O pinion
My Fellow Progressives Are Always Asking Me if
Anti-Zionism is Antisemitic. Here’s What I Tell Them
BY OREN JACOBSON
I’VE SPENT MOST of the
last decade focused on grass-
roots organizing and capacity
building inside the American
progressive movement.

From helping build the
largest leadership develop-
ment organization on the left,
to launching a first-of-its-kind
organization to mobilize male
allies into the fight to protect
and expand reproductive
freedom, I’ve proudly helped
elect progressive change makers
and pass landmark legislation.

I’ve done all of that as a Jew
who wears a kippah in public,
as someone who, statistically
speaking, shouldn’t exist. My
grandfather is one of the 10%
of Polish-born Jews to survive
World War II. Three million
of his Jewish neighbors, and
another 3 million across Europe,
were packed into boxcars and
sent to the slaughter, to gas
chambers, to the ovens.

What I am is central to who
I am. So when I saw the state-
ment from the Washington,
D.C., chapter of the Sunrise
Movement explaining its
refusal to march in a voting
rights rally with Jewish groups
because they are “Zionists,” I
understood immediately that
it was deeply problematic. Not
only did the decision have the
potential impact of spreading
anti-Jewish bigotry, but it also
weakened our movement more
broadly at a time when democ-
racy, which is necessary to
ensure civil rights, is under
12 NOVEMBER 4, 2021
assault in America.

I also understood right
away that, for many people, the
anti-Jewish nature of the state-
ment wasn’t so obvious. When
moments like this arise, I get
texts and calls from progres-
sive peers across the country
who ask: “Is this antisemitic?”
To answer the question, I
begin by explaining what it
means to be a Jew. Judaism
is the religion of the Jewish
people. But Jewish identity is so
much bigger and more diverse
than religion. Some of us are
deeply religious. Some of us
are totally secular. All of us
are Jews. We’re a people, not
simply a religious community.

Contrary to what most think,
antisemitism is not anti-Ju-
daism in its modern form
(several hundred years). It’s
anti-Jew. It’s not about how
Jews pray, but rather about who
they are and what they are
accused of doing.

Jews get attacked for suppos-
edly controlling the world
(governments, banks, media),
for being disloyal to our home
countries, for killing Jesus, for
making up the Holocaust, for
being greedy, for undermining the
white race and subverting people
of color (among other things).

We’ve been blamed for
plagues, famine, economic
hardship and war. Whatever
major problem a society has,
Jews have been blamed for
it. None of those things has
anything to do with religion.

Criticism of Israel or opposi-
tion to it isn’t necessarily
antisemitic. Harsh criticism of
Israeli government policy may
make us uncomfortable but isn’t
antisemitic. But the Sunrise DC
statement wasn’t about policy.

By attacking “Zionist organi-
zations” in a voting rights
coalition, and saying that they
can’t participate in a coalition
that includes them, Sunrise
DC basically said it won’t work
alongside Jewish organizations
(or Jews) that believe the state of
Israel has the right to exist.

For the average Jew, Zionism
has become simply the idea
that Israel has the right to exist,
rather than an embrace of the
policies of its government. The
Zionist movement got its name
in the late 19th century, but it
really put a label on a 2,000-
year-old yearning to return
to the native land Jews were
violently forced out of (in an act
of colonization). That yearning
grew over time as we failed
to find sustained peace and
security elsewhere, including in
Europe, North Africa and the
broader Middle East.

national movement.

Fourth, it divides Jews into
good and bad. Only those who
oppose their own national
movement can stay. Only
Jews who reject Zionism are
allowed. Replace “Jew” with
any other group and ask if that
would be acceptable.

Even if you forswear coali-
tions with anyone, Jewish or
not, who thinks Israel is legiti-
mate, that still denies the Jewish
people’s right to self-determina-
tion. It says that Jews must be a
perpetual minority on this earth
subject to the whims and bigot-
ries of the societies they live in.

For thousands of years Jews tried
that and failed to find perma-
Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people.

But Jewish identity is so much bigger and more
diverse than religion.

That’s why when people
attack Zionists, we hear “Jews.”
We hear them saying that the
80-90% of Jews who believe
Israel has a right to exist are
unacceptable, and that Israel,
a country that came into
existence with the vote of the
international community and
today is home to 7 million
Jews, must be ended.

