Years ago a non-Jewish high school friend asked me what I would do if America and Israel were not in agreement. I naively told her that I couldn’t imagine such a time. I now live in Jerusalem but your article articulates how I feel. Thank you.
As usual your thoughts and how you break things down both galvanize and inspire me.
As a liberal Zionist Cantor living in the Jewish desert of rural northern New Hampshire I can say with certainty I will be passionate about and support the value and necessity of the State of Israel until I die.
I'm not sure I understand the impossible cocktail you lay out, but here's mine:
I listen to every wise podcast from Dan Senor to Wondering Jews, including of course Identity Crisis and now the Israel Policy Podcast....
Presidents in the US have understood the dangers of the mideast for America for years, obviously. But with all the mistakes constantly made through past decades, the overreaching corroboration of criminal leaders and fascism around the world, instead of moving towards more collaborative leadership is what is most horrifying.
For me, to be a Jew in this moment is to be horrified by every move Trump makes here and on behalf of Israel. Fuggettabout daylight. I feel this in my bones: the way Trump operates in the world and in partnership with Netanyahu is moving Jewish safety and world safety toward darkness. The only Jewish leader who brings any strategic hope for a miracle right now is Zelensky. But since no one knows what lays ahead for any of us, I remain hopeful in spite of it all, not because people are good at heart, like Anne Frank famously said, but because in the end, we humans do have what it takes to turn it all around.
At home, I hold my liberal Zionism close to my heart knowing that these terms much maligned today represent important parts of my Judaism and always will. The core remainder rests on what it means to be as a responsible Jew aspiring to voracious learning and applying it when needed, ,being a good and brave neighbor if needed, a thoughtful community member, a person attempting to evolve in partnership with God to participate in tikkun olam right here where I live.
I know for others it is much harder, but these core elements must thrive everywhere if we are in fact to have no daylight between us as a people.
This is an incredibly painful moment. I find myself unable to speak in either direction, and this articulates it really well. I wish I could send comfort to Israeli friends- one of them lives next door to the building in Ramat Gan where 2 were killed. I agree very much that Trump is failing to explain anything, to respect our allies, or to express any sense of the tragedy and gravity of war.
If you write a follow-up, I would love if you could expand on this: "I think the United States has failed in its responsibility to exhaust non-military options." My sense from reading the history is that the U.S. offered a range of deals around sanctions and economic engagement in exchange for nuclear talks, and that Iran never negotiated in good faith. What non-military options do you think existed? This applies not to just vis-a-vis U.S. and Israeli interests, but Iranian ones, e.g., the slaughter of civilians on a scale approaching the Babyn Yar massacre. What are the other options when dealing with such a regime?
Help me understand. By agreeing to disagree but doing so with empathy there is no divergence?
As an aside, the long ago dismissal of non orthodox or right wing American Jewry has been a near catastrophic divergence the price of which is being paid in these times. Divergence is here stay for the foreseeable future.
Dear Yehuda, I do not live in USA, but as long as Pres Trump supports Israel, I guess I worry less about what he does elsewhere(believe me a left leaning Labour government, pandering to the Islamic vote, is no picnic and our economic situation is not brilliant: housing out of reach for young couples, & job insecurity). More Orthodox diasporas support Israel, possibly with less objectivity, and living in a country where our government is very anti-Israel and has allowed anti-Semitism to spread, until 15 people were murdered on Chanukah, a govt a little more like Pres Trump's would be welcome. I acknowledge the anti-Semitic attacks in USA. USA Jews may agonise over the Israel/USA divide. Many Australian Jews agonise over the safety of Jews in Australia, and when they should move.
And still we are expected to think they aren’t evil? HOW??????
( This is a post I restatched but it explains my point entirely. Fuck israel they are literal, modern day nazis. The people that nearly wiped jews off the face of the planet. Eighty years after we give you a country, you turn into the monsters we saved you from) i have no problem with jewish people. I have everything against fucking israel. FUCK them until the end of time.
This engages all the contradictions and nuances of this moment and, in a way, heartbreaking.
Years ago a non-Jewish high school friend asked me what I would do if America and Israel were not in agreement. I naively told her that I couldn’t imagine such a time. I now live in Jerusalem but your article articulates how I feel. Thank you.
