The future belongs to Jewish liberal universalism, Rosh Hashanah 5770
On this Rosh Hashanah, it is time for Jews, religious and secular, to connect around a forward-looking agenda that does not deny our past.
By Carlo Strenger Tags: Jewish holidays Israel newsTo a superficial observer, it may seem that Jewish Liberalism is in retreat. In Israel it has lost its political presence in the Knesset after the failure of the Camp David Summit in 2000 and the second intifada. In the U.S., AIPAC has been a tremendous support for Israel, but has been bogged down by its commitment to support Israeli policies, whether wise or foolish, constructive or opposed to Israel's long-term interest.
But this does not reflect reality of Jewry worldwide. In the U.S., 78 percent of Jews have voted for Obama and his multilateral, Universalist program. In Israel, a solid 60+ percent of Jews show a clear preference for the two-state solution and its recognition of universal human rights. This Liberal-Universalist consensus cuts across many lines; secular and religious, orthodox and reform, Holocaust survivors and youngsters rally around this idea.
Jewish Liberal Universalism is under-represented politically because by temperament it abhors collectivism. As opposed to its competitors, it values individual creativity and critical discourse over party lines. Hence it is politically less organized and less vocal than those who oppose it. The problem is, as a recent New York Times article on J Street, the new liberal Jewish lobby, argued, that 8 percent who are highly motivated and rally around a single cause of religious nationalism can be more vocal and effective than 92 percent who are individualist liberals, who want to be creative and productive rather than spend our lives in political maneuvering.
But now it is time to mobilize. We all want to be proud of being Jews and we want our Jewishness to be in harmony with our Universalist principles. Israel has been an audacious, creative and energetic society, and its creative potential is only increasing. The overwhelming majority of Israel's new generation of entrepreneurs that has propelled Israel's economy into the age of high-tech are liberal-universalist in outlook, and they are willing to do what it takes to help Israel into a new age of peace, justice and prosperity.
For complex reasons, this creativity is not reflected in Israel's political processes. Like most young democracies, Israel is still in the throes of the fight for its identity; unlike most democracies it has gone through this process under conditions of existential threat and military conflict, burying many of its youngsters as a result of many wars. Fear is not an easy emotion to overcome, and Arab rejectionism, which is now waning, has not been helpful.
While it has lost political ground lately, Jewish Liberal Universalism has never lost its voice, its presence and its state of mind culturally, socially and economically. In Israel it has always produced the greatest thinkers, writers and artists. Israeli thought and literature has been dominated by liberal humanist voices, beginning with the generation of Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem and Shmuel Hugo Bergman, through that of Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua and Aharon Appelfeld and continuing through a younger generation, including most famously David Grossman and Meir Shalev. The same holds true for musicians from Daniel Barenboim, who promotes peace, to Idan Raichel with his creative approach to world music.
Jewish Liberal Universalism is a worldwide phenomenon. The American-Jewish tradition of Liberal thought is grand, ranging from Lionel Trilling and Philip Roth to Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner. Britain has given the world one of the greatest proponents of liberalism in the twentieth century, Isaiah Berlin. France has a proud lineage of Jewish humanist thinkers, many inspired by Emmanuel Levinas. Today, thinkers like Bernard-Henri Levy, Alain Finkielkraut and Benny Levy show how liberal thought, unflinching support of Israel can be combined with warm, engaged criticism of Israel's policies since 1967.
Jewish liberal Universalism is often accused for denying the history of Jewish suffering. Nothing could be further from the truth. Writers like Aharon Appelfeld and Yoram Kaniuk, historians like Saul Friedlander and Yehuda Bauer, filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Claude Lanzmann have created works that will commemorate the Holocaust forever. But their work is not meant to keep us in the throes of the past, nor to politicize the Holocaust, but to help us to remember, to grieve and move into a new future.
It is time for Jews, religious and secular, in Israel and the Diaspora, to connect around a forward-looking agenda that does not deny our past, but believes that we Jews are part of the world at large; that cares for our own kin, but is no less involved in issues that plague the whole of our planet. It is up to us liberal-universalist Jews to create this new agenda.
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Searching, I found no means by which to contact the editor of this paper to ask this question.. What are the differences between a Jew and a Zionist to include the issues of DNA? Is there an official answer/differentiation? I should like very much a response from Haaretz. Please advise. I am a well read and an educated man having lived more than seven decades. I comprehend fully the 19th and 20th century historical origins of the Zionist movement to present as to who one is, not what one is? M
"Jewish liberal universalism" stands or falls with the western bubble economy and its bubble post-modern societies. As the US and most european states are facing state bankrupcy, so does Israel. Judaism will hopefully survive, but it won't be the liberal branch.
. . . and just how many kids are you Jewish liberal universalists having??
