T. Belman. Shavit argues that when Israel insists on the settlement enterprise it angers Obama and 80% of young American Jews who worship Obama. Furthermore he argues when Israel allows the orthodox to exclude the Reform, Conservative and Reconstruction movements, she is further alienating Jews aligned with them.
In other words, he argues that Israel should not stick to her guns literally or figuratively but rather should adopt policies that liberal Jews can identify with.
Not for a second would I change the settlement enterprise but I am open to discussion about making a little room for the other movements.
Unconsciously and unintentionally, the right has become a serious threat to the future of Diaspora Jewry.
DURHAM, North Carolina — The common assumption is that the Israeli left represents the democratic foundation of our lives, while the Israeli right represents the Jewish foundation. That’s inaccurate. Often the left is not a democratic left; it has a hard time respecting the sovereign decision of the majority and tries to aggressively impose its will on the majority. At the same time, the right isn’t always a Jewish right. Its absolute devotion to the Land of Israel leads it to alienate large parts of the people of Israel and to endanger the State of Israel.
But in recent years the relationship between the Israeli right and the Jewish people has reached a state of crisis. Unconsciously and unintentionally, the right has become a serious threat to the future of Diaspora Jewry.
The first attack by the right on the Jewish people is through the settlers. Of every 10 Jews in North America, at least seven are liberal Democrats. Of every 10 young Jews, at least eight support U.S. President Barack Obama. For them, the West Bank settlements are tantamount to idolatry. Therefore, when right-wing Israeli governments mortgage the Zionist enterprise to the settlement enterprise, they are betraying the core values of the overwhelming majority of the Jewish people. When they identify Israel with the settlements, they put most young Diaspora Jews in an impossible position. Settlement in the West Bank is not only anti-democratic but also anti-Jewish, and it jeopardizes the Jewish future.
The second attack on the Jewish people by the right is through ultra-Orthodox Jews. Most Diaspora Jews are either secular or affiliated with the Reform, Conservative or Reconstructionist movement. They have a deep, almost existential need for Israel. But the Israel they need is the Israel of Herzl — modern, liberal and free. When right-wing governments capitulate to the Haredi parties and give Israel a benighted religious character, they don’t allow Israel to fulfill its primary Zionist mission — to be a light unto the nations and light unto the Diaspora. When they force Israel to reject the legitimacy of non-Orthodox Judaism, they are spitting in the faces of millions of Jews who are bravely struggling for their identity, their culture and their people. “Haredization” is not only anti-democratic but also anti-Jewish, and it jeopardizes the Jewish future.
In recent weeks I have once again been on the real front lines of the Jewish people — American college campuses. Everywhere I see what only the blind cannot see. The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is not the only problem, and the new anti-Semitism is not the only threat. The real challenge facing the Jewish state and the Jewish people is the fact that many young Jews are turning their backs on an Israel they perceive as radically nationalist and religiously extreme.
How can you persuade a 19-year-old woman from Berkeley who seeks to change the world that Israel is her second home, when Israel sends a message of the exclusion of women? How can you convince a 20-year-old from Duke University that Israel isn’t Goliath when he sees Jewish zealots on TV every day? I’m trying. I’m doing the best I can. Sometimes I even succeed. But every day, wherever I go, I see the abyss whose edge we are standing on.
This combined assault by the Israeli right on the Jewish people has clear ramifications. While the ostensibly nationalist actions of the ultra-nationalists endanger the nation, the ostensibly Jewish actions of the ultra-Jews endanger Judaism.
When the right entrusts the state to two extremist minorities, whose worldview contradict the worldview of the majority of Jews in Israel and abroad, it undermines Zionism. The Israeli right rejects the alternative of a liberal, peace-seeking Jewish nationalism. It is now the right that is laying siege to the Jewish future.
@ Yidvocate:
People who do not accept fellow Jews. Make it extra difficult for those wishing to join the Jewish nation and convert.
These same people with their current political clout are causing the following:
New Draft Law postpones haredi IDF service
These particular ultra-orthodox are doing great harm to Israel. For those who prescribe not to serve and not work also I personally do not respect.
Two threats to the Jewish diaspora and American in particular: assimilation and lack of interest for Israel. Nothing to do with the Likud, Jewish Home or Kulanu. Shavit, a leftist, wants to blame the right. He is misguided totally.
