IfNotNow
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https://linktr.ee/ifnotnoworg IF I AM NOT FOR MYSELF, WHO WILL BE FOR ME? We live our Judaism in diverse ways. IF I AM ONLY FOR MYSELF, WHAT AM I? We have chosen.
Every year, our tradition teaches us to remember both the bitterness of slavery and the joy of liberation. We recall the narrow places we’ve left through stories of persecution and resilience, in our own lives and in our people’s history. We carry the imprint of ancestors who struggled for thousands of years to preserve our tradition, who lit candles in the darkness, sang songs in their native tongues, built vibrant homes and communities with their neighbors and refused to dwell in despair. We remember the pain and brokenness that accompanied the light, and the sublime art and timeless wisdom that sustained our people in these times. The resilience of our people and our tradition is a gift we pass from generation to generation. We are Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi, secular and religious, queer and Jews of color - each of us using the freedom our people have fought for to decide what being Jewish means for us. The Jewish tradition has flourished across continents and centuries because each generation of Jews has kept its flame alive by adapting and renewing it for their time and place. Today, our generation is called to reinterpret the tradition so that we too may continue the struggle for Jewish liberation in our age, and so that we may pass the tradition onto the next generation. As we were dehumanized by the oppression we faced, we are now dehumanized by that which we are inflicting. Our elders told many of us that because of our history, we should oppose oppression in all the places it lives, whether it preys upon us or others. But generations of American Jews have now watched as Israel enforces its occupation: a system of violence and separation that deprives Palestinians of civil, political and economic rights. We have watched as the leadership of the American Jewish community has, for decades, offered only justification and excuses for the ongoing denial of the basic freedom and dignity to Palestinians. The occupation is a daily nightmare for those who live under it and a moral disaster for those who support and administer it. The sufferings of Jews and Palestinians are not equal or comparable. And yet, they are deeply intertwined. We know that as long as both peoples are caught in a cycle of violence, neither of us will be safe. That as long as as young Israeli men and women are sent into battle every two years, to kill and be killed, we are not free. That so long as Palestinians cannot walk or drive on the same streets as their Israeli neighbors, or live in constant fear that they may not be able to receive adequate medical attention when their families are sick, peace is but a rhetorical mask for injustice. That as long as a fearful American Jewish community ostracizes those who see the Palestinians as human beings, deserving of the same things we wish for ourselves, we cannot live with dignity. The out-of-touch leadership of the American Jewish establishment tells us - young Jews who believe all people should have freedom and dignity - that our values are incompatible with our tradition. They tell us that our commitment to justice must not extend beyond our shores. We know their view of Israel and the Palestinians is shaped by the history of Jewish oppression and Jewish suffering and Jewish death. We also know that those who act as if we are a people without power condemn us to accepting what we cannot accept: that we must always live by the sword, that we will always be hated, that we are condemned to live in conflict for all eternity. Their pain has curdled from fear into hate. We too are scarred by our people’s trauma. Our families are their families, and our grandparents their parents. We understand how trauma has caused some in our community to interpret history to mean that the world is against us. But we interpret our past differently - as a lesson that our freedom cannot be achieved absent the freedom of our neighbors. IF NOT NOW, WHEN? Today, the Jewish community is faced with a choice. Will we choose a Judaism that supports freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians, or will we let the leadership of the establishment define our tradition as incompatible with our values? Will we continue down the path of isolation and fear that’s destroying the lives of millions of Palestinians and alienating a generation of young Jews? Or, will we create a vibrant Judaism that emerges from the trauma of our past to bring our tradition to life in the present? We are building a Jewish community that recognizes we cannot be free absent the freedom of Palestinians. No longer will our community be used by American politicians and the American public to justify the violation of Palestinian rights. Like those born wandering in the desert, we are rising from our people’s trauma in order to move us toward the ongoing promise of liberation. We will be the generation to transform our community’s support for the occupation into a call for freedom and dignity for all.
