A recent open letter initiated by the Union for Reform Judaism, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the National Council of Jewish Women—signed by over 30 other primarily American organizations of similar assertively liberal persuasion—defends diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the name of Jewish values.

It’s a message that lands to the left of my own politics—but it also makes a number of good points.

For one thing, it doesn’t dance around the fact that DEI as practiced can sometimes be craptastic for the Jews:

“Some Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion champions have spoken or acted in ways that have caused us pain, including through overt expressions of antisemitism, and others have shared visions of the future that differ from our own; none can speak authoritatively and comprehensively about what Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is or is not. Rather, it is for each of us to do the work of opening the doors of opportunity for all. It is not only possible, but necessary, to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts in a way that is truly inclusive of Jewish safety, identities, and history.”

Several liberal Jewish groups pledge to stand by DEI:

"As Jewish groups that are committed to protecting & advancing the safety & security of our community, we know we have an invaluable tool to leverage: DEI initiatives"https://t.co/cCtBB5HPEr pic.twitter.com/CJZvGf7WaY

Instead, it’s the principles worth hanging onto. Not only is DEI beneficial to “Jews who identify as People of Color, members of the LGBTQ community, and women”—the majority of Jewry!—but, and this is the part I’m fixated on, it is part of a value system that has a place for Jews.

Abandon DEI, some are realizing, and you might just be abandoning the very idea of anti-discrimination.

For the past three weeks, the demolition of DEI programs in U.S. workplaces and universities has been part President Trump’s general mission to reduce the federal government to a few abandoned paperclips in a dusty office somewhere.

One of President Trump’s promises was actually to get rid of all that wokeness. And while Jewish voters didn’t bite (most voted Democrat, as per usual), he could still have their support—American Jews, and any Canadian conservative counterparts not altogether miffed about all the tariffs-and-51st-state nonsense—if DEI is genuinely something doing us wrong.

And he does, to a point. Not all Jewish groups are fleeing Elon Musk-owned X for progressive haven Bluesky. Some Jews are even sharing their delight at the downfall of DEI in their New York Times columns! (That would be Bret Stephens, whom I will oblige by not, as a woman, signing up for anything physically strenuous.) Ambivalence seems to be the order of the day where Jews and DEI are concerned, as Haley Cohen reported last week for Jewish Insider.

As is true in American society at large, some Jewish organizations are ride-or-die DEI, while others are taking advantage of Trump’s instincts on this one to reject policies that they maybe never adopted, or maybe only went........

© Canadian Jewish News