The conference held last month at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in the Upper West Side of Manhattan was jam-packed. Hundreds of rabbis, presidents of Jewish communities, cantors and educators of the Reform Movement gathered to discuss the burning issues that have been topping the agenda since October 7. The opening address of the conference's organizer, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, one of the leading voices in the Reform Movement, pulled no punches. He leveled strong criticism against those antizionist members of the movement who like to quote the biblical verse which has become the motto of Reform Jews, "Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof" "Justice, justice you shall pursue," accusing them of conveniently forgetting the rest of the verse: "that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving to you." Hirsch also decreed that they have no future, comparing them with leaves falling from the tree of Judaism and being swept away in the wind, and in an unprecedented move he concluded that rabbis adhering to antizionist stances should not be allowed to take the pulpit and lead any communities.
"It is clear that the antizionist Jewish voice has gained momentum and come out of the closet since October 7," Hirsch tells me when I ask him about the rift between the Zionists and the non-Zionists in his movement, which has been in existence for years. "Although, according to the polls, the antizionists make up only 15 percent of the North American Jewish community, they do exert tremendous influence on the public discourse in the US. It is an extremely raucous group which is engaged in an effort to legitimize our most tangible enemies. I never define a Jew as an enemy, but they are certainly ideological rivals, and we do need to contend with them, as this phenomenon entails disturbing long-term implications."
Q: And what about the rest of the movement?
"A Pandora's box was opened on the day of the October 7 massacre, and all the evil and the antisemitism that were released from it, including the inextricable ties between antizionism and antisemitism were completely exposed, surprising them. This is exceedingly difficult for the Jews of America. In terms of numbers, as I have said, some 80 to 85 percent are in the pro-Israel camp, the large majority of whom define themselves as Zionists and many of them regard Israel as an important part of their Jewish identity."
Q: What is the difference between a Zionist and a pro-Israeli? If you are pro-Israel, do you believe it has a raison d'ȇtre.
"I really try not to make a distinction between the two of them, but in the public discourse, people often find it hard to identify with the word 'Zionism'. This is a word with ideological connotations. The term 'pro-Israel' has a political meaning. Many of them, despite the fact that they are in favor of Israel, have issues with the manner in which the war in Gaza is being waged, as they are heavily exposed to the media, which tend to focus their coverage in a highly biased fashion, highlighting the narrative of the Palestinian suffering."
Q: How is the Jewish community responding to this new form of antisemitism?
"Over the course of time antisemitism has led to two opposite processes: For some, it has aroused a strong desire to distance themselves from Judaism and to assimilate, while among others it has actually sparked a will to withdraw inwards and to bring the Jewish community together, and this is precisely what we are seeing now."
Q: How is it possible to run a movement with two contrary ideologies?
"It is impossible. We are pluralists, so in principle I do believe in the broadest possible structure, and in order to be a large movement of millions of people, you require some degree of ideological flexibility. But a movement without a framework or without boundaries, which accepts all beliefs, in essence doesn't really believe in anything. I staunchly draw my red line at antizionism."
According to the last report of the Pew Research Center, which was prepared in 2020, 37 percent of the Jews in the US belong to the Reform Movement. For years, the movement was considered to be the largest in North America, but in recent years it has been shrinking and the young generation is electing to sever ties with it. Hirsch renounces the antizionist part that has developed inside the movement not only for ideological reasons but also as he sees no future for a movement that turns its back on one half of the Jewish people. "The continuity of the movement is of tremendous importance to the future of the Jewish people for you too in Israel," he says. "Even if many of your newspaper's readers might not agree with our opinions and definitions, as 90 percent of the Jews in America are not Orthodox and never shall be, our future as a strong and vibrant movement, as a home for Jewish liberal principles, is critical not only for the continued existence of our community but also by definition is of vital importance to you in Israel."
Q: Why?
"For two reasons. Firstly, we have a religious and historical pact, we are one people. We all stood together at Mt. Sinai and we are bound by an eternal covenant. If you are a believing Jew that is more important than anything else, more than politics or any movement-related dynamics. Secondly, without the Jews of America we can safely assume that US foreign policy would be much more akin to that of Western Europe. So, even if you really don't care about us, at least in terms of that specific narrow interest, we should be building partnerships together, and be allocating budgets to them. You don't need to agree with the principles of the Reform Movement or the Conservative Movement, it really doesn't matter. The simple fact is that these are the Jews who are here, and there is a need to invest in them, in them above all as they are the weak link."