09/25/2026
IfNotNow Movement is teaming up with Seed the Vote to bring together Jews from across the country to knock doors in Michigan for Abdul El-Sayed.
Join Jews from across the country to help elect Abdul in Michigan and win a thriving future for all. We’ll celebrate Shabbat and talk to Michigan voters together. Travel funds & lodging available!
We’re turning out for two big weekends:
🗓️October 9 - 12 (Indigenous Peoples Day weekend)
🗓️October 30 - November 3 (Get Out the Vote weekend - we’ll be knocking through Election Day on Tuesday, but you’re welcome to join for just the weekend)
Want to learn more? Join an upcoming info session: Sept 30, 9 - 10pm ET, and Oct 18, 6 - 7pm ET.
Sign up at 🔗 innmvmt.org/jewsforabdul 🔗 or comment MICHIGAN to get the link directly in your DMs!
09/24/2026
Join us at Jewish Currents Live, an all-day gathering of performance, learning, and discussion on Sunday, October 11th, 2026 in Brooklyn, NY.
In an era of genocide, mass detention, and authoritarianism, the positions and perspectives of the Jewish left have moved from the margins to the mainstream. In this moment of transformation, we’ll gather for performances, interviews, and conversations on the issues reshaping our communities and culture.
Get your tickets today! 🔗 https://jewishcurrents.org/live/ 🔗
09/23/2026
Happening soon! Next week, IfNotNow Movement is bringing together Jews from across the country for a national call and our first-ever virtual fundraiser to help elect Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to the U.S. Senate.
We’re thrilled to be joined by these exciting guest speakers: Brad Lander, NY-10 Congressional Candidate and former NYC Comptroller, Rabbi Alana Alpert, Founding Director of Detroit Jews for Justice and Rabbi of Congregation T’Chiyah in Detroit, Hayley Sakwa, IfNotNow Member and Michigan Jews for Democracy Organizer, and Jonathan Mendoza, IfNotNow Movement Leader and Seed the Vote Organizer.
In order to win a thriving future for all, we need to elect shared safety champions like Abdul.
In the primary, Abdul took on AIPAC’s billionaire-funded war machine and won. But the battle isn’t over. MAGA, pro-war lobbies, and establishment Jewish institutions are throwing everything they have at this race. That’s why it’s crucial for us to come together and organize, proving once and for all that blocking weapons to Israel and supporting Palestinian human rights are winning positions.
Join IfNotNow Movement and our exciting lineup of guest speakers on September 30 from 8-9pm to find out how you can help elect Abdul to the Senate!
Register at 🔗 innmvmt.org/jewsforabdulcall 🔗 or comment CALL to get the link directly in your DMs!
Today, Yom Kippur 2026/5787, we were honored to have Hana Masud join us for Yizkor.
We refuse to be complicit in ethnic cleansing and land theft in Palestine. We commit to collectively resist settler terrorism and stand in solidarity with the village of Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah (المغير، رام الله), and all Palestinian villages that Israel threatens to destroy.
09/21/2026
Throughout the month of Elul and the Days of Awe, our beloved Jewish communities have been in a period of reckoning — which culminates now on Yom Kippur. How did we live out our values in 5786? Where did we fall short? Who will we be in 5787? How can we achieve teshuvah, a return to righteousness?
A group of IfNotNow members and staff just recently returned from our visit to the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel, meeting with Palestinian partners and Israeli solidarity activists. Everywhere our delegation went throughout the Land, we encountered the devastating impacts of U.S.-manufactured weapons — paid for by our tax dollars and provided to the Israeli government in the name of Jewish safety.
Bearing witness to U.S.-enabled apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide along with the steadfastness of Palestinians and the solidarity of Jewish Israeli activists has only deepened our commitment to and personal stakes in our campaign to block U.S. weapons to Israel. We have already begun sharing our stories with our local Jewish communities and taking action together.
