(כג) דַּבֵּ֤ר אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹן֙ וְאֶל־בָּנָ֣יו לֵאמֹ֔ר כֹּ֥ה תְבָרֲכ֖וּ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אָמ֖וֹר לָהֶֽם׃ (ס) (כד) יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יהוה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ׃ (ס) (כה) יָאֵ֨ר יהוה ׀ פָּנָ֛יו אֵלֶ֖יךָ וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ׃ (ס) (כו) יִשָּׂ֨א יהוה ׀ פָּנָיו֙ אֵלֶ֔יךָ וְיָשֵׂ֥ם לְךָ֖ שָׁלֽוֹם׃ (ס)
(23) Speak to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel. Say to them: (24) Adonai bless you and protect you! (25) Adonai deal kindly and graciously with you! (26) Adonai bestow God's favor upon you and grant you peace!
"The L-rd bless you": with the explicit blessing (Devarim 28:3-6) "Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field …
"The L-rd bless you": with possessions "and keep you": with possessions.
R. Yitzchak says "and keep you": from the evil inclination...
Variantly: "and keep you": from all evil...
Variantly: "and keep you": from mazikkin (destructive agents)...
URJ Resolution: Resolution on the Study and Development of Reparations for Slavery and Systemic Racism in the U.S. (2019)
The history of slavery and the ills that have succeeded it are collective American issues that have affected the Black community broadly, in addition to those individuals who are direct descendants of slaves. Racial healing can only begin to be achieved when this systemic oppression is recognized and accounted for. As an institution striving to be antiracist, we seek to address the harms of those who came before us, and the injustices that continue to surround us, so that we do what we can to make our institutions, communities, and nation more just for future generations. As Jews, we know from Pirke Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers, (2:21) that we are not required to finish the task, but neither are we free to desist from it.
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
Peggy McIntosh (Originally published in 1988)
As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage... I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was "meant" to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools , and blank checks.
4. I can be pretty sure that [if I move] my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.
10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.
13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.
16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.
17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.
18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.
20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.
25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.
30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.
34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.
36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.
39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.
40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.
41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.
47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.
50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.
We usually think of privilege as being a favored state, whether earned or conferred by birth or luck.... But not all of the privileges on my list are inevitably damaging. Some, like the expectation that neighbors will be decent to you, or that your race will not count against you in court, should be the norm in a just society. Others, like the privilege to ignore less powerful people, distort the humanity of the holders as well as the ignored groups.
It seems to me that obliviousness about white advantage, like obliviousness about male advantage, is kept strongly inculturated in the United States so as to maintain the myth of meritocracy, the myth that democratic choice is equally available to all.