Why is that antisemitism?
First, it singles out Jews when
most people believe Israel has
the right to exist. (In fact,
85% of the general public in
America believes the statement
“Israel does not have a right to
exist” is antisemitic, according
to a survey released this week.)
Second, it seeks to deny Jewish
people the right to self-de-
termination by erasing our
peoplehood and connection to
the land. Third, it declares that
a national movement for Jews
is uniquely unacceptable, while
at the same time advocating
in support of another
JEWISH EXPONENT
nent refuge — which, fairly or
not, is part of the reason most
Jews believe in the right to, and
need for, national self-deter-
mination in some portion of a
contested land.

Sunrise DC wasn’t interested
in the nature of their shunned
Jewish allies’ support for Israel
— even though each of the
three groups, like most Jews in
America, have advocated for
a Palestinian state and for an
end to policies by the govern-
ment of Israel that harm the
Palestinian people, including,
but not limited to, the occupa-
tion of the West Bank.

Ultimately, only Jews get
to define who and what we
are and what antisemitism is.

Too often in progressive spaces
that right is denied to Jews.

Instead, to justify their own
positions, some rely on Jews
whose voices, while relevant,
are far from representative on
the question of what consti-
tutes antisemitism. If someone
ignored the voices and lived
realities of 80-90% of any other
minority group, most progres-
sives would quickly recognize
that as an act of tokenization to
shield biases (or worse).

Some who identify as
progressive feel it’s OK to use the
word “Zionist” to attack others,
claiming that the word is not
about Jews. I encourage everyone
to go on far right-wing message
boards on occasion. Once there,
you’ll see how white suprema-
cists typically call Jews Zionists.

The prominence of the word, in
connection with claims that they
control the governments and are
trying to replace white “patriots”
with Black and Brown “inter-
lopers,” will stun you.

While there is plenty of room
for criticism of Israeli govern-
ment policy, there should be
no room for the exclusionary,
reductionist and dehumanizing
language of white nationalists
in progressive discourse on the
topic, or the denial of the right
for Jewish self-determination
on this earth.

I believe in standing up for
those who are attacked for the
crime of being who they are as
much as I believe in standing
up for Jewish life. For me, this
work is personal. Not because
every issue affects me directly.

But because I feel like I owe it
to my grandfather. To Jews who
were murdered and never had a
chance to live. To my peers
here who face systemic racism
and bigotry. And yes, because I
believe “Never Again” isn’t just
a slogan to hope for, but rather
a mission to fight for. l
Oren Jacobson is the co-founder of
Project Shema, which helps Jewish
students, leaders, organizations
and allies explore the difficult
conversations surrounding Israel
and antisemitism. He previously
served as national chapter
development director for the New
Leaders Council.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



O pinion
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Was the Last of His Kind
BY RABBI RAPHAEL ZARUM
RABBI LORD JONATHAN
Sacks, who passed away on Nov.

7, 2020, left a legacy that is well
known: As chief rabbi of the
United Hebrew Congregations
of the British Commonwealth,
he led a renewal of vibrant
Jewish life through the growth
of Jewish schools and the revital-
ization of the London School of
Jewish Studies; delivered erudite
speeches, books and articles that
inspired the United Synagogue
and beyond by advocating
a realistic, modern and yet
uncompromisingly faithful view
of traditional Orthodoxy; and
served as a public intellectual
whose wisdom was sought by
politicians, academics, CEOs
and other faith leaders around
the globe.

But can his contribution
to modern Jewish thought
be easily summarized? As a
dedicated disciple, I would
never even attempt such
a thing. But I can offer this.

The colloquial term for a
leading rabbinic sage is gadol,
meaning, simply, “great.” With
the rise of ultra-Orthodoxy,
the word today evokes aged
men garbed in monochrome,
surrounded by devotees and
making pronouncements from
their insular enclaves. But the
intricate discussions of Jewish
law of which these men are
experts were described by
Maimonides, the 12th-century
scholar, as a dvar katan (small
matter), reserving the phrase
dvar gadol (great matter) for
discussions of the nature and
purpose of Creation.

A scholar must, Maimonides
insisted, master the small
before the great, for if the
former makes up the frame-
work of everyday Jewish life, it
is the latter that establishes the
ultimate value and meaning
of existence — what we would
call philosophy.

The title “gadol” should be
reserved for a rabbinic scholar
who is not only steeped in
Jewish law, but also able to
understand and address the
deep questions of life: Why are
we here? What is our purpose?
How can we make a difference?
A true gadol can speak to the
religiously minded as well as
to those of little or no faith.

A gadol can translate ancient
Jewish wisdom into contem-
porary insight and realistic
policy. To my mind, only Rabbi
Sacks has earned the title of
gadol in recent times.