As our Sages told us, ever since the destruction of the Second Temple there are no prophets. Anyone who pretends to forecast the future of the Jewish Nation, religious or secular are Mindless Fools or small children. We know what we see, what we sense is right, as Jews. Indeed Rabbi Abraham HaCohen Kook z"l, the first rabbi wrote the word "history" in Hebrew with a "tav", instead of a "tet", denoting the word to conceal, to hide away. His view was that God's unfolds our fate in ways that we will never quite understand, not even Carlo Strenger.
Carlo Strenger lives in fantasy land. The facts speak for themselves. The fact is that the Right Wing supporters of the settlers and the Orthodox Jews demographically double in numbers every 20 years mainly due to a high birth rate but also because of converts to Orthodoxy. On the flip side the secular self hating leftist population is shrinking due to a low birth rate , emigration out of Israel and assimilation into Gentile society. The leftist self hating Jews ARE NOT THE FUTURE. The lovers of Obama are the PAST. See the blogsite of: WWW.AMERICANJEWSAGAINSTOBAMA.BLOGSPOT.COM for more on this matter.
fast on yom kippur sunset to sundown. hence his delusion that writing about utopia is enough to make utopia. action is paramount. talk is cheap.
Sorry Bob, my great grandfather was one of the founders of a Reform synagogue in Brooklyn, my grandparents belonged to Temple Emanuel in Manhattan, and I am currently affliliated (and on the Board) of a growing (and thriving) Reform congregation in Brooklyn. Hmmmm - think that makes 4 generations
The card has been played for millions of times since this most unfortunate and tragic for the modern Jewish history idea appeared in the form of Jewish secular messianism, copy/pasting Herder and Hegel's historicism. Since then the aspiration to make from Jews a collective messiah for the humankind in whatever sphere never ceased. There followed the proto-zionists Hess, Krochmal, Graetz and then Zionists of all political shades and colors from red to brown, Herzl with technocratic messianism, Schatz with the artistic, Haam with the spiritual, Kook with the religious and Jabotinsky with the moral. The same applied to anti-Zionist Jews socialist and anarchist mov'ts, all striving to become the teachers of humanity in the subject of humanism, never failing to add that its root is particularist: Hebrew Scriptures. Nevermind that the messianic content of respective forms were mutually excluding. Just break this self-compensating chain. This is the real challenge for a Jewish thinker.
Jewish liberalism is the only path that can lead Israel from self destruction. The results of the continuous colonizing of the West Bank can only bring war and destruction, eventually reducing Israel to a third world nation. It is amazing to see a society of such a small country so oblivious to the negative perceptions that the rest of the world has of them. A total lack of awareness of the eventual consequences. But of course, it's all Antisemitism.
What nonsense! Outside of the USA there are a million Jews, the overwhelming majority of whom do most certainly NOT fit Strenger's idealistic notion. When coupled with Israeli Jews' move to the right he is woefully wrong. I voted for Obama. I now have buyers-remorse. Many of my friends are sensing and fearing the same thing. I wager that as Israel comes under greater existential threat (inevitable) Strenger's fine words will disappear into the sands of the desert. A mere chimera!
The future belongs to the manhatten nuclear shield and all forms of horrific deterrance . Liberal Humanism must be protected.
There's nothing liberal or universalist about supporting the 2-state solution. It's a question of what the expected outcome of pursuing that solution is. Since Sept. 1993, the attempt to empower Palestinian terrorist organizations has predictably led to more bloodshed and strife, not less. It's simply a question of wisdom, not liberalism nor conservatism. Slogans are cheap; real world solutions are not always as pretty as liberal dreams, but they work a whole lot better.
"Jewish Liberal Universalism"...is that the name of the virus that has infected Israel and threatens to destroy it? As a Jew, Mr. Strenger or is it Stranger, I want now part of this illness. The very mention of it make me want to vomit.
Excellent article.... puts the ball back in play, where it should be. That the voracious 8 per cent can be more recognizable then the righteous 92. Liberal Universalism or not.... it's simply boils-down to doing the right thing. And it certainly help to notice progressive Jewish thinking from all over the world.
It is an oxymoronic redundancy--neither Jewish nor necessary to the Christian and secular liberal universal pipe dreams smoked widely by those in a torpor before the actual universal faith of our day: Islam, that is neither liberal nor universally accommodating. This is all elitist decadence.
Has anyone out there met someone who was more than two or three generations away from orthodoxy, and still calls himself an affiliated Jew? Ever wonder about why not?
Grow from strength to strength!
Every time I despair about Israel and the suicidal course the old Eretz Israel wingnuts are dragging her in, up pops a reminder of all that is best and most laudable about this young nation. Liberal-universalist is as good a title as any and they are the only group capable of creating a new agenda that begins to move Israel in the right direction. Where do we send the cheques?