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Dear Friends,

 

With Israel’s 75th birthday coming up, coupled with the ongoing attention on the Knesset’s proposed judicial overhaul and rising violence amidst the celebrations of Passover and Ramadan, it feels like an appropriate time to consider how we, as American Jews, see Israel as a part of our Jewishness. It is at times like this that we are called to show our support for Israel. Given that, I invite you to join me for a four-session lunch n’ learn series, during which we will explore the history of anti-Zionism in American Jewish institutions. This class is not an argument for or against Israel, but a chance to explore a corner of American Jewish history to deepen--and complicate--our understanding of Zionism as an aspect of American Jewish life. All are welcome. Come for one session or come for all. Please bring yourself, a bag lunch, an open mind, and an eagerness to explore. The details for the class are below.

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Anti-Zionism: A History with Rabbi Hirsch

Support for the State of Israel has been one of the main pillars of American Jewish institutional life since the founding of Israel in 1948. Yet, why is that? In the build up to 1948 and after, there have been groups of American Jews who have argued for a different vision of Jewish life that is distinctly diasporic. Some have argued for an attachment to hereness, envisioning autonomous Jewish life inside of the European countries in which we were living. Others, like many American Reform rabbis in the 1930's, made the case that Judaism was not concerned with issues of peoplehood anymore, and that our collective energy should be focused on religious practices alone. In this lunch n’ learn with Rabbi Hirsch, over these four weeks, we will explore the history of anti-Zionism in Europe and America. We will explore the history of the Reform movement, as well as Jewish academics who stood in opposition to the idea of Israel. At the same time, we will consider what echoes of this history we hear in how American Jews speak of their relationship to Israel today.

 

Given all that calls our attention to Israel today, this series is designed to push us out of our comfort zone, exploring views on Israel that push the normative ways we speak about the American Jew’s relationship to Israel. 

 

A Class Syllabus and Source Pack will be provided at the start of the series.

 

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Release your spiritual and intellectual imagination in Hevreh's Creative Beit Midrash. Explore Jewish topics through your medium of choice-visual art, music, dance/movement, or written word. Sessions are for sharing and processing individuals' creative product through nurturing, not critique.

 

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