I would state this in broader terms. The evil of antisemitism is not a Jewish problem, but an international problem not confined to any one country. European countries, Canada and Australia have this problem to an even larger degree than is the case in America.
I have been reading your posts and listening to your podcasts and your thoughts have recently become a powerful resource in my life, because you regularly visit the hard questions around pluralism, within Judaism itself and in the diaspora we inhabit. I have been wrestling with these questions all my life as a liberal Jew in the US whose Jewish values don't fit neatly into any one movement, but derive tremendous benefits from engaging with all of them. Growing up on one of those NY suburb streets with spanking new houses that were all the same but the people in them were the Chins who lived next to the Giardinas who lived next to the Czeunzekofskis and more, where my best friend had an Italian father and a Finnish mother, I have long wrestled with how to integrate instead of assimilate, and rightfully claim belonging at the same time while valuing what it meant to be "other" nonetheless. I have come to understand that victimhood makes us "other" in ways that diminishes this sense of belonging. That heightened sensitivity about anti-semitism can enable the kind of tribal protectiveness that becomes not only less productive but can become self-perpetuating. That if we can only figure out how to leverage our differences in ways that enrich our communities without diminishing our strengths.
Thank you so much for your voice and Im so grateful to finally have found your substack.
Thank you for this post, especially: "Meanwhile, because we are scared and because we need to make hard choices, I am watching with sadness as some sectors of my American Jewish community’s institutions are deprioritizing our deeply rooted commitments to civil rights for all and focusing primarily on our defense." As a Jew by choice 25 years ago, and as a lifelong social activist, I have concluded that we cannot fight antisemitism alone, and we can't fight it without recognizing how racism and antisemitism of all kinds constantly reinvent themselves. Two of the most recent re-inventions are how Jew are now often attacked by the right for their criticism of Israel's conduct in its destruction of Gaza and by the some on the left for their continued support for Israel or even for a two-state solution (I call this anti-ZionISTism).
That is one characteristic of antisemitism: the good Jew/bad Jew notion, but its roots are anti-Jewish hatred and discrimination at large. Anti-Arab chauvinism and Islamophobia have also taken on new forms, which I call Anti-Palestinianism. Each of these is characterized not by disagreement with one or another political point of view, but by in-you-face harassment, anger and hatred, of the kind which can turn violent and can lead to massacres. I write about this in my free Substack post here: https://michaelalandover.substack.com/p/anti-zionistism, where I now link to this post of yours.
I don't like anti-Arab chauvinism. As to Islamophobia, if you mean we can't criticize Islam (like we do other religions), then I don't agree with you on that.
I know the author a bit and am positive that he does not mean that you can't criticize Islam in the same way as you can criticize other religions--as long as it isn't anti-Arab or anti-Muslim hatred. So I suspect you and the author at least mostly agree. Sure there are line drawing issues, but if you don't perceive those in ANY sphere you are not paying attention.
I would state this in broader terms. The evil of antisemitism is not a Jewish problem, but an international problem not confined to any one country. European countries, Canada and Australia have this problem to an even larger degree than is the case in America.
I have been reading your posts and listening to your podcasts and your thoughts have recently become a powerful resource in my life, because you regularly visit the hard questions around pluralism, within Judaism itself and in the diaspora we inhabit. I have been wrestling with these questions all my life as a liberal Jew in the US whose Jewish values don't fit neatly into any one movement, but derive tremendous benefits from engaging with all of them. Growing up on one of those NY suburb streets with spanking new houses that were all the same but the people in them were the Chins who lived next to the Giardinas who lived next to the Czeunzekofskis and more, where my best friend had an Italian father and a Finnish mother, I have long wrestled with how to integrate instead of assimilate, and rightfully claim belonging at the same time while valuing what it meant to be "other" nonetheless. I have come to understand that victimhood makes us "other" in ways that diminishes this sense of belonging. That heightened sensitivity about anti-semitism can enable the kind of tribal protectiveness that becomes not only less productive but can become self-perpetuating. That if we can only figure out how to leverage our differences in ways that enrich our communities without diminishing our strengths.
Thank you so much for your voice and Im so grateful to finally have found your substack.
Cantor Amy Brenner Mitz
Thank you for this post, especially: "Meanwhile, because we are scared and because we need to make hard choices, I am watching with sadness as some sectors of my American Jewish community’s institutions are deprioritizing our deeply rooted commitments to civil rights for all and focusing primarily on our defense." As a Jew by choice 25 years ago, and as a lifelong social activist, I have concluded that we cannot fight antisemitism alone, and we can't fight it without recognizing how racism and antisemitism of all kinds constantly reinvent themselves. Two of the most recent re-inventions are how Jew are now often attacked by the right for their criticism of Israel's conduct in its destruction of Gaza and by the some on the left for their continued support for Israel or even for a two-state solution (I call this anti-ZionISTism).
That is one characteristic of antisemitism: the good Jew/bad Jew notion, but its roots are anti-Jewish hatred and discrimination at large. Anti-Arab chauvinism and Islamophobia have also taken on new forms, which I call Anti-Palestinianism. Each of these is characterized not by disagreement with one or another political point of view, but by in-you-face harassment, anger and hatred, of the kind which can turn violent and can lead to massacres. I write about this in my free Substack post here: https://michaelalandover.substack.com/p/anti-zionistism, where I now link to this post of yours.
I don't like anti-Arab chauvinism. As to Islamophobia, if you mean we can't criticize Islam (like we do other religions), then I don't agree with you on that.
I know the author a bit and am positive that he does not mean that you can't criticize Islam in the same way as you can criticize other religions--as long as it isn't anti-Arab or anti-Muslim hatred. So I suspect you and the author at least mostly agree. Sure there are line drawing issues, but if you don't perceive those in ANY sphere you are not paying attention.