I don't know why I continue
to experience shock, surprise and anger when I read the kinds of lies that Isi
Liebler published this week about American Jews and Israel. Something
inside of me still is naive and holds on to the idea that our legitimacy on any
level will ever be tolerated by his ilk. Shame on me.
In his article, THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF AMERICAN NON-JEWISH JEWS, Published in The Jerusalem Post, Israel HaYom and The Forward, he
lies and slanders our love of Israel in multiple ways. His purpose? To
make it seem that only Orthodox Jews love Israel, support Israel, and
should be supported in return by Israel.
Mr.
Liebler's move is to say that American Judaism doesn't matter when it
criticizes the policies or laws of a particular Israeli government. For
those on the inside of that government, that is understandable. After all, we
don't pay taxes, vote, live or die in Israel in large numbers.
Our voice doesn't count as much as Israeli
voices, and our voice shouldn't count as much as Israeli
voices. Aliya cures that if you don't like it.
However, to say that our view of American politics renders us as
anti-Israel, to say that non-halakhik Jews are "non-Jewish," and to
say that we are ignorant of our traditions is false, slanderous and
hateful. To dismiss the non-Orthodox as non-Jewish, ignorant and
irrelevant is an unforgivable statement.
His article picture is
taken from an unrelated event, an anti-Trump rally. Evidently opposing
Trump means "distancing oneself from Israel." The political idiocy of
that is self-evident to American Jewry as a whole.
Contrary to his opening
salvo, there is not only "disputing" that American Jews and their
leaders are not distanced from Israel, there is overwhelming proof that our
engagement is higher than ever. Engaged criticism of the Netanyahu betrayal of
the Western Wall agreement, as well as many of our applause and amusement at
the political maneuvering in August to create the agreement's main goals
through procedural moves proves our closeness on the issue. You can't
argue that we are actively criticizing a leadership decision and then say we
are distant from the process. If I punch you in the nose, I am pretty
closely involved with you.
To say that
"most" of us are trying to "discard an outdated nationalist
identity" is patently absurd. Every single Reform and Conservative
religious school and day school curriculum, every single prayer book and camp
curriculum in our movements, teaches and supports the idea, fact and desirability
of Israel as the homeland of our people. We all teach Dreyfus, Hertzl,
the declaration of Independence and the story of Israel's continued ethos under
fire from within and without. To see a liberal concern with human rights
as hateful towards Israel is to misunderstand the classical articulation of
Zionism which created Israel as the greatest creation in modern nationalism
that the world has ever seen. It is to turn our ideals into
self-reflective, self-justifying xenophobic myopia rather than noble truths
that can withstand the pain of anti-Semitism as expressed in Israel hatred
today.
2/3's of American Jews are
Democrats. True. Being a liberal does not make you
anti-Israel. Though I am reasonably sure that Mr. Liebler would have the
same dismissive anti-democratic view of the Labor Party, HaTenuah, Yesh Atid
and definitely Meretz, those parties comprise 40 seats in the Knesset.
They are (or have been) pro-peace, pro-two states, anti-settlement expansion,
and all expressed many of the same concerns regarding the nation state law that
some American Jewish leaders have expressed. When Mr. Liebler calls us
'non-Jews,' is he including 1/3 of his own Knesset? Are they all
"distanced" from Israel for these views?
He quotes a number that 42% of Reform Jews opposed the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, as the greatest proof and example of the distance of American Jews from Israel. First, 42% is a minority. Second, if you were to ask them why, you would hear that it is because they think that it is not best for the future and security of Israel. That is their love and their concern. I disagree with them. I agree with the majority of Israelis and with President Trump on this (See my blog on that topic). How can something that a minority of liberal Jews believe, and who believe it because of their concern for Israel, be a proof of their distance?!
When he says that American
rabbis are "often
urging their constituents to vote in order to defeat the purported “enemy of
democracy,” the “anti-Semantically inclined” Trump" he is fanning flames
of rhetoric with no basis in facts. Name a single rabbi who called Trump
an anti-Semite from the pulpit this year. Name a single rabbi who said
Trump was an "enemy of democracy." it simply does not
exist. On the other hand, the active engagement of the left in the face
of our November elections he is calling "Anti-Trump Hysteria."
Really?! Someone needs to go back to civics 101 and learn about how our
democracy works.
Here's a treat which I don't even need to debate. He writes: "The
sad reality is that today, the bulk of youngsters from the non-Orthodox sector
are what should be described as non-Jewish Jews because their sole link to
their people is through Jewish descent – frequently, from only one parent. They
have little or no conception of Jewish values or interest in their Jewish
heritage." So let's get this straight. The million children in
Reform and Conservative Religious Schools, Day Schools or summer camps are
non-Jewish, ignorant, have little or no conception of Judaism... and therefore
are what? He says they are negligible, that they shouldn't count, that
their identity and knowledge are lacking and false. Jews actively engaged in
social Justice as Jews don't count. So let's see... even if his false
claims of Jewish ignorance were correct, would that be a reason to dismiss
them? Remember the Soviet Refuseniks? Anyone? Is it because our
youth have freedom of speech and action that he doesn't look at them with love
of Israel? Would he love them more if they were in a Stalinist prison?
So what is his conclusion? Obviously, self-servingly, divisively and
predictably, it is "give me all the money, all the power and all the
legitimacy because only Orthodoxy is the truth and the way. Or as he puts
it, "We must now focus on the significant number of American Jews who are
Orthodox and traditional and the considerable number of others who recognize
Israel as a crucial factor in their Jewish identity and concentrate on
encouraging and strengthening them."
It would be too easy to call this kind of thinking pure idiocy.
Unfortunately, it is echoed in the highest levels of the Israeli government,
and universally accepted as true in Orthodoxy and in much of Israeli society
today.