Q: We and the families of the earth
In his speech, the 65-year old Hirsch also addressed the members of the younger generation. This is possibly the most sensitive topic that the members of the movement are currently dealing with. They are currently experiencing a double betrayal – both from the liberal institutions and from their non-Jewish friends who have spurned them, but mainly from their children, their own beating heart, who not only raise claims against Israel but also accuse the Reform Movement of collaborating with 'genocide', 'ethnic cleansing' and 'colonialism'. More than 1,200 current and former members of the URJ (Union for Reform Judaism), the umbrella movement of the Reform communities in North America, have leveled these accusations in a letter that was published in December 2023. "They failed to express any Jewish warmth, not even a word of support for the Israelis or indeed any compassion for those who were murdered, tortured, sexually assaulted and abducted from among our own people," Hirsch responded to this at the conference. "There was absolutely no recognition or expression of sadness at those Israeli soldiers, young men and women of their own age, who gave up their lives in defense of the Jewish people. It is as though all the Jewish solidarity, empathy and responsibility have been removed from those Jewish youngsters."
Hirsch's criticism is directed not only against those surrounding him, but above all against himself and his colleagues in the Reform Movement leadership. I catch him in the midst of some profound soul searching, as he tries to grasp what went wrong and how. "We must ask ourselves where we went wrong, as clearly our intention was not for them to grow up in this manner," he explains. "Critical? Yes. Liberal? Yes. Human rights warriors? Yes. But we never imagined that they would become antizionists, with such bitter criticism not only of Israel but also of the American-Jewish establishment. We need to examine the part that we played in their education, which led them to adopting such positions."
Q: So why did they decide to distance themselves so much from their home ground?
"They claim that we sold them a story about Israel that was incorrect, and that we betrayed the values that we had instilled in them such as "tikkun olam" (taking action to literally 'repair' or improve the world) and social justice."
Q: In your speech you mentioned the fact that these Gen Z members are lost and there is nothing that can be done to return them to the fold. That is an extremely damning statement, a considerably bitter and perhaps even desperate pill for a parent to swallow.
"Unfortunately, they are already distanced from us regardless of what we do from now on. It does not depend on us. All that I am asking my colleagues to do is to acknowledge this reality. In my opinion, there is no chance of getting these young people to come back home within the space of the next five to ten years. And if they eventually do decide to return after twenty years, when they have families and a mortgage, then it won't be because of something that we do, but simply because that is how life works. I too was once young and believed in many things that I no longer believe in. You can never tell. Therefore, I think that we do need to invest in those people that we can influence, the children under the age of 14, as our resources are limited."
Q: What would you do differently with them?
"We are currently only in the middle of the process and we still need to engage in analysis and draw conclusions. I think that in the past we have placed too much emphasis on the Jewish aspect of the love of one's fellow man, on the universal dreams of Judaism. 'And I will make of you a great nation... And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.' I fully understand why we chose to do this, and to a certain extent rightly so: whoever downplays that aspect of Judaism, in effect is downplaying Judaism as a whole. On the other hand, Jewish universalism that is not deeply rooted in the love of one's fellow Jew and the Jewish people as a whole is not Jewish universalism, it is simply universalism. The combination of these aspects is the real genius of Judaism and one of our most important contributions to the world as a whole. The understanding that in order to repair the world first and foremost you must love yourself and your family."
There is no new antisemitism
Hirsch is a rabbi firmly entrenched in the heart of the New York elite. Some of the most influential and well-connected Jews in Manhattan are members of his community. An armed guard stands at the entrance to the synagogue and in order to enter the building it is necessary to undergo a meticulous security check, including passing through a walk-through metal detector. In recent months there has been a growing trend of vandalism and damage to the property of Jewish institutions, there have been numerous incidents of harassment on the subway, in tandem with more and more antisemitic demonstrations. Until only a short while ago, all this would have been considered to be an imaginary, apocalyptic scenario, but this has now morphed into daily reality. "I think that this has surprised everybody," says Hirsch. "We knew that the virus of antisemitism had not disappeared – only fools believed in the end of antisemitism – and despite that America has always been different to Europe in that there has never been state antisemitism here on the part of the administration."
This almost occurred in the early 1940's. Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh earned considerable popularity at the rallies of the notoriously antisemitic America First Committee (AFC). There are those who claim that the rise of institutionalized antisemitism in the US was curbed only as a result of Hitler's unfettered success in realizing his satanic plans, which led to mass disavowal of the Nazi ideology.
"As in practice this did not eventually come to pass, it is difficult to surmise what would have happened. From day one, the American constitution has espoused equal rights. Even if the practical implementation of this has not always been successful, the right intentions have always been there."
