This Confusion Around Bigotry Serves No One
As a congregational rabbi and the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors, I’m deeply concerned about antisemitism, and I’m troubled by the recent confusion surrounding it.
Since October 7th, there has been an intensified conflation of Zionism and Judaism. When this happens, it means that legitimate critique of the State of Israel and its actions are lumped together with all threats to Jewish safety. As a rabbi, I have found it’s become increasingly difficult to identify what truly poses a threat to my synagogue community, my local community, and broader communities in movements for justice. This is alarming because I believe we should strive to be more informed and discerning about antisemitic rhetoric and actions, rather than more confused. We need this clarity especially now, as we prepare for the next administration. The President-elect has scapegoated the Jewish community throughout his campaign, and empowers right wing extremists in their antisemitic beliefs. How can we better learn to see and understand antisemitism for what it is, without obfuscation?
The testimony of a middle school student who is a member of my congregation might be the best illustration of what I mean:
A month ago, a 5th grade girl in my newspaper club at school published an article about Israel- Palestine. She was talking about how Palestinian children were being jailed. Then, a week later, I was walking through the hallway and I heard from someone “Hey, did you see that antisemitic article in the newspaper?” I had a big reaction to this, expecting somebody else’s article, but when I realized it was her article and I re-read it, I could not comprehend how it could be antisemitic. The student didn’t mention Jews at all. They never said anything bad about Jews specifically. All they were talking about was how Israel was jailing large amounts of Palestinian children. Then, I started hearing a myriad of accusations. The article was described as hate speech. After this happened, the leaders of my newspaper club started making reforms to the writing process, and we now have to run our articles through the principal of the school. There were oversimplifications in the article of course, but no mention of Jews, Judaism or Jewish culture in a negative light. People proposed taking the article down, and now, months later, this is still being talked about as a big issue at our school.
His story is a small example of the tremendous resources that have been funneled into institutions, schools, and college campuses to silence and criminalize critique or dissent of the Israeli government in the name of Jewish safety.
It saddens me that a middle schooler’s care and concern about the human rights of other children would be depicted as anti-Jewish hate speech. It scares me that schools may be directing resources toward this that aren’t also applied to other kinds of discrimination– racism, transphobia, Islamaphobia, to name just a few– because this isolates and separates us from our allies and neighbors, instead of bringing us closer. And it disturbs me that this kind of intimidation and punishment has been used to silence even Jewish voices speaking out against Israel’s injustices. If, as Jewish people, we vocally oppose Israel’s actions, we run the risk of being labeled antisemitic, and that risk can lead to loss of livelihood, community, and family. How can our own Jewish dissent be antisemitic, and why do right-wing non-Jewish politicians get to decide?
I find hope in the wisdom and insights of the next generation. The kids at our congregation’s Torah School are growing up with a commitment to the dignity of all human beings, including Palestinians. They care deeply about Judaism, and are impassioned holders of Jewish tradition. They show me time and again that their love of Judaism and Jews doesn’t have to come at the expense of their care for all people.
