Shalom Rav

A Blog by Rabbi Brant Rosen

Rabbi Brian Walt Imagines a Judaism Without Zionism

Photo Project Shows The Culture And Counterculture Changes Of Women In The Past 100 Years | BuzzWok.com | The Best Buzzing Stories Frying In One Place (Buzzwok)

 

What Happens When Mashing-up of Frozen’s ‘Let it Go’ With Game of Thrones? Unbelievably Cool! | BuzzWok.com | The Best Buzzing Stories Frying In One Place (Buzzwok)

Three Polyamorous Gay Women Are Expecting Their First Child Together. | BuzzWok.com | The Best Buzzing Stories Frying In One Place (Buzzwok)

Sexist Dating Advice From 1938 Will Make Your Stomach Cringe Of Amusement! | BuzzWok.com | The Best Buzzing Stories Frying In One Place (Buzzwok)

Senior Women With Tattoos Show That Aging With Tattoos Looks Pretty Good! | BuzzWok.com | The Best Buzzing Stories Frying In One Place (Buzzwok)

Stunning Nude Photos Reveal What Women REALLY Look Like After Giving Birth. | BuzzWok.com | The Best Buzzing Stories Frying In One Place (Buzzwok)

This Is What a Mother’s Body Really Looks Like Without Airbrushing! Continued. | BuzzWok.com | The Best Buzzing Stories Frying In One Place (Buzzwok)

Ladies It’s Time To Take off That Bra. It Makes Breasts “Saggier”, French Study Reveals! | BuzzWok.com | The Best Buzzing Stories Frying In One Place (Buzzwok)

Girls Picking Up Girls, Boys Picking Up Boys…Awkward But Very Interesting! | BuzzWok.com | The Best Buzzing Stories Frying In One Place (Buzzwok)

Posted: June 1, 2012 | Author: Rabbi Brant Rosen | Filed under: American Jewish Community, Holocaust, Human Rights, Israel, Judaism, Nakba, Palestine, Peace, Zionism |15 Comments

My dear friend and colleague Rabbi Brian Walt just posted a transcript of his talk, “Affirming a Judaism and Jewish Identity Without Zionism” – a breathtaking piece that deserves the widest possible audience. I don’t know exactly how describe it except to say it’s at once an intensely personal confession, spiritual autobiography, political treatise and most of all, an anguished cri de coeur.

****************************

I finally had to admit to myself what I had known for a long time but was too scared to acknowledge: political Zionism, at its core, is a discriminatory ethno-nationalism that privileges the rights of Jews over non-Jews. As such political Zionism violates everything I believe about Judaism. While there was desperate need in the 1940s to provide a safe haven for Jews, and this need won over most of the Jewish world and the Western world to support the Zionist movement, the Holocaust can in in no way justify or excuse the systemic racism that was and remains an integral part of Zionism.

 

In the past I believed that the discrimination I saw – the demolished homes, the uprooted trees, the stolen land – were an aberration of the Zionist vision. I came to understand that all of these were not mistakes nor a blemishes on a dream – they were all the logical outcome of Zionism.

 

As a Jew, I believe in the inherent dignity of every human being. As a Jew, I believe that justice is the core commandment of our tradition. As a Jew, I believe that we are commanded to be advocates for the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized. Zionism and the daily reality in Israel violated each of these core values. And I could no longer be a Zionist. I will always be a person with deep and profound connection to Israel and my friends and family there, but I was no longer a Zionist.