I had an emotionally-turbulent night at the neocon panel at Beth Hillel Wednesday. I
was there with my liberal parents, with whom I have some disagreement over Middle East issues, and before the event, Chabad Rabbi Shraga Sherman, who wrapped the tefillin with me a year ago, came
up and shook my hand and said "Your name and your family’s names are inscribed in the book of life." It was a generous and open gesture, though I know that Shraga disagrees with me on Israel.
In retrospect, though, I feel charged by their rally. The most important thing that happened was when a Temple University junior rose to ask the panel a question. "It’s very hard to be pro-Israel on campus," she acknowledged. And Temple is an incredibly diverse place. "Yet the only diverse club on campus is Students for Justice in Palestine, and I was wondering, Why this cause? Not even Darfur. This one cause [even] brings Jews into the club…"
I had to wonder what the girl’s politics were– for she wore a t-shirt with the Coca-Cola logo on it in Arabic. But her question was answered only by David Horowitz, who (hysterically) described pro-Palestinian student groups as leftwing ideologues supporting "a Nazi cause."
The girl’s question actually echoed the strong undercurrent of the event. Radio-talk-show moderator Michael Medved had asked the questions to that point, and to his credit, most of his questions, though framed as a devil’s advocate’s, were defensive.
unfair to Islam in a way that Jews as a persecuted people could relate to? Why isn’t it fair to criticize Israel without being called an
anti-semite? Shouldn’t we be trying to understand why Palestinians are so
embittered that they are willing to blow themselves up?
The panel’s answer was in essence to call the audience to a traditional idea of Jewish identity, as the oppressed–victims who must rely on themselves and some sympathetic politicians. The problem was that there were very few young people in the hall. I noticed only about three or four under 30. Neocon ideas don’t address the political reality for young Jews–which is Iraq, the Lebanon war, and Jimmy Carter’s book with apartheid in the title. The liberal media have shifted. The Christian Science Monitor
is running calls for a binational state in Palestine, and the International Herald Tribune publishes pieces on Lebanese farmers hating us, legitimately, because they are being maimed by Israeli/American cluster bombs as they try to feed their people. To be meaningful to idealistic young Jews, definitions of Jewish identity must address this reality.
