“Israel has created a new image of the Jew in the world – the image of a
working and an intellectual people, of a people that can fight with heroism.”
David Ben-Gurion
“A working and intellectual people? What were we before then?”
Jonathan Finkel’s life was typical of many American Jews. Growing up secular
in Detroit, Judaism was by and large a non-issue. Things flowed and life was
peaceful. Until the politics/wars of “Israel” inevitably dragged him into
discussions with his Arab friends.
Attending a public school that had a significant Palestinian student body,
Jonathan, now Yonason, never lacked for examples of allegedly “Jewish”
behavior. Villages bulldozed and entire populations displaced to make way for
the “New Jew” of Zionist imagination. Apparently, this is what Jews did.
Sensitive and fair-minded by nature, Jonathan felt that, if this was
Judaism, then it was not for him. The nightly news did little to alter his
perception. War proceeded by yet another war. Casualty after casualty.
Jewishness appeared a very dark and menacing thing, strapped with an AK-47.
Spritzing gas on an already roaring fire was the increasingly bellicose settler
movement. Here, it seemed, was proof positive that the Zionist enterprise was
synonymous with religion. The equation was straightforward. Someone’s Zionism
increases in intensity as they inch closer to Judaism (G-d forbid).
This attitude, which achieved traction amongst young, Western Jews in recent
years, can be summarized by the following story.
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It was one of those rare instances where Jonathan Finkel found himself in a
Reform synagogue. He was given a siddur (prayer book) of sorts and the service
commenced. Though exposed as a child to an insipid version of Jewish observance
and belief, he did have a rudimentary grasp of Loshon HaKodesh (the Holy
Tongue) and was able to follow along without too much difficulty.
However, at 12 years of age his aversion to the State of “Israel’s” actions
was already so strong that it wouldn’t allow him to say the word “Israel” even
in prayer. In his innocence, he reasoned that the word which popped up so often
in this and every other prayer book must be referring to the modern nation.
Nobody in his Reform synagogue had said otherwise and it’s doubtful that many
of them knew differently.
Jonathan was at his core a deeply spiritual person who desired to learn more
about Judaism. But this notion wouldn’t allow him. He, like all of his Jewish
friends, had no other frame of reference to go on and so the faith of his
forefathers was left uninvestigated. Better to stay ignorant than to become
immoral.
Life continued in this vein for some time till one day Jonathan found
himself engaged in a philosophical conversation with a college friend, an
Italian-American who from New York City. “I would be willing to hear about
Judaism but all religious Jews are Zionists” Jonathan said with no slight hint
of distain. “Why do I need that?” His friend, having seen numerous
demonstrations during his childhood in Brooklyn, shot back an emphatic “Not
true!” He then proceeded to describe communities of thousands of Jews who were
just as passionately against the Zionist State as he was. “That was the first
time that I heard that there could be such a thing as Jews against Zionism and
that realization gave me my first push toward exploring Judaism.”
Now a frum Jew learning in a well known yeshivah in New York State, we asked
Jonathan if he thought his experience was unique or if there might be other
Jews out there who feel the same as he once did. “Absolutely” he replied with
an assuredness that left no room for doubt. “There’s a reason that so many Jews
have an anti-‘Israel’ view. The State of ‘Israel’ offends their sense of basic
decency. I definitely believe that ‘Israel’s’ actions hold back a lot Jews from
exploring Judaism further.”
It is our fervent wish here at Torah Jews that Jews wishing to take a
deeper look into Judaism will not be held back by the actions of those who
assume to speak for the entirety of the Jewish World. We hope that they will be
able to see through the feints of the Zionist State and realize one crucial
point. They are not Judaism.