I agree wholeheartedly with Seth’s post from yesterday about J.J. Goldberg’s shocking Forward column, but I’d like to tackle a different angle of the issue: the question of American Jewish leadership.
Goldberg charged that Jewish organizations are shifting their focus from “progressive” political policies to concerns more directly related to the Jewish community, and consequently, American Jews “are in danger of becoming, in classic Seinfeld fashion, a religion about nothing.” This not only implies, as Seth correctly noted, that Goldberg sees traditional Judaism as inimical to the American variety. It also implies that what I’d always considered a somewhat snide slur is actually true: To some liberal American Jews, Judaism really doesn’t consist of anything beyond the Democratic Party platform. Abandon those liberal political concerns, says Goldberg, and Judaism becomes “a religion about nothing.”
The problem with this is that you don’t need to be Jewish to promote liberal causes, and you certainly don’t need to be active in any Jewish communal organization. In fact, you’re arguably better off avoiding such organizations: Jewish groups inevitably end up wasting time and attention on pesky issues like Israel or anti-Semitism, which distracts from the all-important focus on progressive political causes.
Consequently, the people who do choose to devote their lives to Jewish organizations – and who, as a result, become “American Jewish leaders” – tend to be precisely those who think Judaism is about something more than just progressive politics, and who consider that “something more” important enough to devote their careers to it, or at least sizable chunks of their spare time. And that is why, even though many are also committed liberal Democrats, these leaders are more focused on traditional Jewish concerns than Goldberg deems proper: Study after study has shown that the more one cares about Judaism – in its traditional sense, rather than as a mere synonym for liberal politics – the more one cares about issues like Israel and Jewish peoplehood. Hence, it’s precisely those who become American Jewish leaders who are most likely to, for instance, defend Israel even when they disagree with its policies, or think that just as your own family takes precedence over strangers, helping fellow Jews in need may take precedence over helping non-Jews.
And in that sense, Goldberg’s second complaint – that American Jewish leaders don’t represent their communities’ real views, and are in fact often well to the right of their communities – contains an important kernel of truth. This plaint, increasingly heard from many left-wing American Jews, clearly overstates the case: Many liberal American Jews agree with their leaders that Judaism is not solely about progressive politics, and thus have no problem with these leaders’ focus on Jewish communal concerns.
But American Jewish leaders are indeed unrepresentative of that specific segment of American Jewry which, like Goldberg, thinks that Judaism is solely about progressive politics. And moreover, they always will be. Because only someone who cares deeply about Judaism in its traditional sense – as a religion and a people – rather than merely as a vehicle for liberal politics will opt to devote his life to Jewish causes rather than generic liberal ones.
And Mosh Rabbeinu a"h was indeed not a typical representative of those who build a golden calf, complained about the mon, or wept over the report of the spies — which is to say, most of us. Nor were the prophets typical of those who went astray after the baalim or molech, or who behaved dishonestly or disregarded sexual morality. Isn't the whole point of leadership to lead, rather than to follow? To inspire the people being led to do and be better than they have been? n
& the pope is well to the right of most American Catholics. As are his priests. Az ma?
Let's face it, a sizable chunk of American Jews are Jews in name only, or, worse, those whose 'Jewish' values can encompass eating a bagel on a flotilla to Gaza. n nFortunately, Israel now has the populational, economic, military, and cultural momentum to survive without the support of the majority of American Jewry. Our Christian American friends have stepped up to the plate to ensure continued American support. n nThe bifurcation of the Jewish world continues. n nIsrael will be there even for the fallen sons of American Jewry, if the waters ever get stormy.
There is another problem about "liberalism", Evelyn. Who decides the liberal agenda –and how?? Who decides what is "left" and what is "right"? [this last question is especially relevant, since the Obama administration's Israel policy --supposedly "liberal"-- is not much different from the Republican or "right-wing" Israel policy of the State Department in the days of John Foster Dulles as secretary of state]. Who decides what is "conservative" and what "liberal"?
"liberals" decide. As Lenin noted in passing, it's not about "what" it's about "whom"…
I think that supporting Israel is insufficient in determining one's "Jewishness", since one doesn't have to be Jewish to support Israel. I think liberal Judaism is already "a religion about nothing", in the same way that liberal Christianity is.
I've always seem Judaism as a religion about justice, responsibility and tradition. These things can be embraced, without embracing a progressive agenda.
Ashkenazic Jews may prefer rye bread with corn beef rather than plain white bread, but no one would seriously maintain that such a preference "in determining one's 'Jewishness'," and not just because there are non-Jews who prefer rye bread to plain white bread when having a corn beef sandwich. It may be your personal view that a certain level of religious observance is part of "determining one's 'Jewishness,'" but you don't think "supporting Israel" is as irrelevant and/or inconsequential for that purpose as is a preference for rye over white bread, do you? And siding with Israel's enemies, as some have done, does that bear on a "determin(ation of) one's Jewishness" in your book? Klal Yisrael?
Well, then, what determines one’s “Jewishness”? Is Sarah Silverman just as Jewish as an Orthodox rabbi?
History. History. History. n n(I am a retiree, but I believe the following is true.) n nJudaism lost almost half its population from 1941 to 1945. n nThe Jewish population is increasing again, thanks to safe havens in Israel, the USA, Canada, and other countries with populations, cultures and laws which protect civil and human rights. n nThe American Jewish community is more fortunate than the Israeli Jewish community because it does not have to fear that rockets will be fired from the nearest 7-11 in an attempt to blow up their houses and kill their children. n nWhat comes next? Does the American Jewish community stand by the Israeli Jews who are surrounded by implacable enemies? Or does the American Jewish community demand that Israel disregard all the rockets, and all the defensive wars, and all the dead soldiers in the cemeteries? n n Pay attention to CAIR. This organization will defend its co-ethnicity, co-religionists, right, wrong, regardless. American Jews could take a lesson from CAIR. n nPeople living in bubbles ought not sneer at those who are surrounded by enemies who possess knives, rockets, and suicide vests. n n n n n
Those liberal Jews are benefiting from the existence of Israel. At least there is a country where Jews cannot be oppressed. The liberals want to ignore history and this fact. If U do not support Israel, U support the oppression of Jews. Liberal American Jews ignore what is going on in Europe at their own expense. History repeats itself soon or later.
Complaints like Goldberg's are a confused waste of time. Far better was Hillel's advice. n nThe best way to integrate Jewish communal concerns with larger politics is the approach taken by David Harris and the AJC: a robust defense of Israel, combined with general support for religious freedom and pluralism, and mutual recognition and peace in the Middle East. Harris, like most American Jewish communal leaders, is a Democrat, but has no difficulty attacking the wacked-out left. The real problem such people face is that traditional liberals are a shrinking presence in the Obama-era Democratic party. Many American Jews are oblivious to this and are open to the confusion promoted by Goldberg, not to speak of the poison promoted by Peter Beinart. n nBTW, most American Jewish communal leaders are Democrats, and most of them are liberals. They're not to the right of American Jews generally. They just take American Jewish communal life as their touchstone and top priority, not "progressive" politics. The larger problem is that American Jews are generally out of touch with world and Israeli Jewry. They live in a thick bubble and avoid dealing with what's outside that bubble as much as possible.