I saw a video this weekend of a group of young women chanting “Judaism, yes, Zionism, no. The state of Israel has to go.” They were dancing around with smiles on their faces as they chanted this, as if they were at a high school pep rally.
I’ve been hearing more of that lately from Pro-Palestine supporters in news reports and on social media - the idea that Jews are fine, but it’s Zionism that is the problem. When I hear this, I take it to mean that having Jews living as a minority in a country is fine, but if they want to have their own nation in their ancestral homeland where they can freely practice their Judaism, that’s a despicable idea. Is that what they mean?
Can you actually separate Judaism from the State of Israel?
At the core of Judaism is the Torah, which is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible that contains the core teachings and laws of Judaism. The Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament in Christianity) is made up of three parts: The Torah, Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings).
The majority of Jewish holidays are based on commandments mentioned in the Bible.
Passover commemorates the Jewish Exodus from Egypt after years of slavery. According to aish.com, “it is regarded as the ‘birth’ of the Jewish nation, and its lessons of struggle and identity continue to form the basis of Jewish consciousness 3,300 years after the event.” Each year, Jewish people actively remember this at a Passover seder, which is commanded in the Torah:
“You shall observe this as an institution for all time, for you and for your descendants. And when you enter the land that the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite.” (Exodus 12:24)
Further instructions follow, about not eating leavened bread for seven days (the source for eating unleavened bread, aka matzah, during Passover) “and you shall explain to your child on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I went free from Egypt.’ ” (Exodus 13:10) “You shall keep this institution at its set time from year to year.” (Exodus 13:10).
In Hebrew, the Jews are referred to as “Bnei Yisroel” - the children of Israel.
So, for generations, Jews have celebrated this exodus from Egypt to Canaan, which is the region where Israel is today.
After leaving Egypt, the children of Israel wandered through the desert for 40 years, during which they received the 10 commandments (celebrated on the holiday of Shavuot, where the 10 commandments are read in the synagogue).
The holiday of Sukkot commemorates the protection that G-d provided for the children of Israel when they left Egypt and is observed by building outdoor huts to “dwell” in during the weeklong holiday. The holiday includes eating meals in the sukkah and some even sleep in it. It’s also a harvest festival, relating to the end of the harvest season in Israel.
At the end of Sukkot comes Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, both joyous holidays. Simchat Torah, traditionally one of the most joyous holidays on the Jewish calendar, marks the ending and beginning of the annual Torah reading cycle and is marked with dancing with the Torah. Outside of Israel, these are two separate holidays.
In Israel, they are observed on one day and in 2023, this holiday fell on Oct. 7, the day Hamas chose to invade Israel and murder, rape and kidnap Israeli citizens and visitors. Yes, on one of Judaism’s most joyous holidays and one that celebrates the essence of Judaism. (Nothing new, really, as Israel was also attacked in 1973 by its Arab neighbors on Yom Kippur, which is considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.)
Once the children of Israel arrived in Canaan - and after years of war - the land was divided among the tribes of Israel.
Once the First Temple was built in Jerusalem, that became the central home of Judaism, and the Jewish people would make a pilgrimage to the Temple on the three festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot.
The holiday of Chanukah marks the rededication of the Second Temple after the Maccabees liberated it from occupying foreign forces.
On Tisha B’Av, Jewish communities around the world mourn the destruction of the two Temples. Today, the Al-Aqsa Mosque sits on Judaism’s holiest site, where the Temples once stood. The Kotel is a small part of the Western Wall that surrounded the Temple.
When Israel is so central to Jewish life and observance, how can you separate Judaism and Israel? If you discard the connection between Judaism, Torah and Israel, what’s left? If you deny the existence of the Jewish connection to Israel, then you are denying Jewish history and Jewish identity because the connection to Israel is central to Judaism.
There is so much misinformation and numerous false narratives circulating on social media, essentially erasing Jewish history and rewriting a completely different reality. Those generating these lies espouse so much hatred because people are making decisions and establishing beliefs based on information that is not real. People are actually justifying the murder, rape and kidnapping of innocent civilians, calling those acts of resistance instead of terrorism because of this false, hateful narrative.
Are we really living in a world where kidnapping an infant and raping young women are considered acts of heroism and these types of acts are being celebrated on American college campuses?
I know there’s a certain segment of the protesters that truly feel they are being humanitarians in support of the innocents killed in the war against Hamas in Gaza. They advocate for a ceasefire and send humanitarian aid (and maybe their money will actually make it to the people instead of Hamas), but how many of them are expressing any sympathy for the innocent Israeli civilians who were murdered, raped and kidnapped? To the children who saw their parents murdered in front of them? To all the displaced families in both northern and southern Israel whose homes were destroyed by their neighbors (Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south)? To all the parents who are burying their sons and daughters who were heroically defending their homeland? To the millions of people struggling for food and medical help in Congo? To the millions of Ukrainians who have been displaced in this their country’s two-year war? Who is protesting those humanitarian crises?
The Pro-Palestine protesters blame Israel for all that’s happening to Palestinians in Gaza based on a false, hateful narrative of history and celebrate the violence of Hamas, although Hamas’ acts of violence are the reason why the Gazans are suffering.
Meanwhile, Jewish people from around the world are heading to Israel to volunteer, work on farms, prepare meals and help in any way they can in support of the survival of this tiny country, the only Jewish country in the world. Going into a volatile area to help is not unusual for the Jewish community, as Israel has a longtime history of sending teams of first responders and doctors to other countries who have experienced natural disasters and needed emergency medical care or humanitarian aid.
Israel is a global leader of healthcare, tech and environmental innovation and has given so much to the world in its 75 years, yet much of the world doesn’t seem to acknowledge that. Haters instead are depicting Israel as a monstrous genocidal nation, which is simply not true. It’s quite the opposite - Israel was founded in hope that the Jewish nation could finally live in peace, after generations and generations of persecution.
From slavery in Egypt and being exiled from Jerusalem after the Temples were destroyed, to persecution in multiple other countries, to the Holocaust and all attacks by Israel’s neighbors, turmoil in the Jewish world is nothing new. Anti-Semitic propaganda is nothing new either, it’s only gotten more sophisticated and takes advantage of people’s ignorance of history.
Additional resources
Video from the Ayn Rand Institute: “Did Israel Steal Palestinian Land?”
Article by Jonathan S. Tobin, editor of the Jewish News Syndicate: “What Americans don’t get about Israelis fighting for their lives.”
Example of Israeli innovation, from Israel21c:
11 robots that can ease chronic labor shortages in agriculture
Tel Aviv University opens national PTSD clinic for soldiers, civilians