Our movement has experienced so many exciting wins recently, and yet there is so much work to do — in our synagogues, in our streets, and in the halls of power. May we all find the courage, focus, and steadfastness needed of us to lead and make change in 5787. And may the new year bring safety, equality, and justice for all — Palestinians and Israelis, our neighbors and ourselves.
G’mar chatima tovah.
09/21/2026
Find the live Yizkor Livestream at: Rabbis4ceasefire.com/live
Yom Kippur 2026/5787
Monday September 21st, 3:30pm ET
In Brooklyn, NY with ASL interpretation and Livestreamed with closed captions
All are welcome.
Register LINK IN BIO
09/20/2026
YIZKOR: Find us near the arch at Grand Army Plaza!
Yom Kippur 2026/5787
Monday September 21st, 3:30pm ET
In Brooklyn, NY with ASL interpretation and Livestreamed
Wear white clothing. Bring a small stone.
All are welcome.
Register LINK IN BIO
09/18/2026
Yuli Novak, Executive Director of Israeli Human Rights org B'Tselem בצלם , in the New York Times: “The logic of elimination does not require every Palestinian to disappear. It seeks to make Palestinian collective life increasingly impossible while securing permanent Israeli Jewish control. In Gaza, the logic of elimination has taken its most extreme form: genocide. In the West Bank, it dismantles the conditions that allow Palestinians to remain on their land and live as a society and a people.”
B’Tselem’s new report “Elimination Project” documents how Israel is systematically using interconnected mechanisms: violence, displacement, restrictions on movement, economic strangulation, and political repression to dismantle the conditions that allow Palestinians to exist as a collective in the West Bank, while expanding and entrenching Israeli control and Jewish supremacy.
Novak urges, “The international community must stop treating these conditions as isolated violations and end the impunity that allows this system to continue.”
Cutting military aid to Israel and blocking weapons is a key tangible step the U.S. could take to bring about systemic change.
Email your members of Congress now to urge them to cosponsor and support the Block the Bombs Act: 🔗 innmvmt.org/blockthebombs 🔗
09/17/2026
Contrary to what establishment Jewish institutions want us to believe, Jewish communal support for Abdul is strong and growing! Jewish voters support medicare for all, abolishing ICE, protecting our democracy, AND blocking weapons to Israel.
Today in the NYTimes -
“A group of Jewish voters in Michigan is urging support for Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate, in an open letter that acknowledges concerns among some Jewish voters about his candidacy and his criticism of Israel.
The letter, signed by more than 500 people who identify as Jewish leaders or voters in the state, says that the election of Dr. El-Sayed, a staunch critic of Israel, is “clearly the better choice for Jews” compared with his Republican opponent, former Representative Mike Rogers.”
As U.S. Jews, the only true path to safety for our people — and all people — is shared safety. That means strengthening our democracy, blocking U.S. weapons to Israel, and fighting for a future of freedom and dignity for Palestinians, Israelis, our neighbors, and ourselves.
In order to win a thriving future for all, we need to elect shared safety champions like Abdul who will fight for that vision.
IfNotNow Movement is working to build Jewish communal support, raise money, and knock doors for Abdul – keep an eye out for ways to take action!
“When people live suffering, walls come down.” Democracy Now!
Happening tonight! Join us at 7:30pm ET for our screening of the award-winning documentary HOLDING LIAT followed by a discussion with Producer Lance Kramer.
Visit 🎟️ innmvmt.org/filmclub 🎟️ and donate any contribution of $10 or more to register for this virtual screening.
“In the weeks unfolding after Liat is kidnapped, her father resists efforts to use her captivity to justify escalating violence in Gaza, exposing political and emotional rifts within his family as they struggle to find a way to bring her home.”
Directed by Brandon Kramer. Runtime: 1h37m.
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🎞️ IfNotNow Film Club – a virtual film screening and discussion series from IfNotNow and Albi
Join us for screenings and facilitated discussions on thought-provoking films about Israel/Palestine, the U.S. Jewish experience, and the fight for shared safety for all. Each film will be followed by a facilitated discussion and opportunities to take action.
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