Frequently Asked Questions
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Jewish legacy institutions are actively causing harm by aligning with oppressive state power, funding Israel (and therefore the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians), conflating antizionism with antisemitism, and refusing to engage in meaningful dialogue with dissenters.
We believe that our traditions carry liberatory values that can support us in building a more just world and refuse to allow mainstream Judaism to speak for us.
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Diaspora is a word that provokes a lot of strong feelings. Some people believe the word centers Israel and/or Zionism. We have chosen it because diaspora is now a concept that belongs to many—if not most—people and communities on Earth, and we use it to emphasize our commonalities and connections with others, rather than the artificial insularity that pervades Jewish discourse about Jews.
We encourage those struggling with embracing the concept of diaspora to familiarize themselves with the term beyond the Jewish context, as Jews have always been in a context shared with others. Embracing diaspora is a commitment to the joy of intermixing and learning from our non-Jewish friends and neighbors, and all of us flourishing together.
We also believe that Judaism is fundamentally diasporic. Before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem there was Israelite religion; after the destruction and the exile a new religion was developed: Judaism. Israelite religion evolved from rituals of sacrifice and pilgrimages to a central temple into a Jewish religion involving forms of prayer, ethics, foodways, and communal life that can be practiced wherever you live.
Classical Jewish sources teach that at the end of history, when the messiah arrives, both living and dead Jews will return to the land of Israel to rebuild ancient Israelite tradition. Many different approaches to this belief have existed over time, but prior to Zionism, all have pointed towards a mythical, mystical future being required for mass return to the land, if at all.
Today, we understand that all Jews live in diaspora – even those who live in Jerusalem! In fact, all Jews are multi-diasporic: even if we trace our traditions’ origins back to Judea, for most of us that connection can only be held in a mythic register, because our lineages have moved through many different places on the way to the present. There is no single “original” moment we can fully return to, and we are shaped and strengthened by the many Jewish diasporic cultures we each carry, past and present.
This is especially true today, when most Jews are also of multiple ethnicities and backgrounds, holding diasporic identities that are not only Jewish, and when diaspora itself is understood as an ongoing process of human cohabitation that Judaism can affirm and celebrate.
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We are creating more than just a network of connections; we are working together to build social, cultural, and political power.
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Strengthen the work of making life-affirming, ethical, liberatory Judaism and the people who are making it by:
Connecting people and organizations doing similar work to share resources;
Providing liberatory Jewish perspectives to media outlets and interfaith partners;
Developing new modes of practice and relating that help us build thriving communities for ourselves and our non-Jewish neighbors;
Becoming a defining cultural force in Jewish life.
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JDM is not designed to be a spiritual or cultural home for individuals, but to support self-organization into and amongst Jewish organizations.
There are already many organizations, congregations, and projects that share a vision of Jewish life that is liberatory, interdependent with our neighbors, collaborative and creative—and many more in formation.
JDM is an umbrella designed to support the growth of collective efforts to meet our social, spiritual, cultural needs and aspirations. We encourage individuals to form or join organizations, and advocate for their organizations to join JDM.
JDM membership will include organizations, projects, and groups of various sizes, structures, and levels of formality.
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When a national organization joins JDM, its chapters or affiliated sub-organizations do not automatically become members. Sub-organizations and chapters may choose to join JDM independently, based on their own interest and capacity, even if their national organization declines. If the national organization passes a fit check, individual chapters can join without a fit check. At the same time, individuals from chapters or affiliates are welcome to participate in JDM through the national organization’s membership. This structure ensures clarity, consent, and autonomy at every level while still enabling broad participation.
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Encourage a project that you are part of to join!
Join an existing project; many have virtual programming
Start a project and join JDM!
We can connect you with support if you want to start something bigger
Donate money to help the movement get off the ground
Spread the word!
Individuals who are part of member organizations of JDM do the work of sustaining JDM through committees and circles
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No one and everyone!
JDM prioritizes autonomy (minimal hierarchy, self-organizing), participation (democratic decision-making, shared leadership, and shared carrying out the work of our movement), and transparency (clear communication channels and processes).Our organizational structure celebrates the fact that we all have something to contribute and creates ways for our members to participate in the work and direction of our movement. These values and practices repair the disconnect between authority and participation found in most Jewish communal spaces and beyond. We are deliberately organizing ourselves differently to make new and different Judaisms possible.
Our internal operations happen through the coordination of a volunteer spokescouncil and committees. Our organizing happens through our independent member organizations and self-governing circles. Read more!
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Autonomous, self-organized circles are where the bulk of JDM’s work takes place.
Dive into the details in the Circles section in our structure document.
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We hope not!
We recognize that many people are already doing a lot—and that making something new is labor-intensive.
Our hope is that people will participate as much or as little as makes sense for them so that involvement feels nourishing, connective, and valuable.
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No. JDM’s focus is supporting and amplifying the work happening at the local level.