@ Yidvocate:
I tend to be far more basic than merely considering Torah and Halacha. I tend to consider GOD as the basis of everything, including everything Jewish. After all, this is how it all started, we hear, when Abraham lived in the land. If this is not uppermost in the minds of most Jews, then Torah and Halacha are simply a subtle form of idolatry.
I actually wonder how many of my fellow Jews actually think about GOD when praying from a siddur or chanting the various prayers and blessings. Perhaps the absence of a real sense of GOD is what alienates our “secular Jews” from traditional Judaism.
@ Paddy:
Exactly.
@ Yidvocate:
Sometimes I vape – the non nicotine of course! Some great flavours…..chocolate hazelnut, pomegranate, vanilla, cherry, blueberry to name a few.
@ Yidvocate:
If the ulta orthodox denomination was eliminated the Modern Orthodox would do a much better job of interuptation of Torah leading up to and including real time – that’s my opinion.
Alienation of various groups or streams of Judaism by other groups does nothing further to strength the Jewish people.
Then all religions in part are always about saying we are right and they are wrong. This is part of the control factor of religion and making its leaders more powerful. This allows them to control people in their religion or stream of the religion. They all work on their great arguments of why they are right and better than those other people.
@ Yidvocate:I will agree with in you in regards to Chabad ( I hold Chabad in very high regard). They also finally allowed themselves to be openly Zionists.
If I was younger and still had school age children I would very seriously consider sending them to a Dati Leumi “National Religious” school which teaches Zionism, Judaism and all the modern subjects needed to succeed in the contemporary modern world. These schools also would also admit the children of someone who does not practice the religion as strictly as they might. A Haredi Ultra Orthodox School in Israel would probably try and keep these kids out if not from very strictly orthodox households.
@ dove:
Sorry to have pushed a button. Perhaps misconstrued.
I’m high on Yiddishkeit, what are you on?
To be fair, you weren’t talking about “shades of Orthodoxy”, you were talking about “Heradi” and surely we can agree that Chabad is Heradi. I agree the “very dark shade” has serious issues in terms of it’s views of the State and their less enlightened brothers and sister but I was referring to their scholarship in Torah, which for a believing Jew is essential for the survival and propagation of the Jewish nation.
I received this comment from aq Canadian lawyer.
@ Yidvocate:
NEVER
Say what???? There are different shades of Orthodoxy. The ultra is a very dark shade.
Oh sure. The ultra need to get us under their wing so we can all become lazy haters of Israel that doesn’t believe in her existence today. What you smokin Yid??
@ Bear Klein:
Consider the Haredi as incubators for Torah true Judaism preserving it for future generations. That’s not to say they shouldn’t be reaching out to their fellow Jews to bring them to the light of Torah as Chabad does and does very well, I might add.
@ Yidvocate:In the melting pots of the USA and Canada where Jews are accepted widely, it is now obvious that if one does not self segregate as a group, assimilation will occur.
Which is not the case in Israel. The Haredi in Israel do not want their children to intermingle with other Jews. Is this what you are advocating for in Israel?
pssst hey Bear Klein – your not the only one that gets moderated.
The ‘other movements’ still have the right of return. I think most are intelligent enough to know they don’t have to be part of the ultra orthodox.
Alot of times it’s circumstances that prevent or delay the return. In other cases it’s the love of their adopted land ie U.S. Canada Britain France that is greater than love for their homeland.
The modern Orthodox really needs to find a way to take the ‘half Jews’ under their wing instead of rejecting them which sends them to other denominations. It’s a real issue that needs to be looked at on a case by case basis.
What has kept the Jew a Jew over millennia is Torah true Judaism. All deviants movements and offshoots have withered and died and that most certainly would hold true for today’s iteration of such deviant offshoots – conservative, reform, reconstructionist, humanist or what have you. Shavit’s prescription is pure suicide for Jewish identity and continuity. The current offshoots are already dieing with their cavernous temples sitting mostly empty as they hold no retention for succeeding generations, intermarriage and assimilation, while orthodoxy is on the increase in both Israel and diaspora.
Diaspora Jews follow the philosophy of Marx, Trotsky and Obama. They ultimately deny a belief in G-d, the existential reason for Israel itself. As the song says, “You can’t have one without the other.” To have a Jewish state, you need the Jewish faith. So, Israel needs to stay strong and not allow the communist control that permeates the EU and the US to destroy the concept of its nation state.
“I am open to discussion about making a little room for the other movements” Famous last words.
Half of Israelis back recognition of Reform, Conservative Judaism