.
Wow Yehuda. Very brave to express this. American Judaism and Israeli Judaism can and do co-exist now and in the future.
שכּ׳ח!!
Thank you for your cogent analysis of what’s been troubling me.
Thank you for writing my message I’ve had difficulty formulating to my Israeli cousin.
As usual your thoughts and how you break things down both galvanize and inspire me.
As a liberal Zionist Cantor living in the Jewish desert of rural northern New Hampshire I can say with certainty I will be passionate about and support the value and necessity of the State of Israel until I die.
I'm not sure I understand the impossible cocktail you lay out, but here's mine:
I listen to every wise podcast from Dan Senor to Wondering Jews, including of course Identity Crisis and now the Israel Policy Podcast....
Presidents in the US have understood the dangers of the mideast for America for years, obviously. But with all the mistakes constantly made through past decades, the overreaching corroboration of criminal leaders and fascism around the world, instead of moving towards more collaborative leadership is what is most horrifying.
For me, to be a Jew in this moment is to be horrified by every move Trump makes here and on behalf of Israel. Fuggettabout daylight. I feel this in my bones: the way Trump operates in the world and in partnership with Netanyahu is moving Jewish safety and world safety toward darkness. The only Jewish leader who brings any strategic hope for a miracle right now is Zelensky. But since no one knows what lays ahead for any of us, I remain hopeful in spite of it all, not because people are good at heart, like Anne Frank famously said, but because in the end, we humans do have what it takes to turn it all around.
At home, I hold my liberal Zionism close to my heart knowing that these terms much maligned today represent important parts of my Judaism and always will. The core remainder rests on what it means to be as a responsible Jew aspiring to voracious learning and applying it when needed, ,being a good and brave neighbor if needed, a thoughtful community member, a person attempting to evolve in partnership with God to participate in tikkun olam right here where I live.
I know for others it is much harder, but these core elements must thrive everywhere if we are in fact to have no daylight between us as a people.
This is an incredibly painful moment. I find myself unable to speak in either direction, and this articulates it really well. I wish I could send comfort to Israeli friends- one of them lives next door to the building in Ramat Gan where 2 were killed. I agree very much that Trump is failing to explain anything, to respect our allies, or to express any sense of the tragedy and gravity of war.
If you write a follow-up, I would love if you could expand on this: "I think the United States has failed in its responsibility to exhaust non-military options." My sense from reading the history is that the U.S. offered a range of deals around sanctions and economic engagement in exchange for nuclear talks, and that Iran never negotiated in good faith. What non-military options do you think existed? This applies not to just vis-a-vis U.S. and Israeli interests, but Iranian ones, e.g., the slaughter of civilians on a scale approaching the Babyn Yar massacre. What are the other options when dealing with such a regime?
Help me understand. By agreeing to disagree but doing so with empathy there is no divergence?
As an aside, the long ago dismissal of non orthodox or right wing American Jewry has been a near catastrophic divergence the price of which is being paid in these times. Divergence is here stay for the foreseeable future.
Dear Yehuda, I do not live in USA, but as long as Pres Trump supports Israel, I guess I worry less about what he does elsewhere(believe me a left leaning Labour government, pandering to the Islamic vote, is no picnic and our economic situation is not brilliant: housing out of reach for young couples, & job insecurity). More Orthodox diasporas support Israel, possibly with less objectivity, and living in a country where our government is very anti-Israel and has allowed anti-Semitism to spread, until 15 people were murdered on Chanukah, a govt a little more like Pres Trump's would be welcome. I acknowledge the anti-Semitic attacks in USA. USA Jews may agonise over the Israel/USA divide. Many Australian Jews agonise over the safety of Jews in Australia, and when they should move.
Israel, currently, right now, has pushed:
2 million Palestinians out of their homes
3 million Iranians out of their homes
1 million Lebanese out of their homes
That’s 6 million refugees they’ve made RIGHT NOW.
And still we are expected to think they aren’t evil? HOW??????
( This is a post I restatched but it explains my point entirely. Fuck israel they are literal, modern day nazis. The people that nearly wiped jews off the face of the planet. Eighty years after we give you a country, you turn into the monsters we saved you from) i have no problem with jewish people. I have everything against fucking israel. FUCK them until the end of time.