Katie Halper interviewed Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro on why Zionism is anti-Semitic. The Rabbi explained that originally, Jewishness was composed of three elements: 1.God 2.gave the Torah 3. to the Jews The Jews were those people who were enjoined by God to fulfill the Torah. That's it. There was no notion of nationhood at all.
The Zionists, however, insist that every Jew has a homeland in Israel; that Israel is the nation of the Jews -- all of them. In fact, now, at this point, there is no such thing as Israeli nationality. France is the country of people of French nationality; Bolivia is the country of people of Bolivian nationality. But in Israel, there may be Israeli citizenship, but the nationality is Jewish. The Supreme Court of Israel has ruled that an Israeli nationality does not exist: Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people.
So of course, if you oppose Israel, you are an enemy to the Jewish people: an anti-Semite.
Rabbi Shapiro regards this attitude as itself anti-Semitic.
I'm no rabbi, but my understanding of the difference between Zionism and religious Judaism boils down to the exaltation of a grubby state in substitution for the return of the Messiah. I was playing with the idea of Zionism as antisemitic. If antisemitism means a jaundiced view of the Jews in general, I don't think that follows. However, it is easy to document that Zionism hates the Diaspora, hence Jews who failed to make aliyah. If it isn't antisemitic, there is no question that Zionism has an intrinsic contempt for many Jews. My source for this is Shaul Magid's "The Necessity of Exile," which I've written about here before.
When I think "antisemitism," I think of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Which pretty much articulates the Fox News view of the world, replacing the word "Jew" with "liberal," which rhymes with "rootless cosmopolitan." So yes, I'm scared witless of American antisemitism.
I'm not afraid of the over-the-top idiocy of a few college kids.
Katie Halper interviewed Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro on why Zionism is anti-Semitic. The Rabbi explained that originally, Jewishness was composed of three elements: 1.God 2.gave the Torah 3. to the Jews The Jews were those people who were enjoined by God to fulfill the Torah. That's it. There was no notion of nationhood at all.
The Zionists, however, insist that every Jew has a homeland in Israel; that Israel is the nation of the Jews -- all of them. In fact, now, at this point, there is no such thing as Israeli nationality. France is the country of people of French nationality; Bolivia is the country of people of Bolivian nationality. But in Israel, there may be Israeli citizenship, but the nationality is Jewish. The Supreme Court of Israel has ruled that an Israeli nationality does not exist: Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people.
So of course, if you oppose Israel, you are an enemy to the Jewish people: an anti-Semite.
Rabbi Shapiro regards this attitude as itself anti-Semitic.
I'm no rabbi, but my understanding of the difference between Zionism and religious Judaism boils down to the exaltation of a grubby state in substitution for the return of the Messiah. I was playing with the idea of Zionism as antisemitic. If antisemitism means a jaundiced view of the Jews in general, I don't think that follows. However, it is easy to document that Zionism hates the Diaspora, hence Jews who failed to make aliyah. If it isn't antisemitic, there is no question that Zionism has an intrinsic contempt for many Jews. My source for this is Shaul Magid's "The Necessity of Exile," which I've written about here before.
When I think "antisemitism," I think of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Which pretty much articulates the Fox News view of the world, replacing the word "Jew" with "liberal," which rhymes with "rootless cosmopolitan." So yes, I'm scared witless of American antisemitism.
I'm not afraid of the over-the-top idiocy of a few college kids.