By Ankur Vaidya and Rabbi Joshua Stanton

 

It is the most highly educated and professionally ascendant community in America, with a deep sense of cultural identity, and growing diasporas which are adding to the already diverse religious practices of its homeland. 

 

We are speaking of the American Hindu community. But, it sounds a lot like how we might also speak of the American Jewish community.

 

The two are entwined in more than immigration patterns and the blessings of being heirs to millennia-old traditions and timeless wisdom. We are ethno-religious traditions with similar values and approaches to identity, belief, and belonging. We already share in collaborative efforts at the local level, with ample anecdotal evidence that Jews have welcomed new immigrants from India to their areas and helped them find a voice on interfaith councils and in civic life. 

 

Now we share in a growing challenge: extreme voices which do not understand the connection between our religious practices and sense of belonging to a civilization and ethnic community. 

 

This past year, multiple India Day parades, notably the country's largest in New York City, were challenged by organizations singling out the Hindu community and accusing it of intolerance. Some activists even sought to have the parade's permits revoked. 

 

The presenting issue related to a Hindu temple in India that became a mosque and then once more a temple. Its history is one of pain and complexity — and its reference in one parade float was made after considerable dialogue with members of the Indian-American Muslim community in New York. 

 

Alas, the local Indian-American Muslim community had their approach overridden by organizations with little connection to any Indian religious community, context for the parade, or regard for thoughtful engagement over complicated interfaith issues. Instead, they lambasted the parade’s leaders, pressured politicians to sit out the annual event, and nearly scuttled the parade altogether.

 

Some of these organizations are known to have questionable sources of funding and problematic forms of advocacy. In addition to the Hindu community, their other major target is the Jewish community. They foment antisemitic forms of campus protest, single out Israel for diatribe in city councils and civic organizations, and focus more on advocating against Jewish organizations than for the needs of their constituents.

 

Now, in addition to all of the positive reasons for collaboration between Hindu and Jewish communities in America, we have a renewed need to counter extreme groups organizing against both of us. 

 

Imagine Hindu and Jewish students standing together on campus when India and Israel are singled out. Imagine their parents working together to ensure that the India Day and Israel Day parades can move forward unimpeded in major cities. Envision Hindu and Jewish professionals working together to bring each other out from the margins to ensure that neither feels excluded and both are allowed to thrive.

 

While current situations give renewed urgency to Hindu-Jewish collaboration, the positive reasons for our work together will ensure the durability and possibility of this relationship. Our communities have long shared approaches and principles. Now they can rise together.

 

As we continue forth in this season of Jewish holidays and the approach of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, we renew the call for outreach and collaboration between Hindu and Jewish communities. The light we create together can more than overcome those who seek to shroud our communities in darkness.

 

Ankur Vaidya is Chair of the Federation of Indian Associations. Rabbi Joshua Stanton is Associate Vice President for Interfaith and Intergroup Initiatives at the Jewish Federations of North America.