(RNS) — Let me tell you about my colleague, Rabbi Ari Jun. He serves as a rabbi in Cincinnati — which just happens to be the birthplace of every institution in American Reform Judaism. There was to be a rally against neo-Nazism and white supremacy. He wanted to speak.
What could be more natural — a Jewish spiritual leader speaking at a rally that was condemning the ideology that sent 6 million Jews to their deaths, as well as leaving much of Europe in ruins, and the place where America’s greatest generation sacrificed their lives?
No. Not allowed. The reason?
Rabbi Ari Jun is a Zionist. As JTA reported:
“Some of your values do not truly align with the values this protest is trying to represent,” Laini Smith, an organizer of the rally being held Sunday in the city’s Washington Park, told him via text message.
Billie Pittman, another organizer with Queen City United, a progressive group, spelling things out even more clearly: “Rabbi Ari Jun is a well-known Zionist, and while this event is intended to oppose Nazis and white supremacy, allowing Zionists to participate undermines the original goal of the demonstration.”
In the days leading up to Purim, a rabbi channeled Queen Esther and Mordecai. He wanted to stand up for his people — but beyond that, he wanted to stand up for all people suffering hatred and oppression.
Please get your minds around this: A Jew is not allowed to speak out against Nazism, because he is a Zionist.
Please get your minds around this: The overwhelming majority of American rabbis, as well as of American Jews, would define themselves as Zionists (supporters of Israel) in some way.
So, the prohibition against Zionists can only mean: no rabbis and no Jews.
Which brings me to a French Jew, Edmond Fleg. In 1909, he wrote a famous litany: “I am a Jew.”
In part:
I am a Jew because my faith demands of me no abdication of the mind.
I am a Jew because my faith requires of me all the devotion of my heart.
I am a Jew because in every place where suffering weeps, I weep …
I dedicate this updated version of Fleg’s litany to Rabbi Ari Jun.
I dedicate it to young Jews, who face his question in their high schools and on their college campuses and even, I have heard, on dates.
I dedicate it to all Jews who have needed to explain themselves, their commitments, and their passions — in ways that would never be required of any other group.
I am a Zionist because the Jewish people begins with Abraham and Sarah’s connection to the land of Israel. That connection is reaffirmed throughout the generations of the patriarchs and matriarchs; continues with the conquest of the land under Joshua; continues in the period of the tribal chieftains; the kingdom of Israel under Saul, David and Solomon; the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and until the time of the Babylonian exile, and afterward, with the reestablishment of Jewish sovereignty under the Hasmonean kings, the heirs of the Maccabees.
I am a Zionist because even and especially in the time of exile — under the Babylonians and then later under the Romans — Jews never stopped longing for the Land.
I am a Zionist because Jewish liturgy constantly expresses that longing for the Land. You cannot go three pages in the prayer book without encountering Zion and Jerusalem. You cannot pray after a meal without encountering Zion and Jerusalem. You cannot attend Jewish life cycle celebrations without encountering Zion and Jerusalem: at a Jewish wedding, where the joy of the return to Zion mirrors the joy of the wedding couple, and at the funeral, where the dead is buried with a bag of soil from Jerusalem in the grave, and where the mourners are comforted among all those “who mourn in Zion and Jerusalem.” To amputate those references is to perform an act of immoral surgery.
I am a Zionist because the Jewish people needed its return to the Land. To put it bluntly: It was about safety and survival. This was true for Jews in Europe, as Jewish emancipation failed. It was even more true in the Arab countries, where Jewish emancipation was never truly attempted.
I am a Zionist because, particularly in the wake of the Holocaust, Jewish sovereignty became a powerful response to Jewish weakness.
I am a Zionist because the state of Israel is an experiment: Can Jews create a society rooted in Jewish ideas and ideals, while simultaneously creating a state for all its citizens, as promised in its Declaration of Independence? That experiment has both its successes and failures. The state’s failures and frustrations are no worse than those of any other state. Still, it reaches for an ideal.
I am a Zionist because the state of Israel represents the resurrection of Jewish culture, literature and language. I can walk down the street in Tel Aviv and hear words that the Prophet Isaiah would have recognized, as well as words that he could not have imagined. The Hebrew language is new-old, like Judaism itself.
I am a Zionist because I believe in self-determination for the Palestinian people. I want Palestinians to experience sovereignty, as I want Israel to experience security. We need more voices that will affirm both sides of that equation.
I am a Zionist because I will not let the Jew-haters win. When critique of Israel’s policies slides into hatred for the only Jewish state in the world, and when that slides into hatred of the Jewish people, you show yourselves for who you are. When you support a terrorist group that is responsible for the worst day in Jewish history since 1945, you show yourselves for who you are. Paradoxically, you demonstrate why Israel was even necessary in the first place — to defend ourselves against people like you, especially when they have weapons.
When you ask Jews, “Are you a Zionist?” you are curating our Jewish identity. When you chant: “We don’t want no Zionists here!” you are saying that Jews are acceptable only if they deny their connection to the Jewish state. Because the overwhelming majority of Jews in the world support Israel, you are saying that you simply do not like Jews.
At least have the decency and honesty to admit that you are a bigot.
You are no better than those who throw pennies at Jewish kids.
You are no better than those who called Jews Christ-killers.
You are no better than those polite Jew-haters who would not allow our young people into universities or jobs or clubs.
I am a Zionist because as a Jew, I will not be afraid.
