J Street’s Spiritual Conceit
By: David M. Weinberg
Oct 24, 2009
The pious spiritual claptrap that characterizes J Street’s conference in Washington this week is both a conceit and a new form of Jewish apostasy. Conference speakers earnestly broadcast their “profound” Jewish and “spiritual” identities in order to besmirch the mainstream Jewish community and engender a distancing in US-Israel relations. This certainly does not fool the American Muslim leaders who are speaking at the conference. They know and appreciate exactly what J Street is up to.
It was the Buddhist seders that tipped me off to the real conceit behind J Street. The sensitive “progressive” types behind the new Washington lobby are deeply concerned, it seems, for the morality and soul of Israel.
Gee, thanks.
A love for Buddhist seders, a penchant for avant garde poetry (including a ballad entitled The Queer Intifada), and an abiding concern for Israel’s spiritual quintessence – all while being intermarried down to nearly the last Jewish soul among them — is how The New York Times recently characterized the founders and key staff members of J Street. They seek, you see, justice and holiness and Jewish meaning in the world. Especially in the Arab-Israel conflict.
This explains the preponderance of numerous, vaporous spiritual types at this week’s big J Street hug-in in Washington. Rabbi Sharon, Rabbi Amy, Rabbi Tirzah, Rabbi Jennie, Rabbi Julie, Rabbi Toba and Rabbi Melissa are among the prominent speakers. They are “diversity facilitators,” “spirituality counselors,” and “interreligious leaders” at places called Neve Kodesh, Brit Tzedek, Dorshei Tzedek and Just Vision.
So much “Tzedek”! So much “Kodesh”! So much overflowing of honey, holiness and justice! At a political lobby conference, no less. Perhaps the organization should be renamed Spiritual Street.
You know that all this righteousness just needs to be exported – through tough love, if necessary — to Israel. To repair the Middle East. To spiritually save Israel in spite of itself. Or at least to salve the sacred American Jewish soul.
Well, enough, I say, of this misty, sentimental and self-serving gobbledygook. All this soft spiritual urgency, supposedly on “behalf of” Israel, belies a triple conceit; or should we say, a great deceit.
Firstly, J Street is peddling the nutty notion that spirituality has anything to do with Mideast peace. The latent chutzpa is the insinuation that authentic identification with the Jewish prophets and morality dovetails with the dovish side of the political map. If only American Jews and Israelis were more religiously dovish and in touch with the forgiving and compassionate side of their Jewish souls – we would do the “left” thing and concede more generously to the Palestinians. Then, lo and behold, peace would come to the Mideast.
The second conceit is that such J Street-peddled nonsense – along with J Street support for talks with Hamas, opposition to military action against the Hamas, and opposition to sanctions or military action against nuclear Iran — represents the majority of American Jewry. Hogwash. Patently false.
The third conceit is that, if only Israel were to change – and it is J Street’s job to get America to force Israel to change – then peace would come to the Mideast. As if Israel was the party unwilling to compromise. As if Israel hasn’t already offered the Palestinians at Oslo and Camp David and Taba and Annapolis just about everything they want of post-67 Israel. As if the Palestinians have compromised on their demands one wit since the great handshake on the White House lawn. But it is Israel that needs to be pressured, say the J Street moral oracles.
J Street is a new form of Jewish apostasy. Its adherents hasten to embrace their Jewishness (even if they don’t really know much about authentic Jewish tradition and morality) in order to besmirch Israel and the mainstream Jewish community. They earnestly declare how “profoundly” Jewish they are, in order to engender a distancing in US-Israel relations.
I guess that’s why J Street has spent most of its resources bashing long-standing supporters of Israel – calling them extremists and right-wingers and accusing them of a ‘silencing’ – and listing things that Israel must be made to do. All this, instead of calling out the dangers of Iranian nuclear weapons or Palestinian genocidal anti-Semitism. That’s why they fret over the Jewish soul instead of working to save and protect the physical Jewish State of Israel.
The only people clearly not fooled by all this spiritual mumbo-jumbo are Salam al-Mayarati and Trita Parsi and other leaders of the American Muslim Public Affairs Council and National Iranian American Council – who are speaking — surprise, surprise — at the J Street Jewish soul jamboree this week. They undoubtedly see past the pious claptrap, and know – and appreciate – exactly what J Street is up to.
* Originally published in The Jerusalem Post on October 23, 2009.
October 25th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Great polemic, and strong coffee these days. Just one thing: typo alert – it’s “whit,” not “wit,” as you write in the graf below.
Best,
D
As if the Palestinians have compromised on their demands one wit since the great handshake on the White House lawn. But it is Israel that needs to be pressured, say the J Street moral oracles.
November 4th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
JStreet has found a niche in the American Jewish Community, a niche which was in large part created by Israel and our inconsistent and often contradictory diplomacy vis a vis the Palestinians.
Rabin is of course the quintessential example of inconsistent and contradictory Israeli leadership with his embrace of the Oslo Accords and his willingness to grant leadership status with the most monstrous Palestinian terrorist ever known, Yassir Arafat. Rabin’s folly had it’s impact on the American Jewish Community for the worse, especially since many prominent American Jews, following Rabin’s lead, actively embraced Oslo and Arafat too, continuing to do so even after Arafat launched the various terrorist wars known as Intifadas, against Israel.
This dangerous diplomatic failure was to be followed by the incredibly inept and thoroughly incompetent diplomatic behavior of Ehud Barak, who too tried to appease Arafat rather than defend Israel. This behavior too was noticed by the usually supportive American Jewish Community, and they were left confused, worried, and in many cases, fearful of what self inflicted damage Israel would do to herself next.
Keep in mind as well, that Rabin and Barak were not just ordinary self serving and cynical Israeli politicians, they were both former Chief’s of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces as well as former Israeli Defence Ministers, individuals who had glorious security backgrounds and reputations as hard nosed security people. Thus their words and actions had much more relevance and meaning than many others.
Even now, some Israeli politicians and leaders preach concessions to the Palestinians and publicly scourge their own country abroad, including America, for not really wanting to find a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians. This at a time when most reasonable and informed Jews and non Jews realize that the even the most moderate Palestinians never intended to settle peacefully with Israel and still harbor the hope and dream of destroying the Jewish State and murdering all the Jews living here.
JStreet has found a way to exaggerate and inflate the well earned mistrust of Israeli government policies and has given those confused and disillusioned American Jews a voice to vent their frustration and despair over their perceptions of Israeli behavior.
I realize that there is also a local political angle involved regarding JStreet, Liberal Jews, and the Obama Administration, as well as a lot of publicity hunting by that group, but at the end of the day, Israel herself has a lot to answer for too.