With limited time, and in honor of The Korach Affair of this week’s torah portion, I bring to you here the words I shared at a press conference for a Seattle University student who was physically grabbed and had a Palestinian flag ripped from her by the university provost while in the act of walking across the stage at her commencement this weekend. May she and her family be protected and find joy in her accomplishment, and may we all work to ensure a world where immigrants, Black women, Muslims, and everyone find their expressions of religion and political convictions celebrated.
My name is Rabbi David Basior from the Kadima Reconstructionist Jewish Community, and I stand here today as a rabbi, as a Seattleite, and as a neighbor to Seattle University, in solidarity with our Muslim community.
Anyone and everyone should be able to walk across a commencement stage, receive their diploma, and celebrate with their family. Instead, after informing the provost that she does not shake hands with men for religious reasons, a Black Muslim woman was physically grabbed and had a Palestinian flag ripped from her hands. She was left shaken, and her family left the ceremony in tears.
We must name this plainly. This raises concerns about anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian bias. It reflects a broader pattern in which Muslim identity and Palestinian solidarity are treated as problems to be managed rather than rights to be protected.
Jewish tradition teaches that every person is created b'tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. Rabbi Akiva says in our Mishnah: "Beloved is the human being, for they were created in the image of God." (Pirkei Avot 3:14) Human dignity is not selective.
Jewish tradition also teaches that publicly humiliating another person is akin to shedding blood (Bava Metzia 58b). And the Torah commands us, again and again: "You shall not oppress the stranger, for you know the soul of the stranger" (Exodus 23:9).
The prophet Isaiah tells us that true religious devotion means "to let the oppressed go free" (Isaiah 58). This student has said that she raised the Palestinian flag because, as a Muslim and a person of faith, she felt called to stand with oppressed people. Whether or not one shares her political views, her peaceful expression and bodily autonomy deserved protection.
We gather in a city welcoming the world for the World Cup and celebrating itself as diverse and inclusive, even as our nation experiences escalating attacks on immigrants and on communities that protect and defend them.
Seattle University's own statement on diversity invokes Fr. Pedro Arrupe's call to engage in the struggle for justice and protect the needs of the most vulnerable through the ideal of becoming "People for Others." Those values are meaningful only if they are lived when it is difficult. A university cannot claim to stand with the vulnerable while a visibly Muslim student is physically accosted and her peaceful expression is suppressed on commencement day.
I join the calls for accountability: a public apology, assurance of no retaliation, and a transparent investigation.
I say to my rabbinic colleagues, now is always the time to stand together with anyone's struggle for justice and freedom. All the more so when the violence is done in our name, as an excuse to protect us. Join us in our linked struggle. To my fellow white man, provost Shane Martin, apologizing is a sign of strength. It is a way to restore the dignity of those we harm, yes, but it is also the key to our own dignity as well. I support you in making this brave move of restorative dignity as a first step, but not at all the only.
And I say to Sumaya and to your Muslim family, friends, and neighbors: your dignity is sacred, your faith is sacred, and your voice belongs here. You are indeed chaviv adam—beloved human beings.
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom, Happy continued Pride, and a meaningful Juneteenth,
R' David
My name is Rabbi David Basior from the Kadima Reconstructionist Jewish Community, and I stand here today as a rabbi, as a Seattleite, and as a neighbor to Seattle University, in solidarity with our Muslim community.
Anyone and everyone should be able to walk across a commencement stage, receive their diploma, and celebrate with their family. Instead, after informing the provost that she does not shake hands with men for religious reasons, a Black Muslim woman was physically grabbed and had a Palestinian flag ripped from her hands. She was left shaken, and her family left the ceremony in tears.
We must name this plainly. This raises concerns about anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian bias. It reflects a broader pattern in which Muslim identity and Palestinian solidarity are treated as problems to be managed rather than rights to be protected.
Jewish tradition teaches that every person is created b'tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. Rabbi Akiva says in our Mishnah: "Beloved is the human being, for they were created in the image of God." (Pirkei Avot 3:14) Human dignity is not selective.
Jewish tradition also teaches that publicly humiliating another person is akin to shedding blood (Bava Metzia 58b). And the Torah commands us, again and again: "You shall not oppress the stranger, for you know the soul of the stranger" (Exodus 23:9).
The prophet Isaiah tells us that true religious devotion means "to let the oppressed go free" (Isaiah 58). This student has said that she raised the Palestinian flag because, as a Muslim and a person of faith, she felt called to stand with oppressed people. Whether or not one shares her political views, her peaceful expression and bodily autonomy deserved protection.
We gather in a city welcoming the world for the World Cup and celebrating itself as diverse and inclusive, even as our nation experiences escalating attacks on immigrants and on communities that protect and defend them.
Seattle University's own statement on diversity invokes Fr. Pedro Arrupe's call to engage in the struggle for justice and protect the needs of the most vulnerable through the ideal of becoming "People for Others." Those values are meaningful only if they are lived when it is difficult. A university cannot claim to stand with the vulnerable while a visibly Muslim student is physically accosted and her peaceful expression is suppressed on commencement day.
I join the calls for accountability: a public apology, assurance of no retaliation, and a transparent investigation.
I say to my rabbinic colleagues, now is always the time to stand together with anyone's struggle for justice and freedom. All the more so when the violence is done in our name, as an excuse to protect us. Join us in our linked struggle. To my fellow white man, provost Shane Martin, apologizing is a sign of strength. It is a way to restore the dignity of those we harm, yes, but it is also the key to our own dignity as well. I support you in making this brave move of restorative dignity as a first step, but not at all the only.
And I say to Sumaya and to your Muslim family, friends, and neighbors: your dignity is sacred, your faith is sacred, and your voice belongs here. You are indeed chaviv adam—beloved human beings.
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom, Happy continued Pride, and a meaningful Juneteenth,
R' David
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