Wednesday, October 02, 2024
From Ian:
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis: What is Zionism?
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis: What is Zionism?
Sadly, Israel’s history has been plagued by war and violence, as hostile surrounding countries sought to deny Jews the right to live peacefully in their national homeland within a vibrant democracy.Kassy Akiva: Anti-Semitism Helped Make Me a Jew
That conflict has frequently been painful, often unbearably so, and the challenge of reconciling the destinies of two peoples in the same land has become ever more intractable with each passing decade. It is important to understand that Zionism is not an obstacle to that reconciliation – indeed, the chance to realise it was offered to both Jewish and Arab inhabitants of the land by the United Nations in 1947. Whereas the Jewish population grasped the opportunity to establish a state with both hands, the Palestinian Arab leadership and neighbouring Arab states firmly rejected it, preferring to wage war. Ever since that time, it has not been Zionism that has created conflict. Israel has endured and thrived despite the repeated attempts and the enduring desire to wipe it off the map.
The fallacy that Zionism and, more specifically, the existence of Israel, is fundamentally incompatible with the well-being of the Palestinian people has become increasingly pervasive over recent years, and its prevalence serves only to harm the cause of peace. We must have no truck with the narrative that Zionism is somehow inherently prejudiced. Zionism advocates self-determination for Jews. It does not agitate against the welfare and well-being of Palestinians. Consequently, I can, at one and the same time hold Zionism at the core of my Jewish identity whilst simultaneously feeling deep pain in seeing the suffering of numerous innocent Palestinians.
Zionism transcends the politics and policies of the day. Israel is a vibrant democracy within which there is healthy and often intense debate. Indeed, the most impassioned critics of any Israeli government are found within Israel itself, but their Zionism remains undimmed. This deep religious, historic, covenantal and emotional bond between the Jewish people and Israel does not mean that every Jewish person plays a role in nor is supportive of every decision taken by any given Israeli government. That is why the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism correctly identifies “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” as being manifestly anti-Semitic. This is not the same as acknowledging or celebrating the unarguable collective Jewish relationship with Israel – a case often made by some to suit their flawed narrative that Israel and Judaism are totally separate from one another. Diaspora Jews may be deeply connected to Israel, but they cannot be held responsible for it.
Sadly, there is an increasing tendency to single out Israel, the Jewish state, and by extension, Jewish people, for special treatment in a manner that is inconsistent with how other countries or global conflicts are viewed. In 2023 alone, the UN General Assembly voted to condemn Israel on a total of 14 occasions, while over the same period it condemned countries in the rest of the world put together just seven times . In such forums, the very legitimacy of Israel’s existence is challenged and undermined in a manner not found with respect to any other people or country. A hateful cocktail of singular scrutiny and demonisation is now being routinely used as a tool of delegitimisation. That tool has a name: anti-Zionism.
According to data from the UK’s Community Security Trust, a charity that protects British Jews, the first six months of 2024 saw the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents ever recorded in the UK. Our synagogues and schools have needed to be protected by more guards and higher walls. In May it was reported that police had thwarted a plot to attack a Jewish community in north-west England with automatic weapons. What happens in Israel has a direct impact on the everyday life of Jewish communities around the world. The simplistic thinking that underpins the knee-jerk reaction in holding all Jews to account for everything that takes place in Israel must be refuted at every turn.
It is extremely sad that the existence of a Jewish state in a land within which the Jewish people were indigenous long before the dawn of both Christianity and Islam should be seen as controversial in any way. Zionism, which upholds this right of the Jewish People to a national home in their ancestral homeland, is undoubtedly best served by a peaceful future for both Israelis and Palestinians.
I am a Zionist because I believe that alongside the world’s 157 Christian-majority countries and 49 Muslim-majority countries, there is a vital need for a single Jewish country. I am a Zionist because I am committed to the idea that even in a place where conflict has reigned for centuries, peace is achievable and worth fighting for. I am a Zionist because I have inherited a language, culture and faith from the indigenous people of Judea. I am a Zionist because over thousands of years, my ancestors recommitted daily to holding Israel at the heart of their faith. I am a Zionist because I am a Jew.
‘If you finish your conversion to Judaism, are you prepared to deal with anti-Semitism?”
This was the question posed to me by a rabbi during my second meeting with the Rabbinical Court of Massachusetts, which was considering me as a candidate for conversion to Judaism.
The gravity of the question was not lost on me, especially as it came from a man whose early years were spent in a Nazi concentration camp, and who now had the authority to make others—and their descendants—vulnerable to evil by accepting them into the Jewish tribe.
“There is a man sitting in federal prison right now who threatened to kill me because he thought I was Jewish,” I answered. When I was just one year out of college and working as a journalist for the Daily Wire in Los Angeles, I had my first real scare from a truly disturbed person who said he wanted to rape and kill me because he believed I was a Jew. Although he was eventually sent to prison, I learned how dangerous it could be as a semipublic figure with a great love for Judaism—and I wasn’t even a Jew yet.
Since I converted to Judaism in April 2023, the months have been packed with the joy of finally joining the Jewish people and falling in love with my now-husband, contrasted with the tragedy of October 7 and the work I’ve done documenting the massacre sites and anti-Israel protests in its aftermath. Though this is not how I expected my first year as part of Am Yisrael to be, I was oddly well equipped and prepared to encounter the anti-Semitism visible in America’s cities. In fact, anti-Semitism deserves partial credit for leading me to God, His Torah, His land, and His people.
During college, I also encountered hateful trolls who harassed me and questioned whether I was Jewish because of my pointy nose, despite having Irish, English, and French lineage. When I began traveling to Israel on both secular and Christian group trips, I received Jew-hating messages and tweets, complete with images of Hitler and concentration camps. However, things escalated significantly when I started working for Ben Shapiro at the Daily Wire. A well-known white supremacist even labeled me “Ben’s philosemitic flying monkey.”
It was as though the anti-Semites had sensed something Jewish about me, but they were confused by my identity—and so was I. The truth is, I was just beginning my journey to understand who I was and my relationship with God. The more anti-Semitic hate mail filled my inbox, the more I became interested in learning about what drove these correspondents to attack Jewish people, and me.
