American Jewry’s dangerous embrace of Progressivism
There has been a distressing history of Jews flocking to various social and political movements in the hope that these would prove to be their salvation. The great head-fake of the Enlightenment, which saw Jews flee the confines but stability of the shtetl world for the largely unfulfilled promise of equality; the love affair with socialism that saw many Jews in the front ranks of the Bolshevik revolution; and even the German Jewish university students who initially supported Hitler’s rise to power, all bespeak a profound misreading of movements that ultimately scorned, oppressed and persecuted their Jewish true believers.
Sadly, we are very likely seeing history repeat itself as a growing critical mass of American Jews embrace Progressivism. Unfortunately, this represents a qualitative leap from the longstanding penchant for liberalism among American Jews.
Liberalism, American-style, has been about the free exercise of civil rights, including speech, religion and association. While liberalism had causes it championed, it did so within the constraints of a process which recognized that other voices existed. Also, until recently, liberalism was also comfortably supportive of Zionism, as the legitimate movement for self-determination of the Jewish People.
Progressivism, however, will ultimately be understood as a movement perched on the slippery slope to authoritarianism. While liberalism is about process, Progressivism is about results. Not just results, but the right and proper results. There are agreed upon priorities, there are agreed upon outcomes that must be realized, even at the expense of cherished process values such as free speech.
Why is this a risk for Jews? Simply because in a world of leveling uniformity, Judaism is a strange outlier. Jews see themselves as a distinct nation/tribe/ religion/family with a unique mission. Well, isn’t that exclusionary?
Traditional Jews pray separately. Now, isn’t that chauvinistic?
The affinity for Israel, too, is highly problematic since Israel is an oppressive colonial occupier, and a decent Progressive cannot possibly sanction such behavior.
The rise of “intersectionality,” where different oppressions are actually all related and part of the same struggle, has clearly defined Israel as an oppressor. Thus, for groups such as Black Lives Matter, the desire to support the aspirations of blacks must include support for Palestinians.
The shape of things to come might be seen in European social democracies, which are increasingly intolerant of the particularities of Jewish ritual and practice. Circumcision is simply barbaric mutilation of a baby who has no say in the matter. Similarly, kosher ritual slaughter is a barbaric offense to animal life.
Is this being alarmist? Is this merely connecting unrelated dots in such a way as to create a dire future scenario for American Jewry? It largely depends on the future of the American political scene. As of now, the center is not holding, and there seems to be a movement toward the extreme ends of both party platforms.
It would not be a surprise to see a Democratic presidential candidate during the next election cycle who makes Bernie Sanders look like Ronald Reagan. While such a candidate might not now seem to be electable, it all depends on the mood of the electorate. The Brexit and Trump victories are testimony to the power of the pent-up anger of the electorate, and there is no doubt that anger can work in the other direction as well.
Anger does not breed moderation; anger breeds revenge, and revenge in political terms often entails ideological purity, and conformity.
Several years ago, David Gelertner, the brilliant computer scientist and social commentator, wrote about “social signaling,” the phenomenon of how various sub-cultures raise the bar of commitment and adherence to require members to show that they are in fact part of the group. In religious life, that raising of the bar involves stringencies; in political life, it involves increasing and unquestioned fealty to the platform of the group.
The real fear for Jews is that they might be forced to choose between their membership in the Progressive camp and their identification as Jews. We are already seeing this on university campuses, as much of the vanguard opposing Israel and pushing a boycott agenda is in fact Jewish.
How much of this leadership is due to social-signaling pressure is unclear, but it is likely that such pressures will increase, assuming the Progressive agenda becomes increasingly hostile to Israel, and indeed, to Judaism.
A distressingly large part of the American Jewish community is already voting for Progressivism over Jewish identity and unity. The bulwark of the pro-Israel community are the Orthodox, and the bulwark of the non-Progressive Jewish community are the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox.
If Progressivism metastasizes, becoming anti-traditional Jewish practice, these communities are at existential risk. Astounding as it sounds, a significant portion of the Jewish community might well be made to feel unwelcome in America.
While I would love to see more aliya from the US, it should be because of inspired choice, not because of classic religious persecution.
Regardless, Progressivism is yet another movement that will scorn its Jewish adherents. It will be an unrequited love that will take its shameful place in the rogues’ gallery of false messiahs.
The author is an executive board member of Im Tirtzu and a board member of the Israel Independence Fund.