Not all Jews who wander are lost

by Doctor Science

Last week, Corey Robin wrote about Jews Without Israel:

In shul this morning, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the rabbi spoke at length about the State of Israel. .. I remember the rabbi first taking up the topic in earnest in 2011 (or was it 2010?), almost apologetically, saying that we in the shul had been too quiet about Israel. It was time to talk. And by talk, she meant defend. Israel was under attack, politically and ideologically; its status in the culture could no longer be taken for granted. We had to speak up on its behalf.
... it’s not the goyim the rabbis are worried about; it’s Jews. And not merely anti-Zionist, middle-aged lefty Jews like me but also younger Jews who are indifferent to Zionism.

Robin doesn't seem to have noticed what I wrote about in my High Holy Days post last year:

the non-Orthodox majority of American Jews are finding Zionism-as-she-is-practiced less and less compatible with our beliefs about what we, as Jews, are called to do. American Jews are not becoming more secular, we are becoming more religious -- but in a different way than Israeli Jews.

Both American and Israeli Orthodox Jews (and secular Israelis) seem to be mostly missing the fact that non-Orthodox Jewish practice seems more *right* to us. We don't reject halacha because we're lazy or sloppy, but because we feel called to focus our religious energies on what's really important. We aren't interested in just being halachically "good" Jews, we want to be good people who are Jewish.

We look at Israeli Orthodoxy and we see the same behavior and attitudes we see in Christian or Muslim or Hindu fundamentalists. We do *not* see them displaying the true foundations of our Jewish religion:

• Hillel's "one-leg Torah" (aka The Golden Rule): "What is hateful to you, do not do unto others."
• teshuva: Repentence, which *must* involve not just feeling bad about something you've done, but action to redress it.
• tikkun olam: repairing the world. This involves both a commitment to social justice and social welfare -- for non-Jews as well as for Jews -- and also a commitment to environmental concerns, to repairing or taking care of the physical world we share.
• wrestling with G-d: what makes us Jewish is that we don't accept *any* pronouncement as a "given", they all have to be examined, discussed, argued about, meditated upon. I've given an example of how this works in a post about Jewish and Christian readings of Bible verses about the conquest of Canaan.
• An openness to "others", regardless of race, family background, sexuality, or religious history. We let strangers into our congregations because we do still know the feelings of the stranger.

It's hard for me to hear about Jews like Robin's rabbi and not think of a battered woman who hasn't yet gathered what it takes to leave. Robin's rabbi is Conservative and female: she would have no respect in Israel, she would have less freedom to practice her religion in Israel that she has in the US. For her to ask her congregation to defend Israel is really sad and painful to watch -- and probably won't work, either, any more than they'd take the side of any other abuser just to "save the marriage".

I think we're watching many Diaspora Jews quietly turning away from Israel and the security it purports to represent, and heading out, once more, into the desert. We may be wandering, but we're not *lost*: we're still together, and we're still following our Guide, pillar of fire and pillar of cloud.

Clouds (Rain Clouds over Oregon Desert) by American Impressionist Childe Hassam. Not the worst place to wander, all things considered.

Comments

[debbie]

Speaking as one of those liberal, self-hating Jews, I think it's Israel who has changed, not American Jews. No matter how much Netanyahu tries to blur the lines, political Israel is not religious Israel.

[Slartibartfast]

political Israel is not religious Israel

That's fairly obviously true; a smallish minority of Israel is composed of observant Jews.

[lily]

Is there any way t share ObWi articles on Facebook? I'd like to share this one with a Christian friend who has strange ideas about how Jews are supposed to act out her church's ideas. I don't think she actually knows much about what Jews believe. She seems to see Jews as actors in a Christian production.

[Hartmut]

Worse, Kristian(TM) hardliners and extremist Jewish groups in Israel see each other as the useful idiots in their respective plans and both see secular and/or moderate Jews as a prime enemy. Arial Sharon was quite open about it. When asked what he thought about taking support of those that see Israel as a tool to trigger the apocalypse, he answered: When the Messiah comes, we will ask him, whether it's his second coming (clearly implying that he believed in neither and that it was a case of fools and their money getting easily separated)*.
I also get the impression that no one gets more viciously attacked for criticising the Israeli Far Right than dissenting Jews (esp. but not exclusively in the US).
---
From German Jews I know that there is an inofficial ranking scale among Jews. On the second lowest rung are those Jews that stayed in Germany after WW2 but on the lowest are those that move from Israel to Germany (not for a visit but to stay there). For some it seems to be the equivalent of a re-born that suddenly rejects grace and embraces Satan. The only way to top it is to try to seduce other Jews to follow the example.

*It was not this he fell from grace for but for the Gaza retreat

[Turbulence]

This seems like a wonderful phenomena, but I wonder how widespread and effective it actually is. I mean, have AIPAC donations dried up at all? Are Jews who work in Congress (whether as congressman or staffers) any less inclined to support Israel no matter what? Have donations to Israeli peace groups increased? Have Birthright trips plummeted?

Even if none of those things have happened, it is still a good thing.

[Doctor Science]

lily:

Just past the post URL in your "Update Status" box, and a thumbnail and excerpt will appear.

[Doctor Science]

Turb:

The average age of AIPAC donors is high, whereas the phenomenon I'm talking about is mostly found in Jews under 50, or under 40.

Birthright trips seem to be one of the *causes*, actually -- or at least among non-Orthodox rabbis and rabbinical students [pdf], more visits to Israel correlates with *less* political support for Israel.

It's really hard to tell how important it is, because (as Corey Robin's rabbi discovered) so much of the change is *silent*, made by individuals thinking things over for themselves and not bringing their views up because they don't want to make Grandma cry.

Basically, any Jew who's not pro-Israel rah rah has had the experience of being *screamed* at by members of the older generation. So we've mostly stopped fighting about it, which means we've stopped talking about it, and now the screamers are surprised that we've been changing our minds without telling them.

I assume support for Israel in Congress is still extremely high, because that's where the money is.

[stone]

I agree with Slartibartfast. "political Israel is not religious Israel

That's fairly obviously true; a smallish minority of Israel is composed of observant Jews.
"

[byomtov]

Very good, thoughtful, post, Dr. S.

[byomtov]

Hartmut,

I'm not sure what the implication of Sharon's remark about the Messiah is, but skepticism about the Messiah's arrival is a commonplace of Jewish humor.

So expressing it is unlikely to get one much grief.

[Hartmut]

Christian fundies (well, all fundies) lack the humour gene. From the context my interpretation is: "These idiots give me money and lobby for me because they believe I'll be their tool to start the Biblical apocalypse and will be swiftly dicarded and thrown into hell right afterwards. But I know that it's all rubbish, so why should I not take the money and run with it? Easy money, no risk" And the idiots did not mind because they thought Sharon was delusional for not knowing that he was just a pawn to be discarded etc. by the One True G*d. At least they did not mind until Sharon started to act against the divinely ordained plan. Consequently they interpreted the stroke Sharon had as heavenly punishment. The Yahoo from Netanja is essentially playing the same game.

[Hartmut]

Promptly the captcha contained a 666 ;-)