but the story goes on.

The Maccabees knew that it would take a week to produce new olive oil to light the Menorah in the Temple, the candelabra which was intended to burn eternally. They searched through the rubble for pure oil to last them a full week, but only found enough to last one day.  Despite knowing that the Menorah’s flame would die after 24 hours, they decided to use the little oil they had to light it anyway. This was a symbolic act of devotion that displayed hope and resilience. Miraculously, as the story goes, the oil lasted not just for that one day, but for another week, allowing new oil to be produced to continue burning the Menorah’s eternal flame. 

The eternal flame of the Jewish people will continue to burn brightly. At JCRC-NY, we are doing our part to ensure that our community remains resilient in the face of hopelessness and despair.  Part of our strategy is to intentionally bring our own Jewish community leaders together with current and emerging diverse community leaders in common purpose to engender a shared society. This is especially important in times of crisis.

JCRC-NY’s Center for Shared Society is the New York Jewish community’s primary engine for community and intergroup relations.  Led for over three decades by the indefatigable Rabbi Bob Kaplan, the Center works to ensure that our communities have the relationships and the tools to work together, manage crises, and build a better New York for all people. This work has always been critical to the success of JCRC-NY, but it even more important in the wake of October 7th.

Over 10 years ago, Sheikh Musa Drammeh encountered Rabbi Bob Kaplan during a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East that were impacting relationships between Jews and Muslims in NYC.  Incredibly, Sheikh Musa’s mosque housed a synagogue within it to provide a place for the local Jewish community to worship – even during these tense times.  Sheikh Musa and Rabbi Kaplan quickly became partners in the work of bridge building across New York, bringing diverse teens together in Parkchester.  Now, they are forming a Peace Commissioners Initiative, featured here on Fox 5, to empower leaders to stand up to the hate and the toxicity that seeks to divide us.  

Most recently, Sheikh Musa accompanied Rabbi Kaplan and a dozen other interfaith leaders on the JCRC-NY sponsored Interfaith Solidarity Mission to Israel to bear witness to the horrors of October 7th. This relationship is emblematic of how JCRC-NY’s Center for Shared Society continues to develop long-term trusting relationships and critical partnerships between diverse leaders that allow our communities to move forward and improve our City, especially in troubled times.

The cornerstone of JCRC-NY’s Center for Shared Society is our fellowship programs, which convene and develop diverse emerging leaders with the skills, understanding, and commitment to collaborate across differences and address the challenges facing our city.  Our newest fellowship – Bridges-NY – is about to graduate its inaugural class of government, public policy and advocacy professionals who aspire to run for public office and are given the tools to build authentic connections and tackle challenging issues.

A central component of Bridges-NY was a first-of-its-kind study tour to Senegal, Israel and the West Bank.  While the group was scheduled to depart on October 14th, the attacks of October 7th made the Middle East portion impossible.  Still, the Bridges-NY fellows were still able to spend a week in Senegal – a predominantly Muslim African country.  The fellows met with the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal, Mike Raynor, and visited sites related to the transatlantic slave trade, Wolof (West African) art and culture, urban and economic development and global migration.  These experiences provided meaningful opportunities for the fellows to reflect and learn about the historical trauma of the slave trade as well as the contemporary forces compelling migrants to begin the dangerous journey by sea to get to Europe and America. 

Above all, the fellows got to know one another – over meals, music and art, and on planes, trains, boats and buses.  As one fellow remarked afterwards: “We are bridge builders and working to ensure that we can all focus more on what unites us than what divides us and drives us into destructive conflict. We can create a safe and 

honest space to pray and advocate for a more peaceful solution to the current crisis and help fight hate any possible spillover of the conflict here in our city. I am glad that I can rely not only on this cohort but its leadership to provide strategies.”

While our community continues to feel the pain and despair that began on October 7th, and is compounded by increased antisemitism in our midst, JCRC-NY is consistently continuing its efforts to build bridges and work across cultures with current leaders and the future leaders of New York.  Like the eternal flame of the Menorah, our work building a shared society continues in the good times and the bad times.  Learning about each other, holding space for our differences, and celebrating our common ground helps us provide a better world for our children and grandchildren.  All it takes is a little bit of oil to light that flame.  With a little bit of hope and the determination to do good, this resilient flame of the Jewish people can last forever.

Shabbat Shalom, 

Noam Gilboord
Interim CEO, JCRC-NY