Reform Rabbi: Why is Reform Creating Anti-Zionist Jews?

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch is brave enough to confront a critical question that will open up all sorts of further questions too...

[jeffreysommer]

As a very wise rabbi once told me, "There are two kinds of Jews: those who believe that Judaism is all about Social Justice, and those who can speak Hebrew."

[farcenter]

I grew a reformed, and have never been more pro-israel just saying, it's not all of us.

[warrenalexander]

Reform removed the centrality of divine revelation and replaced it with contemporary morality which is, by its very nature, transient.

[Antiquitycar]

If the whole essence of their movement is to please the Gentiles, then anyone who opposes this is the enemy. No strings attached.

[adeletate]

I have a lefty Jewish friend who never thought israel should have been established in the Middle East, saying that was asking for constant war. It is true that it’s not easy being surrounded by Arabs, but where were Jews supposed to go?? This friend tries to hide her Jewishness. I have difficulty with our friendship on that level, and especially since Oct 7th. I, myself used to be a naive lefty, believed in social justice. Never realized that it was always one sided. I have definitely moved to the right, and want to protect Israel and stand up for Jews everywhere.

[oferim]

I am an Israeli ex-pat that is a member of a reconstructionist synagogue (think of Hebrew speaking reform). As per our rabbi (a strong Israel supporter young woman), there are even anti-zionist reform rabbis. They are big on social justice, and just remove from the Tanakh anything that do not match their beliefs. This is not as crazy as it sounds, as a good chunk of us remove bans we do not like, like homosexuality. However, the connection to the land of Israel is so central to our bible, that if you remove that, you are no longer a Jew.

[YtUser-cc]

Reform judaism is about social justice, real judaism is about focussing on G-d, and fulfilling G-d’s plan.

[barbarawebb]

So true. Because you emphasize “social justice” instead of actual Judaism ✡️ and Jewish history.

[bneihaneviim]

I grew up in the reform movement, and eventually came to 'Orthodox' / Torah Judaism. For me, it never did it just to do Jewish things because it's part of our history. I was never taught the meaning and significant in our practice. Jewish pride was reserved solely while at Shul, and nothing more. We were further never properly educated in Tanach or Jewish history. Though our shul was not anti-Zionist by any means, most of the kids I grew up with have almost no connection to Judaism whatsoever, sadly. I am very thankful for my exposure to Jewish thought and our rich history in the Torah. Wishing more people the strength to explore it, and not accept others judgements on what Torah is or is not.

[zeevgilman]

And answer is EVERYTHING!!! Everything is wrong with reform. You can't be pro Jewish if you grow up being against everything that is Jewish. Behatzlocha

[EdHelwig]

I have been saying this for years. When the politics are on the bema, then politics are the religion. This is why I stopped going to any Reform synagogues. Thank goodness for alternatives.

[yosefshomron]

First, Reform is a religion on to itself, it's not Judaism. There are no denominations in Judaism. When Reform took revelation at Sinai out of the core belief thereby rendering the Torah just an "inspired" piece of literature written by man (l'havdil) instead of the exact word of the God of Israel - anything and everything became ok in the name of Judaism. Along came the tikun olam ideology which, other than being Hebrew, has nothing to do with Judaism. Reform became a leftist social justice movement with a few references to God and some star of David symbols without actually following God's written and oral Torah. And like good social justice warriers, Reform youth sided with Israel's enemies. The way to fix it is to return to belief in the God of Israel and His Torah, both written and oral; ie become observant Jews.

[Winngnuttz]

Ok..I am a reform( mostly secular) American Jew who is also a retired USN CDR and was a F/A-18 pilot. Three things make me a Jew. 1;DNA. 2; a belief in some form of monotheism. 3; a firm belief in the need for the existence of the State of Israel which has little to do with God and everything to do with the history of the treatment of people of my ethnicity. As unreligious as I am, I would still have been put to death even in modernity multiple times simply for my last name. This needs to be drilled into reform Jews consciousness. There is no mention here of the coddling and entitlement of many reform American Jews which is a huge factor.The Israelis don’t need diaspora Jews to go to Israel to pray…they need diaspora Jews to go to Israel to pick up M-16s. Let’s cut the BS.

[anthonydavid]

I left the reform moevement becasue it was all too crunchy granola for me and I was uncomfortable with the large percentage of congregants who were anti Israel, anti Zionism and pro everything that threatens our very existence. DONE DONE DONE

[NormanFigmatter]

Is he sure that anti-Zionist young people really grew up in the Reform movement? Many did not have much of a religious background at all.

[Marblesonseltzer]

heartening to know there is a reform rabbi thats recognizing this terrible phenomenon.

[bek]

Well at my reform (I think?) American Jewish uncle’s wedding he broke the glass without mentioning Jerusalem. Made me feel sick. Maybe this is what my gut had predicted happening.

[jalemairliha]

I think there’s a finer point to be made. As someone who grew up in the Reform Movement, I agree it generally focuses on Tikkun Olum which lends itself to focus on social justice. Maybe because securing it for others also means securing it for ourselves – particularly in America. That’s why we saw so many Jews activated during the Civil Rights Era.

But Reformism seems to have forgotten the first statement of that famous Hillel quote, “If I am not for me, who will be for me?” There’s been severe oversight on teaching the history and motivation of Zionism. The specifics of what drove it – the pogroms of Europe long before the Shoa. How many can pronounce “Kishinev” much less know what it is? How many know the early Zionists fled empire, didn’t seek to secure it? Do they know how the Zionist fathers had no intention of excluding Arabs from a future safe haven and homeland. How many Reform students have even read, or can even list, Theodore Herzl, Leon Pinsker, or Chaim Weizmann and the agreement of cooperation with Faisal? Do they understand Zionism had a range of voices – none of them supremacist?

They don’t even know by today’s anti-racist standards, Israel is NOT A WHITE COUNTRY! That after the surrounding Arab nations emptied their countries of 1M Js from the 40s-70s, only ¼ of the entire population now descend from Europeans.

They don’t know the modern history of their people. And they don’t understand that no level of appeasement will be enough until we’ve all disappeared.

[treyw]

The core of the reform movement to make allowances for living in modern society works just fine. There are also anti-Israel orthodox groups (small and fringe, but they exist and claim some religious basis). I think the error is that Jews in the diaspora (at least US, UK, Canada, etc), mostly Ashkenazi, have not educated the younger generation about the common origins of all Jews. Jews in America will often think that their ancestors come from Germany or Poland rather than understanding that their ancestors were displaced from Israel to Germany or Poland or other places over many generations and then to the US.

[randallcarter]

From my limited knowledge, and correct me (politely) if I am wrong...Reformed moved the goal post from a a G-d centric system to a human-centric one. The fact that so many prayers in reformed take out traditional lines to remove G-d or the concept of "consequences" for doing things against His Laws speaks volumes. Traditional Judaism teaches that we live in a Universe dictated by cause and effect. To ignore that negative effects can be felt from bad choices, weakens people's ethical compass.