Dear Community Members, 

According to various exit polls, approximately a quarter of American Jews voted for Donald Trump and three-quarters voted for Kamala Harris. Whether you are now filled with elation or dismay, this week has produced a myriad of feelings.  On Wednesday night, the JCRC’s Advisory Board gathered to discuss how to respond to the election results. While none of us can be certain about what the next four years will look like we wanted to take a moment to share some of the JCRC’s basic core principles that will ground and drive our work. 

Maintaining JCRC’s Core Philosophies

• • Staying True to Our Mission – Securing a vibrant Jewish future and championing a just, democratic, and pluralistic society.
  • Addressing Antisemitism – Key to our mission is our work on addressing both implicit and explicit antisemitism through education, advocacy, and responding to antisemitic activities.
  • Living Our Values – Caring for the Jewish people,  pursuing justice, honoring viewpoint diversity, and seeing the humanity in each person.
  • Upholding Consensus Positions – As JCRC, we have developed consensus positions on issues such as poverty and food insecurity, minority rights in Israel, humanitarian crises and refugees, Zionism, and reproductive rights.  We will continue to support these positions as well as address new issues as they arise.

How will the JCRC rise to support our community in this moment? 

• • Advocacy – While we do not know how the election results will impact legislative decisions, we will continue to vigilantly monitor where the legislature is going and mobilize to advance an agenda in Olympia that combats antisemitism, bigotry, and racism, supports the needs of our local Jewish agencies, and upholds the JCRC’s positions. 
  • Cohesion, Consensus, and Civil Discourse – We will work within and beyond the JCRC to engage our diverse Jewish communities to build capacity for understanding, bridge divides, and develop consensus on key issues and challenges. 
  •  Solidarity and Partnerships – As we have learned, the safety and wellbeing of the Jewish people is inextricably linked to that of other marginalized groups. We will use our resources to recommit ourselves to building strong coalitions and partnerships with others around our shared values, shared humanity, and issues of common cause.

There is strength in both the JCRC’s diversity and our commitment to each other as Jews.  Through the next phase of our democratic process, we will continue to dedicate and uphold, the safety, dignity and humanity of our broader community.  The JCRC of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle is here to mobilize, to listen to, convene, and to support our 36 member organizations, our dozens of individual leaders, and each of you as we navigate through this new uncharted territory.  We will stand tall together and continue to advocate for our shared Jewish values.