A Passover Message from Shai Robkin

This Pesach, I am thinking about collective liberation, about the idea that none of us is free until all of us are free. That sentiment is too rare these days, in this country, in Israel and in the world.

I feel liberated through my work with the New Israel Fund, where I serve as the chair of the Atlanta Regional Council. NIF helps Israel live up to its founders’ vision of a society that ensures complete equality to all its inhabitants. During this holiday of liberation, I am particularly proud of the work that NIF has been undertaking to combat racism and protect minorities from discrimination. We work to advance a society in Israel that is truly shared among its residents, one in which every Israeli has an equal stake.

This is why I am choosing to support a shared future for everyone in Israel.

I refuse to be enslaved by racism, by division, by fear. I choose to find freedom in people, powered movements that draw out the best in people of all kinds to organize for us all. Organizations like Standing Together and Zazim that are supported by NIF and which organize Israelis from all backgrounds to take action on issues that affect everyone. And a soccer team called the Team of Equals, also an NIF project, which brings together children from East and West Jerusalem in order to combat the division and hostility between them and to advance a shared life in the city.

This Pesach, I know that the work for collective liberation is ours to do and I am committed to doing my part. Join me.

Shai Robkin is chair of the Atlanta Regional Council of the New Israel Fund.