Supporting divestment an act of tzedakah

Over the past six months, dozens of volunteers spread across Providence, talking to their neighbors about a campaign to have the city divest our funds from countries conducting genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and prolonged military occupation.

Many of the volunteers, including myself, are Jewish — and our work for divestment has been motivated by the values our Jewish upbringing instilled in us. These values, of pikuach nefesh (preserving life), tikun olam (repairing the world) and tzedakah (justice/righteousness), shaped our understanding of the Jewish community — and the broader world we want to build. They helped us envision a Jewish future defined by solidarity with other communities here at home and around the world, rooted in a proud legacy of Jewish advocacy for social justice and civil rights.

The divestment ordinance, which Providence residents will vote on in November, is an expression of these values. It says that not only Israel — but any state committing these severe violations of human rights — should not receive our government funds.

Opponents of the ordinance will claim that it is singling out Israel — but if you read the text of the ordinance, this is objectively false. The ordinance specifies the crimes being committed, not any one country committing them. It would and should apply in cases that have nothing to do with Israel.

Those challenging the ordinance will also claim it endangers the city’s financial future. This also doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The ordinance specifies that the city’s treasurer still must hold his fiscal responsibilities to residents as a central priority, and the law initiates a process by which these ethical requirements are a part of the city’s financial considerations.

Some people want to make you feel that this effort is an attack on us as Jews — a threat to the future of the Jewish community in Providence. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Proud Providence Jews from a wide variety of backgrounds — from different denominations, with different orientations toward God and ritual — have come together in support of this ordinance, sharing food, celebrating holidays together and honoring our tradition by fighting for what we believe is right.

What’s more, the Jewish community here and across the country has a long history of supporting human rights divestment efforts — championing the South Africa divestment movement and the movement for divestment targeting the genocide in Darfur, which Providence adopted in 2006. We see ourselves as continuing this honorable legacy today, especially as this very policy — if it had been law in the past — would have meant that we divested our collective funds from these past atrocities.

You may have questions about divestment, and that’s healthy! If it makes you afraid, or if it makes you want to shut down and exit the conversation, I issue this simple challenge: engage. Reach out to someone in your life who supports divestment, or to a member of the Providence for Palestine coalition. Listen to what they have to say — not with the intention to respond or rebut or change their mind, but with the intention to understand them better.

Many try to paint us as traitors to our own Jewish community. But we love the Jewish community — that’s a huge reason why we are pouring our hearts and souls into this effort. We are working to build a better world for everyone — one where no group faces anything resembling the kinds of suffering Jews have faced in the past. Because true safety for us, for Palestinians and for the world, will come when we no longer fear our neighbors, but instead work together to build a better world for us all.

ZACK KLIGLER is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and an organizer with Providence for Palestine. He graduated from Brown University in 2020.