Rabbis today, like the clergy
of other religions, have been
compartmentalized as the
leaders of the faithful only,
with little to say in the public
square. The sad result is that
many rabbis now perceive
themselves in this limited way
too. But Rabbi Sacks always
championed “a Judaism
engaged with the world.” He
was able to speak to all people,
using a language anyone could
understand and that could
move them to action. He was
at home in the beit midrash,
the Jewish house of study, and
in the academy, but he learned
to be most at home in the
community. Toward the end
of “Morality,” his final book,
he writes:
“I had the privilege of
studying with some of the
greatest philosophers of
our time, yet I learned more
about morality in my years as
a congregational rabbi than I
did at Oxford and Cambridge,
and I did so by conducting
funerals. “As a young rabbi in an
aging congregation, I often did
not know the deceased person-
ally, so I had to ask relatives
and friends what they were
like and what they would be
remembered for. No one ever
spoke about the clothes they
wore or the cars they drove,
the homes they lived in or the
holidays they took. They spoke
about their role in their family,
their place in the congrega-
tion and its activities, the good
deeds they did, the causes they
supported, the voluntary work
they undertook and the people
they helped. It is not what we
do for ourselves but what we
give others that is our epitaph
and that ultimately floods life
with meaning.”
The loss of Rabbi Sacks is
felt most acutely by British Jews
proud that such a great thinker
and rabbi emerged from their
ranks. Yet his influence spread
across the oceans to the entire
Jewish world, and well beyond
the Jewish community. He
began as a rabbi in a small
synagogue, then he became the
chief rabbi of Anglo-Jewry and,
in his later years, a rabbi to
global Jewry as well as to some
of the most influential people,
both Jewish and non-Jewish,
on the planet.

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JEWISHEXPONENT.COM JEWISH EXPONENT
I am not fond of hyperbole,
but I honestly wonder if we will
ever see his kind again. He was
a genuine gadol, a Jewish voice
heard by all, a rabbi in the
widest sense of the term.

But he is not the last true
rabbi, because of the other
great focus of his life: leader-
ship and empowerment. I am
just one of thousands of men
and women for whom he is a
crucial inspiration, who have
built their leadership upon his
principles. His many books line
our shelves, and his deep belief
in us compels us to continue
his legacy.

No one can fill his shoes,
but I am sure he would prefer
that we fill our own. He would
always say, “Education is not
what we do, it is who we are.”
Rabbi Sacks was not the last
true rabbi, precisely because he
was a true rabbi to the last. l
Rabbi Raphael Zarum is the dean
of the London School of Jewish
Studies, where he trains teachers
and lectures in modern Jewish
thought. This article is adapted
from “The Last Rabbi,” an essay in
The Jewish Quarterly, Issue 246,
Nov. 2021, and is used here with
permission. KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Non-white Jews Often Overlooked
I APPRECIATED MANISHTANA’S PIECE, “The ‘Jewface’
Debate About Casting Non-Jews as Jews Betrays an Ashkenazi
Bias” (Oct. 21), which sheds light on Ashkenormativity.

Ashkenazic Jews tend to forget that there are many Jews in the
world who are not white.

I’m a playwright, and when my play, “A Modest Suggestion,”
opened in New York, one critic asked why we didn’t cast a Jew in
the Jewish role. The role was, in fact, played by a Jew of Middle
Eastern descent.

I’m a Yemenite Jew, and I can’t tell you how many family
functions I’ve attended in which relatives turn to my Ashkenazic
wife and ask if I’m Jewish, even though I’m typically a more
observant Jew than the person asking. I’ve also had many
horrible experiences of walking into an Ashkenazic shul holding
a tallis bag, only to be asked by security, “Can I help you?”
Ashkenazic Jews would do well to remember that Judaism was
not born in Europe, and their white skin makes the authenticity
of their Jewishness just as dubious as anyone else’s.

Ken Kaissar | Yardley
Not So Fast
Manishtana’s piece on the “Jewface” debate (“The ‘Jewface’
Debate About Casting Non-Jews as Jews Betrays an Ashkenazi
Bias,” Oct. 21) quoted comedienne Sarah Silverman as saying: “if
the Jewish character (portrayed in a Hollywood film) is coura-
geous or deserves love, she is never played by a Jew. Ever!”
Not quite.

The actress Rachel Weisz, who is Jewish and whose parents
are both Jewish, portrayed Emory Professor Deborah Lipstadt
in the 2016 award-winning film “Denial.” In the film, Lipstadt,
who had courageously singled out David Irving as a “dangerous
spokesperson for Holocaust denial” in her 1993 book “Holocaust
Denial,” successfully defends herself in a trial against Irving’s
accusations of libel and defamation. l
Jerry Stern | Merion Station
NOVEMBER 4, 2021
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