Der Dr. Schreiber-Humer,
I do think that the
internal Jewish discourse on Israel/Palestine in the U.S. is different
from the same in Europe, as it is also different from the same in
Israel. Rather than dismiss the expression of an opinion, I think you
are correct in asking questions to try to understand this opinion.
That said, non-Zionism and
anti-Zionism are positions that have been held by Jews as long as
Zionism has been around. The Jewish position on Political Zionism has
never been unanimous.
Since I am not an
anti-Zionist I wouldn't deign to speak for them. Rabbi Eliot Cosgrove
(absolutely not an anti-Zionist) of the very large Park Avenue Synagogue
in New York has been making a number of significant statements of late.
I have some mixed feelings about him, but in the most recent piece of
writing I saw from him he makes a statement that I find consonant with
what I have heard from many younger American Jews. He says,
"I recall the shock and dismay my daughter shared upon returning from
her Israel gap year, discovering that her Israeli pre-army /mechina/
peers, on whose condition so much of her Jewish education had been
directed, expended zero psychic energy on the well-being of diaspora Jewry.
And then, we have the nerve to send that kid to a college campus
expecting her to defend the policies of a government that does not
reflect her values or recognize her Judaism as Judaism. I myself may be
constitutionally incapable of walking away from Israel, but others have
and will continue do so – before October 7th and all the more since.
There is a limit to the self-flagellating exercise of supporting a state
that neither recognizes you nor represents your values. For the coming
generation of American Jewry, the loyalties of yesteryear will no longer
suffice."
The full article from which this quote is drawn can be found at
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://forward.com/opinion/789739/what-is-the-state-of-american-zionism-today-and-how-did-we-get-here/__;!!KGKeukY!0fRnvN3ZakN3KtGbTkCE8JFlj-bqwTkwNISzcH_F3Gg1DlHgYHflgV8KrowZS6H6d17LVLj6DzBLp079ecI6rQBhiw$ It
is worth reading in full.
Years ago, when the
organization If Not Now burst on the scene I made the point in a sermon
that we did not need to agree with anything that they said, but that it
was important that we take them seriously. Frankly, I find them
challenging to tolerate. I do understand where they are coming from, and
I also view the place that they have gotten themselves to as a dead end.
There are signs that they are beginning to also. We see that in the
tortured quest for self-understanding and direction in Arielle Angel's
Jewish Currents article:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://jewishcurrents.org/we-need-new-jewish-institutions__;!!KGKeukY!0fRnvN3ZakN3KtGbTkCE8JFlj-bqwTkwNISzcH_F3Gg1DlHgYHflgV8KrowZS6H6d17LVLj6DzBLp079ecJBHnkysw$ .
For me, the most important
thing is that we Jews remain civil within our own community, that we
don't put up barriers that prevent real dialogue. There are those within
our community who want to police "loyalty" to the furthest extreme. It
is not wrong to ask, as many Israelis do, who should we be loyal to and
why? Who has our best interests at heart? This is a scary time for the
Jewish people, but we can't afford to panic or give in to easy answers.
We need to keep answering with questions.
All the best,
Rabbi Henry Hollander
On 12/17/2025 1:22 PM, Monika Schreiber-Humer via Hasafran wrote:
Dear colleagues, this is my reaction on the email by Ms. Dainy
Bernshtein: Respectfully, why would anybody active in Jewish studies
be an anti-Zionist, how does such a position manifest in our typical
working environments, and what are its effects
Dear colleagues,
this is my reaction on the email by Ms. Dainy Bernshtein:
Respectfully, why would anybody active in Jewish studies be an
anti-Zionist, how does such a position manifest in our typical working
environments, and what are its effects on our community, our patrons,
and our safety?
The very idea strikes me as contradictory, but maybe I don't
understand the American discourse well enough.
Greetings from Vienna
Monika Schreiber
OR Dr. Monika Schreiber
Universität Wien
Bibliotheks- und Archivwesen
Fachbibliothek Judaistik
Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 7.3
1090 Wien, Österreich
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bibliothek.univie.ac.at/fb-judaistik/__;!!KGKeukY!0fRnvN3ZakN3KtGbTkCE8JFlj-bqwTkwNISzcH_F3Gg1DlHgYHflgV8KrowZS6H6d17LVLj6DzBLp079ecItlPLL0w$
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bibliothek.univie.ac.at/fb-judaistik/__;!!KGKeukY!2MbpExmpYUWMh55UyHR-oiIFrySKxixpLVQzIr2UVCOdkxqnlLiILNX1LJKcDQrwARc_LD3pMJqW5epaQ4M91e1VH_a0YSu47dE$>
Arbeitsbereich NS-Provenienzforschung
Fachbibliothek Zeitgeschichte
Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bibliothek.univie.ac.at/provenienzforschung.html__;!!KGKeukY!0fRnvN3ZakN3KtGbTkCE8JFlj-bqwTkwNISzcH_F3Gg1DlHgYHflgV8KrowZS6H6d17LVLj6DzBLp079ecLH4sG6yA$
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bibliothek.univie.ac.at/provenienzforschung.html__;!!KGKeukY!2MbpExmpYUWMh55UyHR-oiIFrySKxixpLVQzIr2UVCOdkxqnlLiILNX1LJKcDQrwARc_LD3pMJqW5epaQ4M91e1VH_a0j8sjyas$>
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