It’s not a Sophie’s Choice - Column 8

REFLECTIONS Written by Lana Melman for the FLORIDA JEWISH JOURNAL / SUN SENTINEL. Originally published on September 13, 2023.

“The landscape of the American Jewish community and of the American rabbinate is changing, and the changes are coming rapidly. 

“Who would have ever imagined during any of Israel’s previous wars that would-be rabbis would have the chutzpah to publicly circulate a letter condemning Israel for taking actions to defend its citizens!?”

So said Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, rabbi of Congregation B'nai Tzedek in Potomac, MD, and Chair of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition (ZRC), in his opening remarks for the 3-day conference in Washington DC where I was invited to speak in mid-August.

ZRC urges rabbis to recognize the harm done, not just to Israel, but to Jewish identity when all people hear from their rabbis is criticism of the State of Israel.

Every Jew should support the self-determination of the Jewish people regardless of their political leanings.

Israel has manifested numerous universal values that should be acknowledged and praised. It has been a leader in LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, water conservation, desalination, reforestation, sustainable non-fossil energy, the fight against global warming, and socialized medicine, to name a few.

Zionism is the liberation movement for a long-persecuted minority –– the Jewish people – and it rests upon the re-establishment of the Jewish nation in its indigenous land: Israel. It is about the creation and the preservation of the State, not the politics of the State.

“Too many of our [rabbinic] colleagues,” Weinblatt says, “view promoting various ethical or social justice issues – all of which are admirable and praiseworthy - as the primary focus of their rabbinate, minimizing our responsibility to promote Jewish peoplehood.”

The attempt to separate the Jewish homeland and peoplehood from the Jewish religion is not just coming from the pulpit; it is rampant in education and in progressive activist circles and media. And it is dangerous for both our community and progressive goals of inclusion.

Jews have always played a key role in achieving the liberation of others (American Civil Rights Movement, LGBTQ+ Movement, South African anti-Apartheid Movement) as Jews. Now, suddenly, when we finally have a liberation movement of our own, we must renounce it for street cred in circles where we have proudly stood at the helm for generations?

Amanda Berman, Founder and Executive Director of Zioness, a coalition of Jewish activists and allies who are “unabashedly progressive and unapologetically Zionist,” also spoke at the conference.  She makes a powerful case that the fissure between the progressive left and Zionism hurts the progressive movement.

First, it is not in the interest of any social / political movement to exclude a group that shares your goals. Numbers matter in politics. While some Jews may turn their back on Zion, others will walk away from progressive activism – a huge loss given how instrumental Jews have been in social justice causes in the past.

Second, antisemitism is a poison pill. The intrusion of Jew-hatred had a deleterious impact on Britian’s Labour Party whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, ignored a firestorm of Jew hate in the party’s ranks. Many Jews lived in fear and at one point nearly half considered leaving their country. Ultimately, the Brits rejected the antisemitism in their midst and Corbyn’ s party suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2019 elections leaving it with its fewest seats in Parliament since 1935.

And third, she reminds Progressives that all minorities have a common enemy in white supremacists who, incidentally, blame Jews for the ascendency of other minority groups.

The antidote to the dilemma is for Jewish leaders and laymen alike to speak up.

Berman urges progressive Zionist Jews and their allies to show up in progressive circles as proud Zionists and let others know that Zionism is a liberation movement and a progressive value. R. Weinblatt advises, “Rabbis’ critiques and criticisms of Israel should not be louder or stronger than their expressions of love.”

Insisting that liberation for others can only be at the expense of our own is an unacceptable Sophie’s Choice for our people. Putting others before ourselves will not earn us any respect or mercy. It never has. Tikkun Olam – repairing the world - does not require that we destroy who we are. In fact, it forbids it.

Read the original article here.

Lana Melman is a contributing columnist for the South Florida Jewish Journal.