Inclusiveness- But To Whom?

Several months ago I read an article someone wrote, emphasizing that while people are fighting and protesting for inclusiveness of their favored racial and minority groups- such as the black community and Muslims- they are being exclusive of the “less” vulnerable groups who do not necessarily target these minorities.

During a Pride Parade this past February, Black Lives Matters stated they did not want police acting as protectors due to recent racial discrimination. But by excluding police officers from this parade- ones meant to protect the very people who would participate- what happens to the idea of our society becoming one that is inclusive to all races, genders and orientations?

I experience something similar as a Jewish individual who keeps Shabbat and Kosher at home (although wavering in the more recent past on an individual level, my home remains in “Shabbat mode” from sundown on Friday through nightfall on Saturday, and my kitchen remains Kosher because I believe this should be accessible to those more observant). The one time I attended a Moishe Kavod House Shabbat dinner in Jamaica Plan, I was unable to eat anything other than the tofu pot-luck item I brought and a small box of black-and-white cookies. Everything else was marked as “vegetarian” but not “hechshered" (an acceptable level of Kashrut accepted by Orthodox communities).

I felt the same way when I was invited to a recent Sukkot event open to everyone who had ever participated on an Adamah Fellowship or a season at Teva (two separate farming/ environmental educational programs at the Isabella Freeman in Connecticut). This was a pot-luck style meal where people were encouraged to bring their own dish. But in the email invitation there was no mention of hechshered” verses “non-hechshered” items. I decided not to go, based on my knowledge that, at least from my year on Adamah, most of the fellows were not shomer Shabbat and Kashrut, and therefore the dishes in which I can partake would be limited.

So when a community- such as Moishe Kavod and the Isabella Freedman- boasts about being inclusive, what does that really mean? Inclusive to whom? There seems to be a tendency in a pluralistic society or community to encourage folks to feel comfortable- whereas this really means not feeling pressured to comply with Shabbat or traditional laws, rather than not feeling pressured to comply with the non-traditional laws. So how do we become inclusive to the Orthodox individuals as well as the more secular-identified? How do we broaden the term “inclusiveness” to expand to the religious and non-religious? How do we make everyone feel comfortable, rather than just those who have fewer religious experiences?