We are an unincorporated network (with fiscal sponsorship from Beloved Garden) predicated on the idea that ethical Judaism is best made with distributed leadership and voluntary labor. Therefore, we have chosen to have no paid staff, no physical location, and no formal incorporation.
If at some point it serves our collective goals to change this, JDM would hold an organization-wide process in which all members are invited to participate, as required by the Referenda section of our structure.
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There are costs associated with basic operations such as maintaining a website, mailing lists, etc.
We also plan to come together in-person to strategize, build relationships, and to practice the Jewishness we are building. We need resources to subsidize lodging, meals, materials, and travel for people who need financial assistance so that our organization can live up to its ideals of including as broad a range of people as possible.
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No. We see diversity as a strength and are actively working to include as many different kinds of Jews and Jewish practices as possible within our networks and in our leadership, including, but not limited to, Jews by choice, Sephardic, Mizrahi, Israeli Jews, Jews of color, Jews in interfaith relationships, atheist Jews, disabled Jews, queer Jews, and Jews from all around the world.
We are primarily starting in the U.S. and hope to grow and broaden from here. We currently have members in Canada, Mexico, Palestine/Israel and the UK and are continuing to build relationships to encourage more international participation, but are limited by language, time zones, and social networks. We’d love your help in connecting to more people doing this work around the world. If you are from anywhere else in the world, we are excited to connect with you!
And we believe that there is more urgency in moving the conversation in the United States because of the outsize role that U.S. military and financial support plays in Israel/Palestine and because so much of world Jewry lives in the United States. We will continue to hold the contradictions of being mostly U.S. based and our goals to be a global movement given that the U.S.’s current hostility to non-citizens makes it unsafe for many to travel to the U.S. to meet and gather. These are all power dynamics we are seeking to undermine, but we can't deny the current reality.
This project is rooted in solidarity and stands against the many exclusions that have characterized mainstream Jewish life. We emphasize that solidarity is a choice, while many identities—and their meanings—are not.
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Israeli organizations are welcome to join. We understand that all Jews live in diaspora – even those who live in Jerusalem!
In fact, all Jews are multi-diasporic: even if we trace our traditions’ origins back to Judea, our lineages have moved through many different places on the way to the present.
There is no single “original” moment we can fully return to, and we are shaped and strengthened by the many Jewish diasporic cultures we each carry, past and present.
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Part of diasporism is responsible stewardship of wherever we are and building robust community with its current and indigenous inhabitants—including people who are both Jewish and indigenous.
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We understand antisemitism as an ideological oppression, originating in European Christianity, that manifests as discrimination against, violence towards, or stereotypes of Jews for being Jewish.
JDM opposes all forms of oppression, including antisemitism. Each of our member organizations are likewise committed to dismantling antisemitism, each in their own way and in their own voice. Shared approaches include not isolating antisemitism from other forms of oppression; challenging political ideologies that foment racism, hate, and fear; creating environments that affirm and celebrate all expressions of cultural and religious life; making undoing all forms of racism and bigotry both policy and daily practice; and rejecting the conflation of Jewishness and the actions of the State of Israel.
We recommend these resources to learn more about how antisemitism works and how to dismantle it:
Understanding Antisemitism paper by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ)*
Antisemitism Explained from Diaspora Alliance
Dismantling Antisemitism Messaging Guide from Uprise and Bend the Arc
On Antisemitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for Justice by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)*
Community Safety Campaign Resources
Lifting the Curtain on Antisemitism from Political Research Associates
*= JDM member organization
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No. We hope our participants will include Jews who are part of all the denominations as well as those who are atheist, agnostic, secular, are engaged with other religious and spiritual traditions.
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Our analysis is that Jewish institutions are defined by the global and national power structures in which they operate and inherently depend on and contribute to capitalism and other systems of violence. In truth, most of the major (and even many of the minor) mainstream institutions fundamentally rely on wealthy donors who hold disproportionate power and have no impetus to relinquish it, no matter how many stakeholders have divergent opinions.
JDM’s strategy is to focus on building and supporting the new institutions Jews are making which are unserved by legacy institutions; though we recognize that a diversity of tactics is always needed and we respect anyone who chooses to go the route of trying to move existing ones.
We believe the future of Judaism is in the democratic, cooperative, and coalitional formations that are currently blossoming.
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Both!
Secular, cultural, and spiritual projects are as central to our vision as religious ones.
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No. Anyone who agrees with our purpose and principles is welcome to join.
And, we are proud that many of our founding organizations are explicitly anti-Zionist.
Others are choosing to embody their Judaism without relating to Zionism.
Still others are located in Palestine/Israel, with diasporist values supporting their Palestinian solidarity work.
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We are so glad that other diasporic Jewishness is happening and we hope to bring as many of us together as we can.
We understand that it may strike some as presumptuous, but we believe “The” does important rhetorical work to unify and solidify our collective projects which helps us build social and political power.