'I'm not interested in changing hearts and minds': The work of an anti-Zionist rabbi
For Rabbi Brant Rosen, combatting Zionism in the Jewish community begins with building the mass movement for Palestine, rather than becoming entrenched in insular debates. Marc Steiner: Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here on The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner. It’s good to have you all with us as always. And this is another part of our episode of our series, Not in Our Name. We’re talking to the rabbi, Brant Rosen. He’s a rabbi at Tzedek Chicago, a consciously anti-Zionist congregation, founded in 2015. He’s a former president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, co-founder and co-chair of Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council. He’s written in many journals. His newest book is Wrestling in the Daylight, a Rabbi’s Path to Palestinian Solidarity, and we’ll be linking some of his articles in Tikkun and Truthout and the Jewish Forward that you’ll see on this site and can read for yourself. Brant, welcome. Good to have you with us. Brant Rosen: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Marc Steiner: When I read the pieces you’ve written, one of the things that really came out to me is the pain of what you write about. It’s not like, oh me, oh woe is me. The kind of pain I’m talking about is the pain of watching Israel do what it’s doing at this moment in terms of the occupation of the war and the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. I think that that’s something that many people don’t really get when it comes to especially Jews who say, no, not in our name. Brant Rosen: Yeah, I would say that the pain, there’s primary pain and secondary pain I suppose. I think the primary pain is the pain that I feel for the Palestinian people and what they’re going through and what is being inflicted on them with and has been for decades, but I think in the past year plus now, just to unbearable, genocidal levels. I follow the news very, very carefully and I read every day about mass murder that’s going on in Gaza, in the West Bank, now in Lebanon, and that is a deep source of pain just as a human being, as a human being of conscience. I’m sure there are many who feel the same way, probably not enough, but there is a growth of solidarity of Palestinians around the world. I think secondarily as a Jew, not just as a human being, but as a Jew, I feel pain because a spiritual tradition that I cherish very deeply is being used as the pretense for this genocide and for this oppression and has been for many, many decades. And I mourn what is being done in my name as you put it, and also what is being done to a centuries-old, very venerable spiritual tradition that stands for ethical behavior and for promoting justice. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#33305): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/33305 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/109376792/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
