Heresiology II

It's awfully convenient when the news cycle aligns with one's thoughts.

It's been my observation for a few years now that a particular brand of Zionism seems to have supplanted Judaism as a proving ground for many American Jews. To put it another way, the willingness to hold the hard line for Israel is seen as the sole measure of a good Jew, with anyone at the other extreme of the political spectrum being labeled with that most overused of epithets, "self-hating Jew."

As a member of the Jewish clergy and a moderate-to-liberal Zionist, I have found myself this past year in the odd circumstance of feeling that my Jewish credentials were being questioned by various laypersons whom I have served. I say "odd" in part because my nominal affiliation is with the Conservative Movement, the branch of organized American Jewry that boasts the greatest divide between what the clergy ask of the laity and what the laity actually do. When I dwell on it for too long I start to get upset at the situation: My entire life is distinctly Jewish, from my grooming habits and dress to my diet and the way I plan my week. While I don't style myself a talmid ħakham, I think there's little doubt that my knowledge of Judaism is both broader and deeper by far than that of the average American Jew. Yet I seem to grow reticent whenever the settler movement comes up in conversation with a congregant until I know precisely what that congregant's views are, and I quickly find myself worrying—not without reason—that my own perspective on hilltop settlements, their builders, and their builders' motivations, will render me a less reliable Jewish authority in someone's eyes. It is entirely likely that the someone in question would be unable to find his way out of a paper bag if the directions were printed in Hebrew, and there lies my point: Judaism isn't really what's under discussion here, but rather Zionism, which is allowed to dictate the terms of Judaism.

As the above link clearly shows, it's not just a problem for American Jewry. The South African Zionist Federation, in forming its conditional plan to protest in front of a synagogue on Shabbat and disrupt a family celebration, has clearly demonstrated that it places the State of Israel above the Torah and the mitzvot. It is deeply troubling for me, as an observant Jew and a Zionist, to see Jewish observance and morality cast off in the name of Zionism.