OPINION
Commentary Book bans, Ukraine and the end of Roe:
The year 2022 in Jewish ideas
ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL | JTA
J ewish eras can be defined by events (the fall
of the Second Temple, the Inquisition, the
founding of Israel) and by ideas (the rabbinic
era, emancipation, post-denominationalism).

A community reveals itself in the things it
argues about most passionately.

It’s too early to tell what ideas will define this
era, although a look back at the big debates
of 2022 suggests Jews in North America will
be discussing a few issues for a long time: the
resurgence of antisemitism, the boundaries of
free speech, the red/blue culture wars.

Below are eight of some of the key debates
of the past year as (mostly) reflected in the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s opinion section
(which I have a hand in editing). They suggest,
above all, a community anxious about its
standing in the American body politic despite
its strength and self-confidence.

Antisemitism and the Black-Jewish alliance
The rapper Kanye West spread canards about
Jews and power. Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie
Irving shared an antisemitic film on Twitter.

And comedian Dave Chappelle made light
of both incidents on “Saturday Night Live,”
suggesting comics like him had more to fear
from cancellation than Jews did from rising
antisemitism. The central roles played in
these controversies by three African American
celebrities revived longstanding tensions
between two communities who haven’t been
able to count on their historic ties since the
end of the civil rights era. The war of words
was particularly vexing for Jews of color, like
the rabbi known as MaNishtana and Rabbi
Kendell Pinkney — who wondered whether
“my mixed Jewish child will grow up in an
America where she feels compelled to closet
aspects of her identity because society cannot
hold the wonder of her complexity.”
Jewish attitudes toward Ukraine
Russia’s war on Ukraine stirred up complex
feelings among Jews. It led to an outpouring
of support for the innocents caught up in
or sent fleeing by Russia’s invasion, and the
Jewish president who became their symbol
of defiance. It reinvigorated a Jewish rescue
apparatus that seemed to have been in
hibernation for years. And it probed Jews’
memories of their own historic suffering in
Ukraine, often at the hands of the ancestors
of those now under attack.

An image created by the AI site Dall-E for this article from the following prompt: “Collage featuring Jews,
robots, books and Ukraine.”
COURTESY OF JTA
Jews and the end of Roe v. Wade
In June the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to
overturn Roe v. Wade. It was an unthinkable
outcome for liberal Jewish activists, women
especially, who for 50 years and more had
regarded the right to an abortion as integral
to their Jewish identity and political worldview.

Before the decision came down, Jewish
studies scholar Michal Raucher questioned
long-held Jewish organizational views that
justified abortion only on the narrowest of
religious grounds without acknowledging
that women “have the bodily autonomy to
make that decision on their own.” Conversely,
Avi Shafran of Agudath Israel of America
welcomed the end of Roe on behalf of his
Haredi Orthodox organization, writing that
the rabbis “who guide us indisputably hold
that, absent extraordinary circumstances,
terminating a pregnancy is a grave sin.”
Responding to Shafran, Daphne Lazar Price,
an Orthodox Jewish feminist, argued that even
in her stringently religious community, getting
an abortion is a “conscious choice by women to
SEE SILOW-CARROLL, PAGE 10
Why we’ll fight Israel’s new extremist political agenda with the
determination of the Maccabees
RABBI RICK JACOBS| JTA
T he Book of Exodus tells
us that the penultimate
plague inflicted on Egypt,
the plague of darkness,
was one of the worst. The
16th-century Italian commentator Sforno,
who lived in the aftermath of the Inquisition
in Spain, wrote that the darkness went
beyond the mere absence of light: It was a
tangible darkness, a darkness you could feel.

We can empathize as we feel the darkness of
intolerance, hate, bigotry and zealotry today.

We kindled our lights during the eight days
of Chanukah to remember a time of darkness
so bleak that the Maccabees, cruelly oppressed
by Antiochus IV, could feel it. The Jews were a
tiny minority in the expansive, ancient Greco-
Syrian Empire. The Maccabees fought one
of the earliest battles for religious freedom.

Though they were vastly outnumbered, our
ancient heroes remained courageous and
determined. Today, we recognize that no nation is
immune to our era’s autocratic repression
of democracy, human rights and civil rights.

Battles against bigotry, hate and religious
intolerance are being fought in too many
places around the world, including in our
beloved Israel. With the same determination
JEWISHAZ.COM as the Maccabees, we must fight for religious
pluralism and equality in Israel with law and
democracy as our weapons and drive out
the darkness by bringing the light of equity,
compassion and justice.

Loud voices within the new Israeli
government are distinguished by their
hatred for those who are not like them:
non-Orthodox Jews, LGBTQ+ individuals,
Palestinian-Israeli citizens, Palestinians,
immigrants and others. The extremist
political agenda of this new government is
profoundly distressing, representing radical
policy shifts that are antithetical to the core
values of liberal Jews. We North American
Jews can either walk away or lean in with all
our might.

Some maintain that because the values
that used to bind Jews in the Diaspora to the
Jewish State are being replaced with extreme
ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox policies,
it is time for liberal Jews to walk away from
the Zionist project. This would be a terrible
mistake: Zionism is more than what Israeli
politicians say or do. Authentic Judaism is
much more diverse and expansive than the
restrictive definitions of the ultra-Orthodox
Chief Rabbinate.

This is the moment for liberal Jews to fight
even harder for the Jewish State envisioned
in Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

Leaders of the new Israeli government are
hoping that we will abandon Israel and allow
them to create a new Israel that is divisive,
tyrannical and tribalistic. This is why they
fight us so bitterly at the Western Wall, and
why they stymied the agreement that would
have created an equitable prayer space at that
holiest of Jewish sites.

We will not stand idly by while the most
important project of contemporary Jewish
life, the State of Israel, is led down the road
of autocracy by extremists. Instead, we will
renew our dedication to the State of Israel
as a safe home for all her citizens and the
democratic, pluralistic homeland of all Jewish
people. We refuse to allow extremists to
subvert religious equality in Israel.

The Reform and Conservative Jewish
movements are growing in Israel, showing
that Israel is yearning for a Judaism that is
egalitarian, relevant, evolving and morally
rigorous. The progressive Zionism we embody is
not reliant on the politicians or parties in
power; rather, it is tied to the diverse people
of Israel and the bedrock values of “freedom,
justice and peace” upon which Israel was
built and are enshrined in its Declaration of
Independence. This is a critical time to invest
our energy and resources in growing the
pluralistic Jewish communities in Israel. The
JEWISH NEWS
Israel Religious Action Center, our Reform
movement’s social justice arm in Israel, is one
such institution that is lighting the way for that
just, secure and pluralistic Israel we envision
and hold in our hearts.

Over the coming months, our Reform
movement will bring thousands of North
American Jews — teens, families, and adults
— to experience the beauty and miracle of
modern Israel while visiting and strengthening
our allies throughout the land. The unity
and security of the Jewish people matter
immensely to us, and the well-being of the
Jewish State is also our responsibility. These
are two profound reasons why we will not stop
standing up and fighting for the Israel we love.

We will not let the darkness overtake the
light. The light shines brightly when we
celebrate the many authentic ways our people
live out their Jewish commitment. The light
shines brightly whenever we are partisans for
justice and compassion. As inaugural poet
Amanda Gorman said, “There is always light.

If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only
we’re brave enough to be it.”
Let this be said of us — Chanukah and
every day. JN
The views and opinions expressed in this article
are those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70
Faces Media.

JANUARY 6, 2023
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