For example, back in 1790, George Washington wrote a letter to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, in which he expressed his government's absolute commitment to the free exercise of religious choice for all citizens. "This is an extremely important letter that was written right at the dawn of American history," says Hirsch. "We had no illusions that we had reached the golden era, but the Jews of the US related to antisemitism as they do to death. We know that it exists, we know that it will come knocking on our door one day, but we prefer to ignore it and not to think about it. Thus, in that sense, October 7 and all that came in its wake was a real surprise for us. But I am not sure that the massacre created any new form of antisemitism; it simply provided the existing antisemites with the permission and authority to step out of the shadows. I am no expert on antisemitism, but I think that this immediate outburst is connected to the failures of that fateful day and Hamas' success in hurting us. It led to euphoria among antisemites around the world and for the first time they thought that they might actually be able to bring those Jews to their knees. It both invited them and encouraged them to take action."
Do you anticipate that we will witness a significant increase in the number of children being sent to Jewish schools in the year ahead, so that they won't have to contend with antisemitic jibes and harassment?
"The population will not enroll its children in Jewish education in large numbers, as this is not part of its culture. For a long time, the Jews of America fought for equal rights: so that they might be accepted into universities, the most esteemed legal and accounting firms, even the local country club. After a tough struggle that has taken decades they finally succeeded, so to give up on all that and to willingly return to the ghetto, to allow those who do not want us there to win – even from a psychological point of view – that would be extremely difficult. If we abandon all those places then we will be leaving the field open for our adversaries. The ticket to success in American society, in fulfillment of the American dream, is inextricably linked with attending those schools."
The red line
In his younger days, Hirsch lived in Israel and even served in the IDF as a tank commander in the armored corps. Not only does he speak fluent Hebrew, but also is fully conversant with the current Israeli discourse and all its diverse nuances, and he closely follows the national mood. It is possibly for this reason that when the Americans ceased the arms shipments to Israel in April, he leveled criticism at the US administration and the Democratic Party, including voicing an unprecedented, blatant and highly unAmerican warning, when he addressed them during his weekly sermon: "Don't take the Jews in the US for granted," he said. "I have spoken with many Jews in recent months and I was surprised that they are most uneasy at the current mood in the Democratic Party, its hostility towards Israel and its tolerance of the antisemitism and antizionism in its midst. Be careful, the results of the coming elections will be determined not only in Michigan."
About a million people viewed that speech within the space of only a few days, many responded to it, and Hirsch even received an indication that it had been viewed in and around the White House too. "I was looking to send a message," he explains the rationale behind the address. "I decided to speak as I am very concerned and I believe that the criticism should come from me, from the very heart of the camp. Criticism from a Republican is legitimate, but who would listen to it? We are in the middle of an election campaign, so naturally the level of rhetoric is more intense and I understand that you need to speak to the base. As long as this was merely an issue of paying lip service then everything was alright, but when the words developed into policy and they halted the flow of armaments to Israel that rang the alarm bells, and I saw this as a tangible, unprecedented danger."
Since the Second World War the majority of American Jews have voted for the Democratic Party. In the last elections, 76 percent of them voted for US President Joe Biden, and many of them also granted him financial support, as is customary in America. "I speak with lots of Democrats who have surprised me. They are in a deep dilemma that has only become more intense following the recent presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. As a matter of principle, I don't think it is very healthy both for the political parties and the Jewish community, if the support of the Jews in the US is taken for granted."
This is a dark and desperate period of time. For generations, members of Jewish communities have always looked at their rabbi for support and solace. What can you say to us to uplift our spirit?
"Although we are currently living in a very difficult and challenging period, one that has been excruciatingly painful and full of suffering for the Jews, we have as a people endured much more demanding times, including during the modern history of the State of Israel. We will get through this too, and I hope that we emerge from it much stronger and that it will bolster the ties between American Jewry and Israel.
Rabbi Soloveitchik spoke about the covenant of fate (brit goral) and the covenant of destiny (brit ye'ud). In recent years, it appears that the dispute surrounding our destiny has driven a wedge between us, and now, once again, it has been proved that it is the Jewish fate, more than anything else, that draws us closer together. In the first month of the war the Jewish Federations of North America alone raised 600 million dollars and in total the Jews of America have donated perhaps around one billion dollars to Israel.
"If there is one spot of light in the shadow of the tremendous sorrow and the terrible tragedies that have struck us, it is that they have reminded the Jews in America of the important role played by Israel in Jewish history and of their own personal Jewish identity. And I wish to add something too: there were some doubts as to the young people in Israel, but at the moment of truth they proved themselves to be an amazing, awe-inspiring generation. It is not so easy to believe that such a generation has come to light in the modern history of the Jewish people, and I have nothing but sincere admiration for those youngsters. Their Jewish peers living in the Diaspora certainly have something to learn from them. I have been deeply inspired by them and I am sure that they are a source of tremendous comfort to you too."
