When Most Jews Are No Longer Welcome to Protest Nazis, It's a Sign of Trouble

That I, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, even have to say this is in itself absurd and demeaning, but here it goes: It is wrong to plan a rally against Nazis at which you effectively exclude Jews from participating. This otherwise banal statement feels necessary for the following reason.

This Sunday at Washington Park, grassroots organizers are planning a rally in response to the recent neo-Nazi demonstration in Lincoln Heights. The organizers sought faith leaders to speak at it, and I volunteered as the rabbi of a local Jewish congregation. They accepted my offer, put me on the schedule, and said they'd be in touch as the day approached. Then, this week, I suddenly received a message indicating I was no longer invited to speak. The reason eventually became explicit, after some cagey back and forth − it was because I was a Zionist.

I often avoid the "Zionist" label in speech and print not because I don't think it applies to me but because it becomes a rorschach test on the Israel-Palestine conflict. It means something different to everyone, even within the Jewish community − let alone in the wider world.

Here's how I’d define it: The philosophy that the Jewish people have a right to self-determination in some portion of their ancestral homeland. That’s it.

It doesn’t mean I support Israel’s current government. (I don’t.) It doesn’t mean I’m happy about the war. (I’m not.) It doesn’t mean I support the building of settlements in Gaza or the West Bank. (I don’t.) Beyond that, my Zionism does not come at the exclusion of Palestinians, who I believe should also possess comparable rights. And, although I don't believe a two-state solution is on the immediate horizon, I still resolutely believe that it is the only path to durable peace and prosperity for both Palestinians and Jews in the lands that are now referred to by names including Israel and Palestine.

Depending on which poll you choose, somewhere between 80% and 90% of American Jews share a sentiment regarding Zionism along the lines of what I just described. That means that saying "Zionists need not apply" means in effect, even if not in intent, that Jews aren't welcome.

There is profuse irony in this situation beyond the fact that I, a rabbi who descends from Holocaust survivors, was told my voice wasn't welcome at a rally against Nazis. To wit: The topic on which I planned to speak was the importance of building broad, intersectional efforts to fight against the threats of Nazism and white supremacy, despite the differences that might otherwise exist in the groups invited to such coalitions. The organizers of the event who disinvited me knew this but clearly missed the point. 

The kind of coalitions I am speaking of aren't always comfortable for everyone around the table, but they work. You can’t fight back against existential threats by limiting the number of people who join you. You fight back, successfully, by living within the discomfort of finding allies for specific purposes, even if you know you do not agree with them on all things.

When I broached with my congregation that we would plan to join this rally, which I did several weeks ago in a sermon, I pleaded this exact point. I told my community to expect challenges, to anticipate seeing people there who might be our adversaries in other spaces, but to embrace that was the reality necessary for us to approach our goal of living in a safe and equitable world. As I said that Shabbat, "amongst some organizing to be present undoubtedly are members of groups who actively harass Jews, for instance, turning ‘Zionism’ into a dirty word that can be used to antagonize us. It won’t be easy to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them. However, we guard our souls and unite in purpose, even if only temporarily; we accept that some of our allies are friends for a movement and others just for a moment–and that’s good enough."

Sadly, Jews in "progressive" spaces are finding time and time again that this sort of perspective is not a two-way street. My disinvitation comes in the same year that two Jewish members of the Cincinnati Pride board were kicked off for similar reasons, only a few years after Jews were ousted from the Dyke March, after Jews were made to feel unwelcome at the Women's March, and so very much more. These are the conspicuous examples, but such incidents happen daily here in Cincinnati and around the country.

Would-be progressive allies, your Jewish peers need you to hear this: Most Jews are Zionists, most Jews want to see safety and justice for Palestinians, most Jews want to work against white supremacy and Nazism and most Jews want to be your partners. However, if it is made clear enough times that we are not welcome, you will find that many of us stop showing up at the table − and that is a grave risk to us all.

A community can only be told it is not wanted so many times before it stops saying that its exclusion is a fluke or an aberration and instead begins to believe that it is a systemic reality. Please partner with us. The ship has not yet sailed, but its sails have been raised.